Sabres ending ECHL Affiliation with Cincinnati

[Brawndo]

 

[SabresBaltimore]

I typically haven't paid much attention to the Amerks before the last few seasons, and certainly not the ECHL. It looked like there aren't 32 ECHL teams, and I didn't see any ECHL team with more than one NHL affiliate (I remember at one point we split the Portland AHL affiliation with Florida before returning to Rochester).

 

It looks like the only NYS is in Glen Falls and is affiliated with the Devils.

 

I'll be curious to see who we end up with. Does anyone know how much influence we have on the team? The Pegulas own the Amerks, so it's easier to keep things in sync, but I know nothing about how things were being down in Cincinnati. 

[pastajoe]

The best option would be to swap with Columbus so they have AHL Cleveland and Cincinnati, and Buffalo gets the Kalamazoo Wings. They could have an alternate jersey with chicken wings. Even better would be a new team in Binghamton who currently has an FPHL team.

[MattPie]

20 minutes ago, pastajoe said:

The best option would be to swap with Columbus so they have AHL Cleveland and Cincinnati, and Buffalo gets the Kalamazoo Wings. They could have an alternate jersey with chicken wings. Even better would be a new team in Binghamton who currently has an FPHL team.

That'd be cool. I lived in Binghamton when they were the AHL B-Sens. Lots of local Sens fans weren't happy when Pominville scored, lol.

[PromoTheRobot]

Maybe they want to bring an E franchise closer to Buffalo. Elmira? Binghamton? Maybe Buffalo and have them play in Harborcenter?

[TheAud]

37 minutes ago, PromoTheRobot said:

Maybe they want to bring an E franchise closer to Buffalo. Elmira? Binghamton? Maybe Buffalo and have them play in Harborcenter?

Perfect arena for ECHL in Elmira. I was an Elmira Jackel's fan back when they were in the ECHL. 

On the other hand, probably too small a market to support it. 

[Doohicksie]

6 minutes ago, TheAud said:

On the other hand, probably too small a market to support it. 

If it's Sabres/Amerks branded, it might prove popular.

[MattPie]

49 minutes ago, PromoTheRobot said:

Maybe they want to bring an E franchise closer to Buffalo. Elmira? Binghamton? Maybe Buffalo and have them play in Harborcenter?

Binghamton would seem to be a good fit, they (and Elmira) are in the FPHL (the what?) right now, but Bingo is a much larger city but still only three hours by car to Buffalo or Rochester. Erie PA might fit, although I'm not sure how much competition with the CHL Otters there'd be for entertainment $$.

[Taro T]

2 hours ago, pastajoe said:

The best option would be to swap with Columbus so they have AHL Cleveland and Cincinnati, and Buffalo gets the Kalamazoo Wings. They could have an alternate jersey with chicken wings. Even better would be a new team in Binghamton who currently has an FPHL team.

No, the best option would be the "even better than best" option you brought up which is to put a team back into either Binghamton or Elmira (or on an outside shot, even Corning).  Have those players playing less than 2 hours from Ra-cha-cha if they need to call somebody up.  And also have the Southern Tier get back to being Sabres territory rather than Rags territory.

[IKnowPhysics]

 

[B-U-F-F-A-L-O]

3 hours ago, pastajoe said:

The best option would be to swap with Columbus so they have AHL Cleveland and Cincinnati, and Buffalo gets the Kalamazoo Wings. They could have an alternate jersey with chicken wings. Even better would be a new team in Binghamton who currently has an FPHL team.

Binghamton would be a nice spot for a Sabre farm team. But I doubt many Sabre prospects would play there…. Too few really….

I don’t know why the Sabres are changing though, maybe they plan on sending more there? Make sure it is a competitive team as well? After the draft, we probably have more prospects then…. IDK? How many Sabre prospects played for Cincy? My guess is four. And none of them were actually Sabre prospects. More like Amerk prospects….

[PortuCool]

The “mutual decision” suggests to me that Cincy might have wanted the change, more than Buffalo. What might Cincy be after?  Well - and this is pure speculative spit-balling - Chicago went independent leaving Carolina without an AHL home. Cincy would make sense on many levels to move up to the A. 

There are a large number of cities that could serve as the ECHL, but proximity to WNY is not particularly important since there’s little movement up/down in the ECHL/AHL. 
 

Any team that plays in the same division as the Toledo Walleyes would be ideal; they have the coolest unis in all of hockey. 

[Taro T]

Just now, PortuCool said:

The “mutual decision” suggests to me that Cincy might have wanted the change, more than Buffalo. What might Cincy be after?  Well - and this is pure speculative spit-balling - Chicago went independent leaving Carolina without an AHL home. Cincy would make sense on many levels to move up to the A. 

There are a large number of cities that could serve as the ECHL, but proximity to WNY is not particularly important since there’s little movement up/down in the ECHL/AHL. 
 

Any team that plays in the same division as the Toledo Walleyes would be ideal; they have the coolest unis in all of hockey. 

From the Sabres standpoint, having a team in the Southern Tier not only makes it easier to move guys between Ra-cha-cha and the ECHL; it gives them a marketing in to cut into (depending upon how far east you're looking) the Rags or the Pens market.

Everything in NYS north of the Delaware River and west of the Hudson SHOULD be Sabres territory.  Having the baby farm club in that territory can help with that to a certain degree.

[PortuCool]

55 minutes ago, Taro T said:

From the Sabres standpoint, having a team in the Southern Tier not only makes it easier to move guys between Ra-cha-cha and the ECHL; it gives them a marketing in to cut into (depending upon how far east you're looking) the Rags or the Pens market.

Everything in NYS north of the Delaware River and west of the Hudson SHOULD be Sabres territory.  Having the baby farm club in that territory can help with that to a certain degree.

I still maintain that it’s not PARTICULARLY important to have the E team that close to the A team. How many players moved up or down from Cincy last year?

it would be nice. But it’s still not that important. Once you hit Binghamton, your entering the NYC market. 

I was a Jackals fan, but Elmira lost their team for reasons that are not resolved. 

Edited June 15, 2023 by PortuCool

[Taro T]

34 minutes ago, PortuCool said:

I still maintain that it’s not PARTICULARLY important to have the E team that close to the A team. How many players moved up or down from Cincy last year?

it would be nice. But it’s still not that important. Once you hit Binghamton, your entering the NYC market. 

I was a Jackals fan, but Elmira lost their team for reasons that are not resolved. 

We seem to be arguing past each other.

It helps to have the ECHL team close enough to easily move players up and down.  But it isn't a massive advantage and if one of the teams is on the road it isn't really any advantage.

Yes, Binghamton is primarily Rags country.  It SHOULDN'T be.

[Taro T]

It's also easier for coaches / front offices to make the trip from 1 locale to another when they're all a coupole of hours away from each other.

None of these are huge advantages; but they all ARE advantages.

[Ogre]

5 hours ago, PromoTheRobot said:

Maybe they want to bring an E franchise closer to Buffalo. Elmira? Binghamton? Maybe Buffalo and have them play in Harborcenter?

I have business that I attend to frequently in Elmira. Known fact that a team is coming. Speculate, we must. The information came in a meeting on a related topic from someone that doesn’t know hockey. The acronym for the league quoted was gibberish to me. I dismissed it at the time.

Edited June 16, 2023 by Ogre
Should note: Not the ECHL. He was blabbing about the AG- something. Exact quote.

[Ogre]

5 hours ago, TheAud said:

On the other hand, probably too small a market to support it. 

I don’t necessarily disagree. The troubles of previous teams was due to management though.

 The entity that is going to be involved is far out of their league with this (literally) so it wouldn’t shock me.

But then, poor management again.

[TheAud]

16 hours ago, Ogre said:

I don’t necessarily disagree. The troubles of previous teams was due to management though.

 The entity that is going to be involved is far out of their league with this (literally) so it wouldn’t shock me.

But then, poor management again.

I really enjoyed the ECHL Jackals as the quality of play was relatively high, with players still aspiring to the NHL. 

Whereas things really fell off when it was the Enforcers in whatever league that was. I so badly wanted to buy a jersey but they were too ugly with the bright green to even have as a curiosity. 

At one point there was the owner who put in the nice video scoreboard, and there was a fan/community group who tried steering the ship, but neither was enough to make it. To your point unless they get a competent and rich owner I think it fails after a couple of years max. Hope I am wrong though, would be great for the area. 

I moved to Denver last year so now I go to Avs games 🙂

[Marvin]

20 hours ago, PortuCool said:

I still maintain that it’s not PARTICULARLY important to have the E team that close to the A team. How many players moved up or down from Cincy last year?

it would be nice. But it’s still not that important. Once you hit Binghamton, your entering the NYC market. 

I was a Jackals fan, but Elmira lost their team for reasons that are not resolved. 

Welcome to the board!

[Ogre]

9 hours ago, TheAud said:

At one point there was the owner who put in the nice video scoreboard, and there was a fan/community group who tried steering the ship, but neither was enough to make it.

The same entity has owned the arena from day 1. There was an owner of the Jackals but that owner had nothing to do with the entity that owns the arena although they did manage operations.

There are numerous problems with the place. Chilling/air circulation is defective which lead to outrageous utility bills, in the $100s of $1,000s.

Corning Inc paid a $100G of the bill as a public relation plan but most people that I know in the area would like to be rid of it by now. I hear “A parking lot would be better at this point.”

To be clear, the entity that owns it has no idea how to manage it, I’m not even certain how they are even able to own it. 

There is no way they could have any success with this endeavor. I won’t go into detail because I have interests in the eventual outcome but God help us if our E affiliate ends up there.

It’s a shame really. Elmira was a very nice place. I built that GD arena. Fell in love with the girl that worked in the office building next door. We had a fabulous summer.

 

[Brad_MI]

Do the Sabres get to keep Jason Payne, coach of the Cyclones?

 

Seems like he had a really good year, and there were a few pretty good comments about him during pre-season and Development Camp. 

[PromoTheRobot]

19 minutes ago, Brad_MI said:

Do the Sabres get to keep Jason Payne, coach of the Cyclones?

 

Seems like he had a really good year, and there were a few pretty good comments about him during pre-season and Development Camp. 

Apparently JP is a Cyclones employee so the Sabres would have to bring him on board.