The American Hockey League’s move to a true Western Conference began with Thursday’s official announcement of the new Pacific Division, with five California-based teams serving as the triple-A affiliates for the Anaheim Ducks, Calgary Flames, Edmonton Oilers, Los Angeles Kings and San Jose Sharks. Here’s. Pollak is the beat writer for the Sharks.
The Avalanche, Vancouver Canucks and Arizona Coyotes will likely be the next NHL teams to move their AHL operations to the west. The Avalanche’s AHL team, of course, is in Cleveland (Lake Erie Monsters), Vancouver’s are the Utica (N.Y.) Comets and Arizona’s top prospects play for the Portland (Maine) Pirates. Before we get into where these three teams might go, take a look at this from the AHL news release:
— The Anaheim Ducks will purchase the Norfolk Admirals AHL franchise and will relocate it from Norfolk, Va., to San Diego, Calif.
— The AHL franchise owned by the Calgary Flames will relocate from Glens Falls, N.Y., to Stockton, Calif.
— The AHL franchise owned by the Edmonton Oilers will relocate from Oklahoma City, Okla., to Bakersfield, Calif.
— The AHL franchise owned by the Los Angeles Kings will relocate from Manchester, N.H., to Ontario, Calif.
— The AHL franchise owned by the San Jose Sharks will relocate from Worcester, Mass., to San Jose, Calif.
Among those five NHL teams, only the Ducks do not own their AHL affiliate. I’m hearing the days of “borrowing” a building and its staff are over, and the only way to run an NHL franchise is to also own and operate your AHL interests. Thus, the Avalanche, like the Ducks, are pursuing a purchase and will relocate within 100 miles or so of the big-league team. This doesn’t mean that Avalanche owner Josh Kroenke builds a 10,000-seat Colorado arena and fronts the start-up money, but it likely means Kroenke has a majority stake in a company that partners with The Broadmoor World Arena in Colorado Springs or Denver Coliseum. Why did the Colorado Springs World Arena change its name to The Broadmoor World Arena last year? Because the arena’s new owner is Anschutz Entertainment Group, which owns the nearby The Broadmoor Hotel and, ahem, the Los Angeles Kings. Phil Anschutz loves his sports, and the Avalanche’s goal is to have its AHL team play in Colorado Spring’s best venue. One problem: the World Arena is Olympic-size ice, 15-feet wider than the NHL dimensions. That red flag could potentially spike interest in the Denver Coliseum, owned by the city, and Denver Cutthroats owner John Hayes would be your ideal partner.
No doubt the Canucks and Coyotes are also thinking about relocation, and perhaps the Winnipeg Jets — whose AHL team is in St. John’s, which is east of Nova Scotia. The future moves might take years, but they will happen. Ultimately, the new Pacific Division teams will not have to fly to the East Coast — unless it’s for the Calder Cup Finals — because the Western Conference will be stocked with western-based teams.
