“We’ve used the term ‘it’s not what we wanted, it’s what we needed,’” San Jose Sharks general manager Doug Wilson said. “On a hockey front it has been everything we hoped it would be. To have the players know that they’re right there and being seen every day, the travel, the ability to go up and down – we don’t want young players sitting. We want them playing. The geography of it all, it’s worked out as well as we wanted.”
Through 21 games this season the Barracuda are averaging 4,225 per game and a source tells me they are liberally papering the house.
This is the WorSharks attendance over the nine seasons they were here, and the number of free tickets given out was very small:
http://www.hockeydb.com/nhl-attendance/att_graph.php?tmi=9069
Honestly, at least right now, I don't think they give a flying **** about the attendance. It would be nice of course, but I think the major reason this was done was to lure in free agents like Donskoi and Karlsson, and to get prospects going pro sooner and keep them from bolting to free agency (like O'Regan may). Make the Sharks AHL team one of the best options to play for if you want to get called up.
The five California-based teams will continue to operate under their own NHL-backed agenda and play fewer games, 68, while the league's other 25 teams will still play 76.
In an ideal world, it's not what AHL president Dave Andrews would want. But for now, members of the league will live with it. They're content, at least in the short term, with the possible inequities in terms of competitive balance come playoff time.
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"It's not a perfect situation, but the alternative was unacceptable," Andrews said.
The alternative — which the AHL faced head-on at last year's mid-winter Board of Governors meeting — was an alternative league.
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If the AHL couldn't find a way to accommodate a Pacific Division with California teams playing only 68 games, then they'd start their own league. The AHL steadfastly believes an alliance with the NHL ensures long-term stability and profitability, and couldn't afford to lose the 30-for-30 set-up (one AHL affiliate for each NHL team). Getting the California teams to play 68 games was a victory for the core AHL, because those teams actually wanted closer to 60.
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"We're not closer as of today, but we're not trying to be closer as of today," Andrews said at Monday's State of the League address during All-Star Classic festivities in Syracuse. "I think it's going to take us a little bit of time, and I think there's going to need to be movement downwards in terms of schedule length with the core of our league, the 25 teams, and maybe some movement upward with the other five teams."
http://www.democratandchronicle.com...nt-homogenizing-schedule-cali-teams/79638100/
Ah, the politics of compromise.
So it kinda seems like the long term goal is about 72 game seasons for everybody?
Was pretty happy when we picked goldobin. Just checked some stats and for someone who is supposed to score a lot, he's doing sort of a mediocre job. Any updates on his play?
From the sounds of it, he's improving defensively and he's on a 23 goal pace for a full season AHL California team. I wouldn't consider that bad for his first pro season over here.