Confirmed with Link: Blues Sign 5 Year Deal with Springfield

[STL fan in MN]

Springfield is so excited for St. Louis!!! Everyone here is pumped about this!!!

Welcome aboard!

How do I acquire one of these jerseys?

 

[TK 421]

Nice. I wonder when this one is getting purchased by a Western Conference rival.

 

[Tbirds85]

What prospects should we be excited about for the 2020-2021 season?

 

[Ranksu]

Welcome aboard!

How do I acquire one of these jerseys?

Almost like Preds jersey, you gonna love it.

 

[Spear]

Sweet!

And it looks like they have some excellent people in their marketing group:

AHL's Springfield Thunderbirds to wear 'Springfield Ice-O-Topes' jerseys for 'The Simpsons' 30th anniversary

 

[Ranksu]

What prospects should we be excited about for the 2020-2021 season?

One exciting player (goaltender) is Ville 'Hude' Husso

 

[Spear]

Welcome aboard!

How do I acquire one of these jerseys?

So I used their 'contact us' form on their website to ask if they'd open those jersey's up for a 3rd pre-order as there are probably quite a few Blues fans that would love to show their support of our new affiliate!

 

[MortiestOfMortys]

What prospects should we be excited about for the 2020-2021 season?

Klim Kostin will likely still be there, but he’s been near a PPG over the last 30-someodd games.

Scott Perunovich and Tyler Tucker will be two rookie dmen that should log significant minutes and make an impact.

Austin Poganski and Nolan Stevens are two workhorse-type forwards who we are grooming for bottom-6 duty at the pro level, but they are good AHL guys that should do pretty well.

Mitch Reinke and Jake Walman are our two “elder statesmen” on defense, and they each contribute a good deal.

Husso will likely still be in goal, although Hofer may split time with him, depending on what we choose to do with Fitzpatrick.

 

[JMCx4]

Welcome aboard!

How do I acquire one of these jerseys?

Thunderbirds Merch Website ...
What If Night Authentic Jersey

 

[MortiestOfMortys]

I also think there’s a decent chance we bring Josh Ho-Sang along with us from San Antonio, although we have to sign him first

 

[CaliforniaBlues310]

Can’t forget about Toropchenko as well. He looks to be an eventual NHL’er. Maybe Nikita Alexandrov will go pro too.

Also agree that we’ll likely bring in Ho-Sang past this year.

 

[JMCx4]

Great news all this mumbo jambo ends and players know where they go next season.



Go Thunderbirds!

That Lady Penelope is quite a looker.

 

[MissouriMook]

I also think there’s a decent chance we bring Josh Ho-Sang along with us from San Antonio, although we have to sign him first

And we’d have to trade for him before we could sign him.

 

[MortiestOfMortys]

And we’d have to trade for him before we could sign him.

That isn’t strictly true. If NYI wants to re-sign him, they have first dibs. But I’d say it’s pretty clear he has worn out his welcome there, and I don’t really see any likelihood that they qualify him. Then he’s a free agent and he can choose to sign with anybody, and hopefully it’s with the team that opened it’s doors to him when he was down. No guarantee, but I’d say there are decent odds that’s what goes down.

 

[Robb_K]

Good news! That takes some pressure off.

 

[ChicagoBlues]

I have a feeling this is just joking on your part.

But Seattle does already have their AHL franchise going to Palm Springs. They bought the available 32nd AHL franchise last year, so we don't have to worry about them taking an affiliation away. Home - AHL Palm Springs

Yes, I just threw out a team. Didn’t really matter who. Just the fact that a team could simply buy the Springfield team and that’s that.

 

[MissouriMook]

That isn’t strictly true. If NYI wants to re-sign him, they have first dibs. But I’d say it’s pretty clear he has worn out his welcome there, and I don’t really see any likelihood that they qualify him. Then he’s a free agent and he can choose to sign with anybody, and hopefully it’s with the team that opened it’s doors to him when he was down. No guarantee, but I’d say there are decent odds that’s what goes down.

All true, but you can’t really skip that step.

 

[Daley Tarasenkshow]

Can’t forget about Toropchenko as well. He looks to be an eventual NHL’er. Maybe Nikita Alexandrov will go pro too.

Also agree that we’ll likely bring in Ho-Sang past this year.

What about Toropchenko's play this season has him as an eventual NHLer? I haven't seen a ton of games this year but his production is low and he doesn't seem to match the pace and overall skill that NA pro hockey brings. I'm just curious if I'm missing something, I was starting to write him off. I haven't liked what I've seen this season.

Does anyone know if Hugh Mcging will sign or report to the AHL? He could be decent depth.

 

[Tbirds85]

I'm a little worried looking back at the last few years of the San Antonio teams. Looks rough....

 

[MissouriMook]

If I’m not mistaken, I think we have now been outscored 16-0 this year with our goalie pulled. At what point do you either give that up or start doing some heavy duty 6-on-5 work in practice. We just suck at it, but it’s not surprising given that it is typically our first PP unit out there and they are awful moving the puck 5-on-4.

 

[i aint Dunn yet]

good .. f*** the wolves

 

[Spear]

@STL fan in IA

So I used their 'contact us' form on their website to ask if they'd open those jersey's up for a 3rd pre-order as there are probably quite a few Blues fans that would love to show their support of our new affiliate!

Their response:

We’re currently fulfilling the 1st preorder. Once completed and we know what is left, the 2nd preorder will be reopened.

 

[Dbrownss]

Cool. Glad that was taken care of ASAP.

 

[MortiestOfMortys]

I'm a little worried looking back at the last few years of the San Antonio teams. Looks rough....

That’s fair, and it has been. It took us awhile to basically re-start the organization from scratch and get some semblance of stability, as we went from 0 AHL infrastructure for a season, to having to rebuild one over a summer. Things have finally started to pick up lately (which is what made the San Antonio sale so tragic). We also had a coach whose highest level of coaching was the OHL, and he now has a bit more experience under his belt. The rookies we had are now sophomores or juniors. Things are getting back to “normal.” No telling how long the adjustment period will be in Springfield as we learn new teams and get used to a new city, but hopefully it’s a quick turnaround. Add to that the fact that a few of our top prospects will turn pro next year, and I think there’s reason to be optimistic.

 

[mk80]

Yes, I just threw out a team. Didn’t really matter who. Just the fact that a team could simply buy the Springfield team and that’s that.

That’s always the problem with not owning the affiliate. But I think we’ll see less situations like what happened with Vegas going forward as most NHL teams in the West own their AHL franchises outright or are partnered with AHL teams they’re happy with. And most eastern teams that don’t own and operate an affiliate outright are close enough to their affiliates where they don’t need to.