Nightsquad
Registered User
- Jan 25, 2014
- 834
- 100
Recently talks of shared affiliate topics have resurfaced, namely with Vegas. Some feel it's a step backwards......WHY? I think the AHL has gone in a direction whereby too much control has been taken away from individual teams, individual markets, and the league has made some very poor decisions. California teams are great, but playing less games then the rest of the league is anything but good business. The AHL has tried too hard to model itself as a junior NHL league, the 1980s and 1990s were much more entertaining years of AHL hockey....
The AHL has allowed itself to become a de facto NBA-D league like operations, might as well start calling it the NHL-D or how about the NHL2. The league has sacrificed much of its own identity. I used to think of the AHL as a league of its own with a developmental purpose but it's own identity intact. Dual affiliations are a challenge in terms of selecting the right coach, conflicting systems, and not often done with the best on ice success but if two NHL teams or a "local' AHL owner wanted to have a team with a dual affiliation and two willing NHL teams were for doing it then why not???? This model could actually be of a better benefit to a league like the ECHL. If you have only a few teams in an area like the northeast the ECHL could strongly benefit from dual affiliations as only a few players are provided for by the "parent" affiliate anyway.....If it allows a team to save resources and survive at either the ECHL or AHL level then why not, do away with the stupid Bylaws or this one affiliation between the ECHL, AHL, and NHL absurdity.
The AHL has allowed itself to become a de facto NBA-D league like operations, might as well start calling it the NHL-D or how about the NHL2. The league has sacrificed much of its own identity. I used to think of the AHL as a league of its own with a developmental purpose but it's own identity intact. Dual affiliations are a challenge in terms of selecting the right coach, conflicting systems, and not often done with the best on ice success but if two NHL teams or a "local' AHL owner wanted to have a team with a dual affiliation and two willing NHL teams were for doing it then why not???? This model could actually be of a better benefit to a league like the ECHL. If you have only a few teams in an area like the northeast the ECHL could strongly benefit from dual affiliations as only a few players are provided for by the "parent" affiliate anyway.....If it allows a team to save resources and survive at either the ECHL or AHL level then why not, do away with the stupid Bylaws or this one affiliation between the ECHL, AHL, and NHL absurdity.