why? What difference would it have made and no, the Blues aren't missing out on a franchise, that was the deal because Esche wanted a franchise and that was likely the only opportunity Vancouver had to acquire a franchise and/or license, the Blues were in the same position as the Canucks were, when that swap creating the Comets and the Blues in Chicago, the Blues had little to no say in how the Wolves are operated much as they are now a temporary secondary affiliate to Vegas, and are now off the hook for the franchise fee, since Vegas now has the PDC....
HUH??? How is this possibly correct? How are the Blues NOT missing out on a franchise...IF they hadn't sold theirs, they would currently have a dedicated AHL team to send their prospects to and the Wolves/St. Louis marriage would've never happened. They wouldn't be jumping through hoops trying to figure out a way to salvage the mess they've made. That DEAL was made because they wanted to not own an AHL team..Robert Esche had absolutely nothing to do with them selling it...Yes he wanted to get a team in Utica...But if memeory serves me correctly...AND I KNOW IT DOES...The VANCOUVER CANUCKS are the owners of the AHL franchise located currently in Utica proper as you like to say. Not Robert Esche or anyone affiliated with him. NOWHERE in the Canucks organization does it list an employee by the name of Robert Esche!!
If and when the Canucks move THEIR franchise...Robert Esche is out of the AHL hockey business, unless some other team moves their team to Utica, nor will Robert Esche move to the Canucks new location with their farm team.
The Blues were NEVER in the same position as the Canucks. The Canucks had a team to partner with in Chicago, then bought their own team...St. Louis sold their team and now has no team to call their own nor do they have a place to put all of their players right now...How is that anything close to being the same as Vancouver?
Face it...you are wrong...St. Louis screwed up and are now paying the price...and it's not a forgone conclusion that they are getting that 31st team next year after having strong armed the AHL board to approve their sale because they DIDN'T want the team anymore...Now just 3 or 4 years later you change your mind and everyone is supposed to just forget the comments etc...I doubt that's going to happen and I doubt the board is going to look the other way. I fully expect the 31st franchise to be sold to Colorado sometime next season and St. Louis to "take what's left".