Proposal: Bring the Canucks farm team to vancouver

[HarvP19]

Im going to preface this by first saying i know the utica comets are doing great when it comes to attendance and it really would suck to take hockey out of that city that has really embraced the game (if my proposal becomes a reality).

But that being said...........

I think the canucks should move the farm team to vancouver and make use of the pacific coliseum being vacant. This lets some of the fans view what the future might be for the canucks. Most of the western conf teams have moved the farm team to the west in Cali and would bring another team to the ahl western conference.

The canucks old farm team, the manitoba moose are back in winnipeg, and then theres the marlies in toronto. I know the lower mainland had a ahl franchise before with the abbotsford heat, but that was doomed for failure when you bring calgarys ahl franchise in your rival dominated canucks region. I think Vancouver comets, or jr canucks (i guess millionaires if really wanted to!!!) could do well in vancity.


As for the city of utica, the canucks could start a echl franchise there as the canucks do not currently have one.

what do u guys think?

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[FOurteenS inCisOr]

Im going to preface this by first saying i know the utica comets are doing great when it comes to attendance and it really would suck to take hockey out of that city that has really embraced the game (if my proposal becomes a reality).

But that being said...........

I think the canucks should move the farm team to vancouver and make use of the pacific coliseum being vacant. This lets some of the fans view what the future might be for the canucks. Most of the western conf teams have moved the farm team to the west in Cali and would bring another team to the ahl western conference.

The canucks old farm team, the manitoba moose are back in winnipeg, and then theres the marlies in toronto. I know the lower mainland had a ahl franchise before with the abbotsford heat, but that was doomed for failure when you bring calgarys ahl franchise in your rival dominated canucks region. I think Vancouver comets, or jr canucks (i guess millionaires if really wanted to!!!) could do well in vancity.


As for the city of utica, the canucks could start a echl franchise there as the canucks do not currently have one.

what do u guys think?

You already noted how awesome the Utica fan base is, not to mention the fantastic ones who contribute to the Comets' board here—considering their passion and support, the fantastic job the Utica management group does, and the favourable east-coast schedule and location that makes away call-ups much easier, I'd prefer they left the team in Utica and didn't mess with a good thing.

Plus, those jerseys are nice.

 

[Uhmkay]

Im going to preface this by first saying i know the utica comets are doing great when it comes to attendance and it really would suck to take hockey out of that city that has really embraced the game (if my proposal becomes a reality).

But that being said...........

I think the canucks should move the farm team to vancouver and make use of the pacific coliseum being vacant. This lets some of the fans view what the future might be for the canucks. Most of the western conf teams have moved the farm team to the west in Cali and would bring another team to the ahl western conference.

The canucks old farm team, the manitoba moose are back in winnipeg, and then theres the marlies in toronto. I know the lower mainland had a ahl franchise before with the abbotsford heat, but that was doomed for failure when you bring calgarys ahl franchise in your rival dominated canucks region. I think Vancouver comets, or jr canucks (i guess millionaires if really wanted to!!!) could do well in vancity.


As for the city of utica, the canucks could start a echl franchise there as the canucks do not currently have one.

what do u guys think?

I'm hoping they leave the team in Utica. Although there are a few teams in the west, the travel for western AHL teams is BRUTAL. I'd rather our players in the AHL be focused on playing hockey and not have to deal with the travel out here.

What's best for the Canucks is what would be best for the players... and to me, that's staying out east.

 

[Verviticus]

it would be cool to have the team here, and its currently cool to have the team in utica. i imagine ultimately both locations would be excellent

 

[Josepho]

I'm fine with having them where they are at the moment. I'd like to bring them closer to Vancouver (Boise maybe?) but I think it's not worth pushing at the moment.

 

[jimmythescot]

Our fanbase is way too crazy to be let loose on 5th round draft picks that aren't playing like 1st round picks.

 

[OzFlyers]

It's crazy having your farm team on the other side of the country. (or Continent)

 

[biturbo19]

It'd be cool to have Canucks prospects playing in Vancouver for fans to see. But there are ton of good reasons that isn't the case. Just as it didn't work out with an Abbotsford arrangement.

For one thing, having a farm team so far away from every other AHL team is a problem. Until an actual western presence starts to pop up in the AHL, having a team that's actually in the East very closely clustered with their conference is a big benefit. It's not just less travel...it's what that means in terms of extra training and preparation time. Availability of air hubs is also important for getting call-ups there on time.

As far as attracting quality AHL Vets...Vancouver would be a potential deterrent more than an appealing factor as it can be for high-end NHLers. Vancouver is not a cheap place to live. For an AHL lifer, they're going to be considering how far they can make their money last. They're going to be doing a lot better for themselves, stashing away limited playing time money a lot more in a place like Utica, than they would be in Vancouver.

The Canucks themselves are also about the enter a period of struggling to sell tickets. It happens to most every franchise when they head into a down cycle. Bandwagon fans jump ship. Tickets are no longer trendy for business money. Sales fall, prices have to fall to accommodate and at least try to mostly fill the building. Introducing a competitor in the same market at a lower price, for the same owner is bad business. I mean, for the coming years...the Canucks team likely is going to continue to feature a lot of the top prospects and "future" of the team in the first place. It's going to be the lesser lights and lower profile guys in Utica.

Which leads to...

Our fanbase is way too crazy to be let loose on 5th round draft picks that aren't playing like 1st round picks.

This.

Vancouver as a fanbase can be absolutely toxic with this stuff. Like Leafs level bad, or worse.

 

[Jumptheshark]

moving the team into California would be a better option--too much travel for most AHL team--remember when the Flames had their team in abbotsford ? the biggest drain was on the fact they has to help pay for other teams travel costs

 

[Fat Tony]

moving the team into California would be a better option--too much travel for most AHL team--remember when the Flames had their team in abbotsford ? the biggest drain was on the fact they has to help pay for other teams travel costs

Travel costs wouldn't be much better in Cal. The AHL "Pacific" division includes the Ontario Reign and Texas Stars.

 

[duplo]

Canucks can't even sell out games right now, I can't imagine the demand for AHL tickets would be high with the general public. They've got a perfect situation in Utica, don't understand why people would want to disrupt that.

 

[ginner classic]

There is no reason to move the team. We are over served by hockey in this market as it is.

 

[Nuckles]

Most people have already hit the nail on the head (fanbase not easy on players, travel, selling tickets, Utica has been great).

There's most likely not even enough interest to try to get sportsnet to get the rights to rebroadcast Utica games on the Sportsnet Vancouver channel (which they only use ~10-15 nights per year).

 

[FroshaugFan2]

Travel costs wouldn't be much better in Cal. The AHL "Pacific" division includes the Ontario Reign and Texas Stars.

That Ontario is in California.

 

[Hit the post]

It's crazy having your farm team on the other side of the country. (or Continent)

Other AHL clubs wouldn't be too thrilled to have to travel across the country/continent to here either; reason why I believe the Abbotsford Heat had to actually subsidize other AHL clubs to play them essentially.

 

[Mad Brills*]

FWIW, marlies reportedly lost money last year, so the farm team is likely losing money.

 

[Cupless]

I'd prefer to keep the farm team where its thriving. If it ain't broke, don't fix it.

If they really wanted to engage the Canucks fan base with the AHL team, I would rather see web streaming options for Utica games. I think TV that broadcasting Utica games in Vancouver would draw a miniscule audience (probably not much larger than this forum), but I could be wrong. Either way, streaming on the web in non-potato quality would be a good gauge of how much interest in the Canucks AHL team in Vancouver would generate.

 

[Huggy43]

Canucks can't even sell out games right now, I can't imagine the demand for AHL tickets would be high with the general public. They've got a perfect situation in Utica, don't understand why people would want to disrupt that.

Selfishness really.

Utica is absolutely perfect

 

[NoShowWilly]

Utica is not perfect. I'm fine with it but it is not a good place to get players recalled to Vancouver or anywhere in the west for that matter.

 

[MarkMM]

It'd be cool to have Canucks prospects playing in Vancouver for fans to see. But there are ton of good reasons that isn't the case. Just as it didn't work out with an Abbotsford arrangement.

For one thing, having a farm team so far away from every other AHL team is a problem. Until an actual western presence starts to pop up in the AHL, having a team that's actually in the East very closely clustered with their conference is a big benefit. It's not just less travel...it's what that means in terms of extra training and preparation time. Availability of air hubs is also important for getting call-ups there on time.

As far as attracting quality AHL Vets...Vancouver would be a potential deterrent more than an appealing factor as it can be for high-end NHLers. Vancouver is not a cheap place to live. For an AHL lifer, they're going to be considering how far they can make their money last. They're going to be doing a lot better for themselves, stashing away limited playing time money a lot more in a place like Utica, than they would be in Vancouver.

The Canucks themselves are also about the enter a period of struggling to sell tickets. It happens to most every franchise when they head into a down cycle. Bandwagon fans jump ship. Tickets are no longer trendy for business money. Sales fall, prices have to fall to accommodate and at least try to mostly fill the building. Introducing a competitor in the same market at a lower price, for the same owner is bad business. I mean, for the coming years...the Canucks team likely is going to continue to feature a lot of the top prospects and "future" of the team in the first place. It's going to be the lesser lights and lower profile guys in Utica.

Which leads to...



This.

Vancouver as a fanbase can be absolutely toxic with this stuff. Like Leafs level bad, or worse.

No disagreements with the points you make here, but one flip side about quality of life for players, for someone who might be on the bubble and go back and forth over a couple of years, it'd probably be pretty attractive to know that whether or not you make the NHL or not your family won't have to move, you can get a home and not have to guess whether you'll be in one town (bar trade) or another depending on injury call-ups. For someone like Demko he would be able to settle in to Vancouver for the long-haul without having to get a temporary place in Utica and know in the back of his mind he shouldn't get too attached because it's a temporary situation.

As much as Vancouver is expensive, it's also got a good quality of life that offers amenities that a small town (relatively speaking) like Utica can't match, so for UFA's we're trying to attract on one-way deals to build depth, knowing that you get the same pay AND same home regardless whether you make the big club or not eliminates a lot of risk and uncertainty.

I know the time Gillis looked at moving the team they balanced the downside of travel and reduced training time with the upside that management could keep a closer eye on their prospects and have consistency in training paradigms, especially if it's in Vancouver and not Abbotsford the Canucks could offer top-tier training staff and facilities to their prospects.

The rest comes down to $$$, agree that it just creates competition for hockey audience at the time when we're struggling to sell tickets, and we'll likely have to subsidize other teams' travel expenses. If $$$ isn't an issue and ownership/management wants to spend what it takes to build the best future, I can see moving to Vancouver as being a reasonable option.

 

[hellstick]

To be frank, I'm not even sure if Vancouver would be willing to support a minor league team. How do you convince people in the GVDR to show up to a lower tier of hockey who isn't already a diehard Canuck fan? Support for the Canucks is even dipping. Even support for the recently dismissed Giants was never really that great.

Here's something else. Players on their decent AHL salaries can't afford Vancouver. If you have no existing roots to the city and you're an AHL journeyman, how does that sound appealing at all? Then with the extra travel? Yikes.

Utica is an excellent place for our farm team. Lets keep it there.

 

[PM]

Get in line behind Victoria. You guys already have a NHL team, don't get greedy.

 

[Reverend Mayhem]

Utica is doing a great job with the team, and I don't see why we should move them closer where there is possibly less fan interest.

 

[LickTheEnvelope]

Meh honestly I don't care too much. I like Utica and their fans.

 

[Bad Goalie]

Utica is not perfect. I'm fine with it but it is not a good place to get players recalled to Vancouver or anywhere in the west for that matter.

3 years and counting, there has never been one instance that the Canucks could not get a player from Utica when needed and on several occasions has been a plus when they needed a player while on the road because Utica was much closer.

The shortcoming you argue has not proven to hold any water.