Canucks purchase the Peoria Rivermen (Post #162)

[Nuckles]

I put this in the AHL discussion thread as well

https://twitter.com/BradZiemer/status/326868220663455744

Gilman and de Bonis in Peoria today meeting with Rivermen officials. There's a chance #Canucks could keep team there.

 

[go_leafs_go02]

St. Louis announces a 3 year agreement with the Chicago Wolves.

 

[Jyrki21]

Peoria is not a long-term solution. No direct flights to Vancouver. You'd have to fly to Chicago, Vegas, Denver, Minnesota or Dallas and catch a connecting flight. Good luck rushing players to Vancouver for a home game in case of injury.

This is true of almost any AHL city, though. Most are in small towns in the northeastern U.S.

In the time I've followed the Canucks, they've had farm teams in Milwaukee, Hamilton, Syracuse, Kansas City, Winnipeg and Chicago. Only the last two are relatively straightforward jumping-off points to Vancouver, and even then it's not like they're close or convenient.

I think a puddle-jumper to New York or Chicago or some such is more or less assumed when getting called up from an AHL city in most cases.

 

[Virtanen2Horvat]

lol looks like the blues have the Wolves now. I hope this new organization is good for our rookies.

 

[me2]

The Agrodome seats 3500. The LEC seats 5500. Abbotsford seats 7000.

The Adirondack Red Wings have 4,806 capacity, Texas has 6800, Portland Pirates have 6700, Binghampton is around 4700, The Ricoh in Toronto has about 8000, Syracuse has 6100, Springfield has 6800, St. John's has 6200, Rockford has 5700, and all the rest have about 10-20000+.

Either way, they'd have among the league's smallest building.

it's not the size of the building it is the size of the crowd

 

[Cromulence]

The AHL won't put another team directly into the Heat's market. Chilliwack and Langley aren't going to happen. Victoria would have been a possibility before the Royals. Chilliwack and Langley also have BCHL teams as anchor tenants so the Canucks farm team can't just squat there for a year. I think the only way the Canucks farm team moves to Abbotsford is if they spend another year in Peoria and then move to Abbotsford in 2014.

Going to Heat games doesn't make you a Flames fan. If you're on vacation in California and you go to a Ducks game against some random opponent does it make you a Ducks fan? I go to Heat games to watch the second best pro hockey league in North America, not to cheer for the Heat. Besides, 90% of the Heat players are never going to play for the Flames. A lot of them don't even have NHL contracts.

The AHL is very good hockey with interesting players. If you refuse to attend out of some Canucks "loyalty" you're just robbing yourself of a good experience. The hockey is good, the arena is very nice, and in the in0game presentation is very professional. If you've never gone to a Heat game before, I would recommend checking it out. You will be pleasantly surprised.

 

[Canucks LB]

those jerseys are sick at least

 

[Free Edler]

If Aqulini has enough cake, build an arena in Surrey. Would be successful for sure. Or maybe Queens park? Haven't been there in a loooong time

Building a rink in Surrey is a great idea on paper, but the city doesn't have any interest in doing it - and Aquilini would have even less interest, especially if the main motivating factor is spite - even though the largest arena in the city is the crappy old South Surrey Arena, which seats a bit more than 1,000 people for Junior A hockey.

It's a bit of an odd play, especially given how much the city usually bends over for developers - loads of questionable land use decisions all around town, look at the Best Buy on the corner of KGH and 100th Ave for but one example - but after seeing what happened in Abbotsford and Chilliwack (although the Chiefs rink is privately owned) it's not too surprising the city is a little bit gunshy about building a new arena and managing it.

Surrey missed the boat on building their arena probably a decade ago. Since then, new structures have popped up in Langley, Abbotsford and Chilliwack. That's a lot of competition for not a whole lot of money in what is still looked upon as a bedroom community. A hockey team might fill ~40 dates on a schedule, but there are 325 other days of the year events are needed. There's just too much local competition.

 

[Agent007]

Maybe we'll see more of Peter Griffin

 

[Jyrki21]

Going to Heat games doesn't make you a Flames fan. If you're on vacation in California and you go to a Ducks game against some random opponent does it make you a Ducks fan? I go to Heat games to watch the second best pro hockey league in North America, not to cheer for the Heat. Besides, 90% of the Heat players are never going to play for the Flames. A lot of them don't even have NHL contracts.

Seriously... I used to enjoy Vancouver Canadians' (AAA) games even when they were the farm team for the California Angels, then the top rival for the Mariners. It wasn't an issue.

This obsession with the Heat's affiliation (which I think is greatly overblown here -- I don't think a Canucks affiliate in Abbotsford will sell out the way everyone else seems to) shows how much Internet message boards have changed fan culture. Most people never used to interact with opposing fans with any regularity, much less care about their team's minor league affiliations. Hell, we barely knew what was going on with the Canucks' own prospects.

 

[Barney Gumble]

Going to Heat games doesn't make you a Flames fan.

You take a look at the Flames prospects lately (or at least the ones that have played in the AHL)? I'm not so sure I'd be a Heat fan even if Calgary had been always in another conference. Now that they're rebuilding - it might be different (course, how many of those will actually be playing in the AHL soon?)

At least if a team was "meh" BUT it had Canucks prospects; I'd still be inclined to attend a few games out of interest in following the Canucks prospects.

I already went thru 20+ years of medicority following one team. But that's just me.

Now, would this logic also apply to the Canuck AHL affiliate? (eg. not a fully stocked farm)? Difference is, Canuck tickets are expensive (granted less so during this shortened season). For Canuckfans who can't afford to go to the games; going to AHL games might be at least give them some indirect way of supporting the team.

 

[Alberta]

Does this mean we get CHEECHOO TRAIN since he's a river man?

 

[PhilMick]

Why???? Why!? Why was this made? Why is someone a fan of Cheechoo?

WHY DID I WATCH THE WHOLE THING??

 

[thepuckmonster]

Why???? Why!? Why was this made? Why is someone a fan of Cheechoo?

WHY DID I WATCH THE WHOLE THING??

I've watches all the prior ones as well.

I lead a sad life.

 

[Nuckles]

https://twitter.com/TEAM1040/status/327143023303602176

Gillis: 6 or 7 locations that might make sense for AHL franchise. Talking to a couple cities in Northwest that "might make sense"

Gillis refused to answer if a team in Seattle would be of interest.

 

[Taelin]

Taj @taj1944

Gillis said they have been trying to get an AHL team for 5 years

 

[Seattle Totems]

Just put them in Vancouver for a season. Let the rats desert the ship in Abbotsford.

 

[solitary]

I'd rather our AHL team be out in the east somewhere just so our prospects don't have to deal with a crazy travel schedule. But there are perks being close to home, hmmm what to do?

 

[Anzes Eyes]

i'd rather our ahl team be out in the east somewhere just so our prospects don't have to deal with a crazy travel schedule. But there are perks being close to home, hmmm what to do?

 

[thepuckmonster]

View attachment 63475

St. John's has ****** travel too. I forgot about them.

I'm hoping that maybe other wealthy teams will buy their AHL affliates and put them in Regina/Red Deer/Montana/Utah/etc. Fill in some space in the Mid-West.

 

[PhilMick]

St. John's has ****** travel too. I forgot about them.

I'm hoping that maybe other wealthy teams will buy their AHL affliates and put them in Regina/Red Deer/Montana/Utah/etc. Fill in some space in the Mid-West.

Man I didn't realize how far out they are, damn.

 

[SeattleSharksFan]

Some random thoughts about Seattle:

Seattle makes sense as a temporary solution for a couple of reasons:
- Close to Vancouver, so prospects can be called up and down. Short-ish drive for Canucks fans.
- Builds more local interest in the Canucks (fans, media coverage, etc).
- Strong support of the team would solidify any doubts about Seattle as an NHL-ready market (despite us already having two WHL teams)
- Should Abbotsford become available, the Canucks could always shift Seattle to Abbotsford, and by the time that happens the NHL-to-Seattle situation may be more well-defined (potential ownership, agreements with Hansen group at new arena, etc).

A few problems I see:
- KeyArena works, but is certainly not ideal for hockey. The T-Birds got their own building in Kent, 20 miles south of downtown, in 2008 to escape the unfavorable lease and a horrible seating configuration designed to be basketball-specific.
- Too many teams? I've always argued that an NHL team in Seattle would be embraced just as fervently as have the Sounders, but I'm not sure if I can say the same about an AHL team playing in a market that already has two WHL franchises (Everett and Kent), where fans would be braving Mercer Street traffic to attend AHL in a depressing hockey building. Local Canucks fans could help, but the team would have to work very hard to attract new fans.
- Poor support of the team for whatever factors (too many teams, arena sucks, etc) could hurt Seattle's NHL chances.

 

[Ballgarath]

if we dont push out the heat and move our farm team closer to the west maybe more western teams will do the same. the travel for the heat is insane but i think them being out west is a good thing and pushing them out of abbotsford makes less sense if we are going to have our team out west wouldnt it be nice to have 1 team close by? like i said the more ahl teams that come out west the better for our farm team. i would like to have our farm team in abbotsford too and if we are patient maybe it will happen , i just hope the heat stay out west if they do move out of abbotsford.

 

[Ballgarath]

Some random thoughts about Seattle:

Seattle makes sense as a temporary solution for a couple of reasons:
- Close to Vancouver, so prospects can be called up and down. Short-ish drive for Canucks fans.
- Builds more local interest in the Canucks (fans, media coverage, etc).
- Strong support of the team would solidify any doubts about Seattle as an NHL-ready market (despite us already having two WHL teams)
- Should Abbotsford become available, the Canucks could always shift Seattle to Abbotsford, and by the time that happens the NHL-to-Seattle situation may be more well-defined (potential ownership, agreements with Hansen group at new arena, etc).

A few problems I see:
- KeyArena works, but is certainly not ideal for hockey. The T-Birds got their own building in Kent, 20 miles south of downtown, in 2008 to escape the unfavorable lease and a horrible seating configuration designed to be basketball-specific.
- Too many teams? I've always argued that an NHL team in Seattle would be embraced just as fervently as have the Sounders, but I'm not sure if I can say the same about an AHL team playing in a market that already has two WHL franchises (Everett and Kent), where fans would be braving Mercer Street traffic to attend AHL in a depressing hockey building. Local Canucks fans could help, but the team would have to work very hard to attract new fans.
- Poor support of the team for whatever factors (too many teams, arena sucks, etc) could hurt Seattle's NHL chances.

i know the tacoma dome isnt right in seattle but it could house an ahl team , they have done hockey there before.

 

[JumpierPegasus]

I hate coming in here