???
The league allows ownership of both an NHL and AHL Franchise.
Comcast owns both the Flyers and the AHL Phantoms.
The Sharks own and operate their AHL affiliate (Worcester).
kdb:
Worcester was not owned by San Jose until 2001---when the Sharks bought the Lexington franchise to Cleveland---at the same time SVSE ALSO OWNED the Gund Arena (now Quicken Loans Arena) & the NBA Cavaliers.
the Ice Cats franchise was defaulted to St. Louis several years ago that is now in Peoria.
as for Winnipeg, why would True North want to alienate fans again like the Jets did should they acquire an NHL Franchise in Winnipeg akin to when the Moose came to town, and what of those fans who may not want to see the Moose shunted aside again for a possibility that may or may not happen.
It seems to me that there is no expansion coming in either the NHL or AHL by league mandate because the mandate is right now the AHL would like to have at least a 1-1 affiliate to affiliate instead of dual affiliates or in Edmonton's case 5 AFFILIATES to develop future players.
When the Phantoms were created it was allowed under the AHL by-laws then because the Flyers wanted to and at the same time they were moving essentially into a new arena, moving to their current home from the Spectrum so Philadelphia isn't really a good example to use.
Toronto isn't either because of the above example because that franchise until last year had been relatively stable in a single market---St. Catherines, Newmarket, to St. John's, now Toronto, only because Lyle Abraham basically defaulted on the lease in Toronto that's why Edmonton had to buy that franchise and was transferred very late and then has been dormant ever since the lockout.
AHL Bylaws specifically stated, and was proven most in the SPHL, Roy Boe was consulted when Bridgeport was in the planning stages, my point is u cannot own multiple teams in a single league, and Boe had to divest himself of Worcester before joining Bridgeport on AHL matters.