Prospect Info: Vegas Golden Knights Prospect/Chicago Wolves AHL Thread

[LadyStanley]

Fort Wayne Komets announce six signings | News, Sports, Jobs - News-Sentinel

ECHL Fort Wayne signs six; potential call ups.

 

[LadyStanley]

 

[LadyStanley]

Suzuki with nice wrister on PP puts Canada ahead 2-1 in 1st of WJSS Canada vs USA.

 

[LadyStanley]

Suzuki interviewed 1st intermission

 

[LadyStanley]

Fort Wayne Komets continue to narrow affiliation hopes | News, Sports, Jobs - News-Sentinel

Potential ECHL affiliate

 

[Blue Goose]

Fort Wayne Komets continue to narrow affiliation hopes | News, Sports, Jobs - News-Sentinel

Potential ECHL affiliate

Fort Wayne would be a great fit.

But how many players on VGK contracts would actually end up there? My guess is Zach Fucale, Alex Gallant and Jimmy Oligny - everyone else is probably going to the AHL or back to Junior.

 

[LadyStanley]

Article indicates 2-3 skaters plus goalie.

Gallant is vet, can't be assigned to ECHL without his permission.

 

[LadyStanley]

Pronman: World Junior camp takeaways and projected rosters
From Athletic (paywall)

Liked Elvens (Sweden). Glass (Canada) - blew him away in early game, but needs to play quicker.

Glass and Suzuki projected for Team Canada roster in December.

 

[LadyStanley]

Given a major opening, Don Levin's Wolves are set to celebrate their 25th minor-league season

Wolves will be celebrating their 25th anniversary this season

 

[Vegan Knight]

Given a major opening, Don Levin's Wolves are set to celebrate their 25th minor-league season

Wolves will be celebrating their 25th anniversary this season

The quicker we can switch affiliates the better off the team will be.

 

[CHRDANHUTCH]

The quicker we can switch affiliates the better off the team will be.

and what franchise already not spoken for is closer than Chicago, or specifically Rosemont, IL

 

[Vegan Knight]

and what franchise already not spoken for is closer than Chicago, or specifically Rosemont, IL

It's not about closer. There are other considerations. Or else the Blackhawks would be their affiliate or St. Louis would have stayed with them.

It's about the Chicago Wolves owner not caring about his NHL affiliate at all and being such a wildcard and it being better to find a partner who can put our prospects as the priority.

Preferably one we own in Reno or Salt Lake City or Boise or some California city.

 

[CHRDANHUTCH]

It's not about closer. There are other considerations. Or else the Blackhawks would be their affiliate or St. Louis would have stayed with them.

It's about the Chicago Wolves owner not caring about his NHL affiliate at all and being such a wildcard and it being better to find a partner who can put our prospects as the priority.

Preferably one we own in Reno or Salt Lake City or Boise or some California city.

you bought in to that narrative, you're forgetting Rockford is the Hawks affiliation..... I detest the Wolves annexing themselves to Chicago, when the arena isn't in the market, they would never affiliate with the Hawks, either

St. Louis acquired that franchise in trade for selling their franchise to Vancouver, which is why the Blues have no longer have any interests in operating another franchise or owning one, for that matter

there aren't any AHL California markets available, since all of them are controlled by the owner/operator model, Vegan, Utah wants absolutely nothing to do with the AHL.... IT'S WHY that ownership sold its rights to Cleveland, and why the Grizzlies went back to the ECHL, Boise, uh, already affiliated and isn't that further away on recalls to Vegas, Chicago is a metro hub between Midway and O'Hare....

All State Arena is in a village, not Chicago metro....

 

[BattleBorn]

It's not about closer. There are other considerations. Or else the Blackhawks would be their affiliate or St. Louis would have stayed with them.

It's about the Chicago Wolves owner not caring about his NHL affiliate at all and being such a wildcard and it being better to find a partner who can put our prospects as the priority.

Preferably one we own in Reno or Salt Lake City or Boise or some California city.

Most of the horror stories you hear about the Wolves were pretty much addressed when the Knights signed the affiliation. VGK is handling pretty much everything except ticket sales and marketing, which was apparently not the case in previous affiliations where the team was more about winning and less about development.

 

[Blue Goose]

you bought in to that narrative, you're forgetting Rockford is the Hawks affiliation..... I detest the Wolves annexing themselves to Chicago, when the arena isn't in the market, they would never affiliate with the Hawks, either

St. Louis acquired that franchise in trade for selling their franchise to Vancouver, which is why the Blues have no longer have any interests in operating another franchise or owning one, for that matter

there aren't any AHL California markets available, since all of them are controlled by the owner/operator model, Vegan, Utah wants absolutely nothing to do with the AHL.... IT'S WHY that ownership sold its rights to Cleveland, and why the Grizzlies went back to the ECHL, Boise, uh, already affiliated and isn't that further away on recalls to Vegas, Chicago is a metro hub between Midway and O'Hare....

All State Arena is in a village, not Chicago metro....

I found it interesting that this year's VGK Road Trip went to Reno, Boise and SLC. I have no doubt that if Reno gets a team it's going to be ECHL, and I agree that the SLC owners seem to like being in the ECHL as well. My hope is that Boise eventually decides to make the jump to the AHL like the Colorado Eagles did, and the Wolves become the AHL affiliate for Seattle's new NHL team. I would imagine Foley wants to get the folks in Idaho to be VGK fans instead of Seattle fans, so having our AHL affiliate there could lay some ground work. The ironic part of Seattle having the Wolves as their AHL affiliate is that wasn't Don Levin always interested in owning the proposed NHL team in Seattle?

 

[CupInSIX]

It's not about closer. There are other considerations. Or else the Blackhawks would be their affiliate or St. Louis would have stayed with them.

It's about the Chicago Wolves owner not caring about his NHL affiliate at all and being such a wildcard and it being better to find a partner who can put our prospects as the priority.

Preferably one we own in Reno or Salt Lake City or Boise or some California city.

Heading into next season most of the Wolves are VGK prospects and depth signings. I don't foresee any ice time issues surfacing, unless a prospect isn't physically mature enough yet for the pro game.

 

[LadyStanley]

there aren't any AHL California markets available, since all of them are controlled by the owner/operator model, Vegan, Utah wants absolutely nothing to do with the AHL.... IT'S WHY that ownership sold its rights to Cleveland, and why the Grizzlies went back to the ECHL, Boise, uh, already affiliated and isn't that further away on recalls to Vegas, Chicago is a metro hub between Midway and O'Hare.....

Of the 31 AHL teams, 19 are owned by their NHL parent corporation, leaving 12 independent.

All of the AHL Pacific Division teams are parent-owned. (That way all the financial headaches are part of "doing business in the NHL", not some independent AHL owner.)

There are potential markets, in California, that conceivably would be possible to have a AHL team.
Sacramento's new NBA arena for one. But it's fairly close to Stockton, as Fresno used to be to Bakersfield.
Long Beach used to have ECHL team, but that barn is worse that San Diego, and not that far from Ontario and San Diego.

Is there a venue/interest in a second AHL franchise in Arizona? Flagstaff, perhaps? Weakening NHL Arizona in any way might get knocked down by other NHL teams.

Ideally, there could be a new AHL team in Reno. A lot less AHL territory to grouse over. Decent drive to Stockton and San Jose. Bakersfield a bit more of a hike. Ontario and San Diego (and Tuscon) might make more sense to fly to. Which adds to the cost of business.

 

[LadyStanley]

Signs still point toward K's, Vegas marriage | Ice chips | Journal Gazette

Sounds like announcement could be coming next week.

 

[LadyStanley]

 

[LadyStanley]

Hmmm

 

[LadyStanley]

(Really spreading out those dev camp stories)

 

[IceNeophyte]

Of the 31 AHL teams, 19 are owned by their NHL parent corporation, leaving 12 independent.

All of the AHL Pacific Division teams are parent-owned. (That way all the financial headaches are part of "doing business in the NHL", not some independent AHL owner.)

There are potential markets, in California, that conceivably would be possible to have a AHL team.
Sacramento's new NBA arena for one. But it's fairly close to Stockton, as Fresno used to be to Bakersfield.
Long Beach used to have ECHL team, but that barn is worse that San Diego, and not that far from Ontario and San Diego.

Is there a venue/interest in a second AHL franchise in Arizona? Flagstaff, perhaps? Weakening NHL Arizona in any way might get knocked down by other NHL teams.

Ideally, there could be a new AHL team in Reno. A lot less AHL territory to grouse over. Decent drive to Stockton and San Jose. Bakersfield a bit more of a hike. Ontario and San Diego (and Tuscon) might make more sense to fly to. Which adds to the cost of business.

Flagstaff doesn't have the population to support an ECHL team, let alone an AHL team. Don't expect fans to come up from Phx, they won't even drive to Glendale for games.

Heck, Victorville has 50% more population than Flagstaff. Howzabout the Victorville Vultures?

 

[Blue Goose]

There are potential markets, in California, that conceivably would be possible to have a AHL team.
Sacramento's new NBA arena for one. But it's fairly close to Stockton, as Fresno used to be to Bakersfield.
Long Beach used to have ECHL team, but that barn is worse that San Diego, and not that far from Ontario and San Diego.

Sacramento is an interesting one. The new Golden 1 Center is beautiful - I was there for March Madness last year, but hockey is a question mark. I know the arena's Wikipedia page lists a seating capacity for hockey, but I asked several ushers while I was there about the idea of bringing a minor-league hockey team to town. Every one of them said that the ice they use does not appear to be "official size", which is evident when looking at the seating chart for their Disney on Ice performances (which uses a smaller surface).

Plus, like you said, it's very close to Stockton and I honestly don't think there's enough interest in Sacramento. Fresno, on the other hand, could be a good fit. They've got two arenas to choose from and the interest should be there (and Bakersfield is 2 hours away, farther than Sacramento/Stockton).

 

[CHRDANHUTCH]

Sacramento is an interesting one. The new Golden 1 Center is beautiful - I was there for March Madness last year, but hockey is a question mark. I know the arena's Wikipedia page lists a seating capacity for hockey, but I asked several ushers while I was there about the idea of bringing a minor-league hockey team to town. Every one of them said that the ice they use does not appear to be "official size", which is evident when looking at the seating chart for their Disney on Ice performances (which uses a smaller surface).

Plus, like you said, it's very close to Stockton and I honestly don't think there's enough interest in Sacramento. Fresno, on the other hand, could be a good fit. They've got two arenas to choose from and the interest should be there (and Bakersfield is 2 hours away, farther than Sacramento/Stockton).

Fresno, I think is done, SG.... after what occurred with the Fresno Falcons collapse and termination, they have a very successful program now with the Monsters being the center of that.....

 

[Blue Goose]

Fresno, I think is done, SG.... after what occurred with the Fresno Falcons collapse and termination, they have a very successful program now with the Monsters being the center of that.....

Should have clarified - I think Fresno is a better fit than Sacramento, but I'm not sure either will get a team soon. I still stand by my theory of having Boise jump up to the AHL.