Where should each teams AHL affiliate be, ideally?

[Gavin Forrester]

Islanders should move from Bridgeport to Nassau after the new rink gets built for the NYI after next season (20-21) Players would be closer and easier to call up couple of hours before a game. Rangers could then either move from Hartford to Bridgeport when contract expires or just eliminate Bridgeport

 

[CHRDANHUTCH]

Islanders should move from Bridgeport to Nassau after the new rink gets built for the NYI after next season (20-21) Players would be closer and easier to call up couple of hours before a game. Rangers could then either move from Hartford to Bridgeport when contract expires or just eliminate Bridgeport

both teams are owned outright, Gavin.... then there's the management contracts, especially in Hartford which is why Portland is the affiliate there because of the commonality of arena management

 

[Tommy Hawk]

Here is the optimal, end of discussion

Anaheim Ducks = Anaheim
Arizona Coyotes = Phoenix
Boston Bruins = Boston
Buffalo Sabres = Buffalo
Carolina Hurricanes = Raleigh
Chicago Blackhawks = Chicago
Columbus Blue Jackets = Columbus
Detroit Red Wings = Detroit
Los Angeles Kings = LA
Minnesota Wild = MSP
Montreal Canadiens = Montreal
Nashville Predators = Nashville
New York Islanders = Brooklyn
New York Rangers = NYC Manhattan
Philadelphia Flyers = Philadelphia
Toronto Maple Leafs = Toronto
Vegas Golden Knights = Vegas
NJ Devils = Newark
Seattle = Seattle
Florida = Miami
Tampa Bay = Tampa Bay
Dallas = Dallas
San Jose = San Jose
Colorado = Denver
Ottawa = Ottawa
Winnipeg = Winnipeg
Vancouver = Vancouver
Pittsburgh = Pittsburgh
DC = DC
Calgary = Calgary
Edmonton = Edmonton
St. Louis = St. Louis

Getting the idea????

This is still the most ideal

And every single one of them nicknamed "Admirals"...

Darn tootin'!!!!! And they home team always wears white and the visitors black.

Well, it's gonna take some gettin' used to ... especially the "Admirals" who play their home games in the mountains ...

Shouldn't take any time to get used to at all..... Mountains, desert, etc. Admiral Noah landed his ark on a mountain. It would be easy to remember which team you were playing as well and less team names to memorize.

And who the heck cares about Portland anyway???

 

[JMCx4]

... Shouldn't take any time to get used to at all..... Mountains, desert, etc. Admiral Noah landed his ark on a mountain. ...

As the VERY old saying goes: "Any port in a 40-day storm."

 

[Ralph Slate]

The answer of this question depends on your opinion as to what the AHL should be.

If the AHL should be a league which allows nearby NHL fans to see "prospects" for a cheaper price, and also allows NHL teams to circumvent the salary cap by being able to do short-time call-ups, then the post where every AHL affiliate is in the same NHL city is the correct answer to this question.

I'm not sure that is best for hockey in the long run. Travel costs would be at the NHL level. Attendance would probably be spotty, with some markets doing OK, but others (San Jose, looking at you) pulling in 2-3k fans. The call-up thing is overblown too, because unless schedules align, it is very likely that either the NHL or AHL team would be on the road at any given time and far away from their affiliate.

The other vision is that the AHL is a league that develops prospects for the NHL team, with more emphasis on "development" and less on "call-up". In that case, it makes sense to have geographically tight groupings of teams to minimize time and expense spent traveling, and to put the teams in markets in those overall regions which will draw good levels of fans.

The AHL is in neither place right now. It currently is emphasizing "closeness", primarily for salary cap reasons. (It seems silly to realign minor league hockey instead of to tweak the rules on when salaries count towards the cap to not give teams that have their players nearby an edge.).

It is putting teams into markets that are both remote (Texas) and poor (Belleville).

The national footprint increases travel costs, but also importantly, creates big disparities between both revenue and attendance (Chicago being in the same league as Bridgeport)

The geographical expanse is creating effective geographic mini-leagues which are too small (Springfield only plays 13 of the 31 teams, playing Bridgeport, Hartford and Providence in almost half of their games).

I get the fact that people who aren't in-person AHL fans like this idea of a national "mini-NHL", but I really think that this "gotta put the AHL team within 30 minutes of the NHL team" thing is ruining the league and hockey in general.

 

[Tommy Hawk]

I have another idea, raise the NHL ticket prices and the AHL schedule match exactly the NHL schedule. That way no increase in travel costs and the AHL game is played right before the NHL game.

 

[JMCx4]

I have another idea, raise the NHL ticket prices and the AHL schedule match exactly the NHL schedule. That way no increase in travel costs and the AHL game is played right before the NHL game.

And offer admission exclusively to season ticket holders of BOTH teams!