Franchise Fallout

[Pounder]

Phoenix has folded. Dayton and Mississippi are on "hiatus," supposedly trying to seek greener pastures before they, too, fold.

Toledo returns next season.

Reading and Trenton will play in the South Division next year. Um, yikes.

The southern contingent is down to Charlotte, Florida, Gwinnett, and South Carolina. How long can Florida handle the travel, despite relatively good crowds? Can they add some teams around the core? Would the AHL's possible shift towards being close to NHL teams bail these cities out?

There's been an offseason surprise the last several years? What could hit next?

This seems like a league that could concentrate in Great Lakes and Western cities. BTW, IIRC, the West still subsidizes travel... something that seems to be ignored in "they're draining our resources" arguments from fans back East when markets are simply failing.

The economy has not been kind to minor pro hockey. I wonder if Major Junior is the wave of the future, frankly.

[wellington]

Tough times... I wonder if Mississippi will make the jump to the SPHL? Representatives from the SPHL will be meeting with officials in Pensacola next week, so Mississippi could be a good fit if Pensacola comes on board.

http://www.volunteertv.com/sports/headl ... 38722.html

[Primis]

With Kalamazoo now leaving the IHL it's entirely possible they're pressing hard to join the league.

[Jackals0074]

NHL needs to give $ support to minor league hockey teams and stop just using them for player storage

[PigOut]

[quote=""Primis""]With Kalamazoo now leaving the IHL it's entirely possible they're pressing hard to join the league.[/quote]
ECHL Website -
http://www.echl.com/cgi-bin/mpublic.cgi ... 2&id=19007

Kalamazoo will play in ECHL ... !

[Primis]

[quote=""PigOut""]ECHL Website -
http://www.echl.com/cgi-bin/mpublic.cgi ... 2&id=19007

Kalamazoo will play in ECHL ... ![/quote]

Yup, it's about the worst-kept secret, now official. Some IHL fans were convinced that they were moving to the USHL, but everyone else pretty much knew the ECHL was the destination (with AHL an outside shot).

Now the question is who will they affiliate with? Affiliation is going to be hugely important for the Kzoo market. And Detroit is already with Toledo, so...

[Geoff]

Has it been announced? I know they were affiliated before hand but I haven't heard or seen anything about them enewing their affiliation just yet.

[Primis]

[quote=""Geoff""]Has it been announced? I know they were affiliated before hand but I haven't heard or seen anything about them enewing their affiliation just yet.[/quote]

Everything I have heard is that the Wings quietly have retained affiliation with the dark Toledo franchise.

However, I did some poking around and found this in a Q&A with Toledo coach Vitucci:

Q: What AHL/NHL teams will the Walleye be affiliated with? Will we still be affiliated with the Red Wings? - Stephen Perry (Toledo)


A: Stephen, at this time we do not have a working relationship with any NHL/AHL teams. This is something that will be discussed in the near future with a few organizations. Teams typically don't finalize affiliation agreements with their parent teams until the off-season prior to playing.

So now I'm not so sure. I wonder if the Red Wings got tired of waiting and quietly backed off their oral agreement to hang on until Toledo returned.

It certainly would put a huge spin on things if the K-Wings got a Red Wings affiliation and Toledo did not.

[Lazer]

CHL loses one of its heavyweights, Okakahoma City Blazers shuts down.

http://starsblog.dallasnews.com/archive ... oming.html

http://www.koco.com/sports/19931530/detail.html

http://www.americanchronicle.com/articles/yb/132547834

[HockeyRulez]

[quote=""Pounder""]Phoenix has folded. Dayton and Mississippi are on "hiatus," supposedly trying to seek greener pastures before they, too, fold.

Toledo returns next season.

Reading and Trenton will play in the South Division next year. Um, yikes.

The southern contingent is down to Charlotte, Florida, Gwinnett, and South Carolina. How long can Florida handle the travel, despite relatively good crowds? Can they add some teams around the core? Would the AHL's possible shift towards being close to NHL teams bail these cities out?

There's been an offseason surprise the last several years? What could hit next?

This seems like a league that could concentrate in Great Lakes and Western cities. BTW, IIRC, the West still subsidizes travel... something that seems to be ignored in "they're draining our resources" arguments from fans back East when markets are simply failing.

The economy has not been kind to minor pro hockey. I wonder if Major Junior is the wave of the future, frankly.[/quote]



Personally to me, now with Charlotte going to the AHL, why not stick Gwinnet?(It's near HOTlanta)How about the Everblades as well(They are the AA Affiliate of the Panthers)The problem here is South Carolina, them and Hershey have worked so well together.