Las Vegas Hockey: AHL Franchise Options
Bill Foley and George McPhee build out the Las Vegas Hockey Franchise in the Sin City area. But there are also some farther reaching decisions to be made. Just as important as getting the NHL franchise together the (FILL IN YOUR PREFERRED TEAM NAME HERE) will need their minor league system set up, and fast. Especially their Las Vegas Hockey AHL affiliate will need to be up and running in less than a year.
In today’s NHL Hockey, affiliates in the American Hockey League (AHL) and the East Coast Hockey League (ECHL) is as important to the team as the AAA and AA minor league teams are to Major League Baseball franchises. It is a place for young players to develop. The AHL team is a place for players on the cusp of being NHL worthy to hone their finishing skills. It can also be a place for players recovering from injury to get some conditioning ice time before getting thrown back into the NHL tank.
Where will those hockey franchises be? That is almost as good a question as what will the new franchise’s nickname and color scheme will be.
Where Could the AHL Franchise Be?
Where could the AHL hockey franchise be? Well it really could be anywhere. In this era of transportation many NHL hockey franchises have their AHL affiliates quite a ways away. For example the Edmonton Oilers have their affiliate in Bakersfield,California. The Calgary Flames is affiliated with Stockton and the Colorado Avalanche has theirs in San Antonio, Texas.
The closer it is the easier to swing by and put eyes on the players. It is easier for an emergency call up in case a fast roster move is needed.
There is something to be said for nearness, and actually most AHL franchises are located close, like the Arizona Coyotes has its AHL hockey affiliate down the road in Tucson. Meanwhile the Toronto Maple Leafs and San Jose Sharks have their AHL hockey affiliates in their own city.
The closer it is the easier to swing by and put eyes on the players. It is easier for an emergency call up in case a fast roster move is needed. So something close is a positive.
Three locations have been the most popular in the speculation going on. Reno, Fresno and Salt Lake City. There is going to be a lot of factors involved in the final decision, including costs of putting the franchise together, market details, local interest, cost of leases, but here are my thoughts.
Reno
More from Vegas Hockey Knight
- The moment the Vegas Golden Knights have been waiting for
- 3 Golden Knights players deserving of the Conn Smythe Trophy
- If Golden Knights win Stanley Cup, who should Mark Stone pass it to first?
- Why are Vegas Golden Knights fans obsessed with flamingos?
- Just one more game for Golden Knight supremacy
There are a lot of good things about having Reno as the AHL affiliate and few negatives. Foley and McPhee have repeatedly emphasized how the franchise must develop local support to thrive. Placing the AHL hockey franchise in Reno helps solidify Las Vegas Hockey as a Nevada sports team, and throws a hand out to Northern Nevada leaders. The bit of a negative I see is Reno is out at the Northern edge of what I call the California arm of the AHL. Travel costs will be a factor for this team.
Fresno
Fresno is physically the closest of the AHL locations suggested and would help the AS YET NAMELESS Las Vegas Hockey franchise shoehorn a bit into Central California. It is also located center stage in that California AHL hockey arm. Transportation costs would probably be the least for this location.
Salt Lake City
An AHL affiliate in Salt Lake City is really interesting. It could really put a Las Vegas Hockey franchise footprint in Utah. Two negatives – it has the smallest population of these cities at less than 200,000. On a map it is also fairly far off from all other AHL teams.
Wildcard
Despite the chatter over Reno, Fresno and Salt Lake City I would not be surprised if the AHL hockey affiliate ends up somewhere else. No, I do not expect it to be in Las Vegas. But there are a lot of other locations farther afield that may offer great opportunities.
The Pacific Northwest comes to mind. There are major metropolises up there pinnacled by Portland, Seattle and Tacoma with no NHL or AHL franchise. The Seattle area does support two Western Hockey League teams as well as a Western States Hockey League team.
Other sites that could be incredibly controversial would be an AHL hockey franchise in Houston, Kansas City or even Quebec City. All of these are sizable cities who have shown interest in getting pro hockey. We can really underline Quebec who was a rival for Las Vegas for getting the current expansion franchise. How would the old Nordique fans take to a desert minor league team in their midst? Still it would provide a great platform to prove they would support an NHL franchise.
For Las Vegas, affiliating with a team in these locations could be a double-edged sword. They could have so much success that Foley and McPhee would need to look for a new location. IF an NHL franchise eventually expands where their AHL affiliate is.
In fact, as tight-lipped and careful Foley and McPhee have been… I’d bet on “the field” than our three seeming front-runners of Reno, Fresno and Salt Lake City.