cannedice99 Posted March 11, 2011 Report Share Posted March 11, 2011 http://www.calgaryherald.com/sports/Rumour+Heat+exit+amuses+Flames+president+King/4420519/story.html It seems pretty comical, the way CKNW figured this out. If Phoenix goes to Winnipeg, it moves the Moose to Abby, Abby to Chilliwack, and Chilliwack to Victoria. Involving 3 leagues (4 if you count the ECHL already in Victoria)and millions of dollars. Give it up to Vancouver sports radio. Good to hear though that Ken King is committed to Abby. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cross16 Posted March 11, 2011 Report Share Posted March 11, 2011 Seems strange. Contractually I would see no way that the Canucks or the Moose can go into Abbotsford without the Flames consent. If I recall that was a fairly long term deal that the Flames/Heat negotiated with Abbotsford. So the Flames would have to agree to move from Abbotsford to Chilliwack and why in the heck would they do that? Seems like some reporters took a few different stories/rumors and combined them on his/her own. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pyromancer Posted March 11, 2011 Report Share Posted March 11, 2011 Direct from Abbotsford. UPDATED: Vancouver Canucks to move AHL affiliate to Abbotsford? - Cam Tucker, Abbotsford Times March 10, 2011 I don't think this is likely, although I sometimes wonder why more farm teams do not reside in or near their pro teams locations Close proximity would allow quick evaluation of players and transfers between the two clubs. I guess it could also result in interference of player development from the big team's coaches & management. Why can't the Moose move to Chilliwack? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cross16 Posted March 11, 2011 Report Share Posted March 11, 2011 Yeah that article summed up what I was speculating. Wihtout an agreement from the Flames the heat are not going anywhere and I can't see why the Flames woudl agree to move from Abbotsford, where they arn't exclty doing well anyway, to Chilliwak with a smaller population and IMO a lesser chance of success. They'd have to be offered a very sweet deal by the City of Chilliwack. Like I said I think this is two seperate rumors and loose ends being tied by "deamers". I have read elsehwere the the WHL is considering moving the Bruins so to me its that rumor, tied with the speculation of the Moose needing to move and someone going "OMG, woudln't it be awesome to have the Canucks farm team that close and we'll just screw the Flames!!!". Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
C_worthy Posted March 11, 2011 Report Share Posted March 11, 2011 Just throwing a thought out there though... Abbottsford has by far the most travel in the league and could really use some other more proximate teams. How about giving Abby to the Nucks and moving the Heat to Kelowna? Better for travel by having two teams fairly close to each other Moves the Heat a little closer to Calgary Creates an INSTANT rivalry Obviously good for the Nucks to have their farm team in Abby Tons of Calgarians in and around Kelowna Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cross16 Posted March 12, 2011 Report Share Posted March 12, 2011 Would depend on ownership. Hamiltons have owned the Rockets for well over a decade and have built an extremely successful business around it. I'm not so sure they would be willing to risk all of that to bring the AHL in. Kelowna is very, very passionate about their rockets (sell out the buildling including standing room on a regular basis) so I just don't see them risking that for an AHL team. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tachaudh Posted March 12, 2011 Report Share Posted March 12, 2011 Direct from Abbotsford. UPDATED: Vancouver Canucks to move AHL affiliate to Abbotsford? - Cam Tucker, Abbotsford Times March 10, 2011 I don't think this is likely, although I sometimes wonder why more farm teams do not reside in or near their pro teams locations Close proximity would allow quick evaluation of players and transfers between the two clubs. I guess it could also result in interference of player development from the big team's coaches & management. Why can't the Moose move to Chilliwack? All of this would create a serious glut of hockey teams in an area that is already arguably saturated with hockey teams. Chilliwack has the Bruins and there's no way their ownership allows any other professional hockey team to move in. In fact the Bruins threw a fit when it was initially announced that the Heat were moving to Abbotsford, complaining that the lower mainland and the surrounding area already had enough teams. This is yet another fine example of news creation as opposed to news reporting. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Baalzamon Posted March 13, 2011 Report Share Posted March 13, 2011 ^^ the Chiliwack Bruins are WHL--ie, not professional. here's an idea: why doesn't Vancouver JUST KEEP THE FARM TEAM IN MANITOBA? Atlanta's farm team is in Chicago, and Chicago's ahl affiliate is in Rockford. Explain to me how THAT makes any sense at all. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
returnofthejets Posted March 13, 2011 Report Share Posted March 13, 2011 If we get NHL hockey back next year (or the near future) the Moose will need to move, that is a given. I'm not sure where the Moose will go, perhaps south of the border, but they won't stay. They have gained a good following here, I never felt inclined to follow them though...and when they became the nucks farm team that all but sealed my nonexistent interest in them, but the Moose would suffer miserably in attendance having to play second fiddle to a NHL team. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
altemo13 Posted March 13, 2011 Report Share Posted March 13, 2011 I hope the team stays in Abbotsford. After moving out of Saint John, the team has played in three different cities, and it would certainly be good to finally have some stability for some years. I mean yes, Omaha and Quad Cities obviously didn't work, but I thought the Heat are doing okay in Abbotsford. Even if Winnipeg sees NHL hockey again (and I hope they will asap), I don't see Calgary/Abbotsford affected. I agree that the Moose will have to move, but the short distance between Vancouver and Abbotsford doesn't automatically mean that our affiliate has to move again. There are many teams that have affiliates quite far away. Atlanta/Chicago has been mentioned, and if you want extreme examples, just look at Los Angeles/Manchester, Anaheim/Syracuse or San Jose/Worcester ... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Flyerfan52 Posted March 14, 2011 Report Share Posted March 14, 2011 If we get NHL hockey back next year (or the near future) the Moose will need to move, that is a given. I'm not sure where the Moose will go, perhaps south of the border, but they won't stay. They have gained a good following here, I never felt inclined to follow them though...and when they became the nucks farm team that all but sealed my nonexistent interest in them, but the Moose would suffer miserably in attendance having to play second fiddle to a NHL team. The Moose would never survive if the fans had the option of NHL. Even WHL couldn't when we had the Jets. Like you, I couldn't cheer for a Canuck affiliate. Ice Edge were a few jokers that entered the fray to buy the Coyotes after Balsillie was rejected. Their alternate plan was to put an AHL team in Thunder Bay. Maybe they can scrape up the bucks to buy the Moose & relo them there. Heisinger would likely be offered a job with the franchise that TN does land (he was offered other NHL jobs but doesn't want to leave the 'Peg) so he'd be finding those gems in the rough for our team rather then Vancouver. The only way I can see the Flames moving the Heat from Abby to help the 'Nucks have their farm team closer is for compensation. Decent (2/3)picks for a salary dump (Stajan) by the Flames should do it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tachaudh Posted March 14, 2011 Report Share Posted March 14, 2011 ^^ the Chiliwack Bruins are WHL--ie, not professional. here's an idea: why doesn't Vancouver JUST KEEP THE FARM TEAM IN MANITOBA? Atlanta's farm team is in Chicago, and Chicago's ahl affiliate is in Rockford. Explain to me how THAT makes any sense at all. It makes no difference to the interests of the Bruins. Chilliwack isn't a bursting metropolis. It has less than 70,000 people and Brian Burke is not going to allow any professional team to come in and compete with his in terms of revenue. It's just not going to happen. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wolven Posted March 18, 2011 Report Share Posted March 18, 2011 Just throwing a thought out there though... Abbottsford has by far the most travel in the league and could really use some other more proximate teams. How about giving Abby to the Nucks and moving the Heat to Kelowna? Better for travel by having two teams fairly close to each other Moves the Heat a little closer to Calgary Creates an INSTANT rivalry Obviously good for the Nucks to have their farm team in Abby Tons of Calgarians in and around Kelowna In that scenario why would the Heat stop in Kelowna? Why not move all the way to Calgary? I don't know if there is really enough interest in Calgary to support all three of NHL, AHL and WHL teams but I would think that it would be more likely to have that work than to try to sneak an AHL team in to compete with a rabid WHL fanbase and with a smaller population than they have to tap into in Abbotsford. In the short term it might not make very much sense to try to bring the Heat to Calgary because the Saddledome is already busy enough with two teams but maybe if we get the funding for a new arena they will figure out having a secondary rink attached. That way they could have the Flames and the Heat in the main rink and then the Heat and the Hitmen share the secondary rink. Or, just put both the Heat and the Hitmen in the secondary rink and leave the main rink to the Flames and concerts. Or maybe Calgary tries to expand on Max Bell and make it more viable for hosting a professional team and then hockey fans have a different location to go to for watching hockey. It would definitely work out well for the Taxi companies until such a time as Transit can figure out how to get over there. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
C_worthy Posted March 18, 2011 Report Share Posted March 18, 2011 Or maybe Lethbridge? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FCF Posted March 20, 2011 Report Share Posted March 20, 2011 If the Bruins moved that would be great for the Heat. More available hockey dollars. The 'wack is easily close enough to draw fans to Abby. Already does. The story is just a bunch of wishful thinking and speculation. We are still not sure of a return of the Jets yet. May not even happen. If the Flames were to relocate the Heat, I think they might look to Saskatoon. There are nearly 1/4 million people there, a lot of small towns nearby. There are also a lot of Flames fans in Sask. PS What the Heat could use is a really good team to help draw fans. Right now they are more of a young hard working squad learning the trade. Flames would be smart to stack the team a bit more IMO. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wolven Posted March 22, 2011 Report Share Posted March 22, 2011 Or maybe Lethbridge? If the Flames were to relocate the Heat, I think they might look to Saskatoon. There are nearly 1/4 million people there, a lot of small towns nearby. There are also a lot of Flames fans in Sask. Wouldn't Lethbridge and Saskatoon both be in the same boat as Kelowna? Smallish populations and they have established WHL teams. I guess Saskatoon is around 260k pop which makes it bigger and more viable but Lethbridge is smaller than Kelowna. I still think Calgary is the better option. With a million+ people in the city if the teams can figure out the arena situation I think the city could support all 3 teams. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cross16 Posted March 23, 2011 Report Share Posted March 23, 2011 I think the downside with Calgary Wolven is the arena. Who is going to pay to keep a 2nd arena going and be the main tenant becuase i don't think the benefits woudl be there if the Flames had to be in 2 different buildings. I think scheduling with 3 different pro teams would be next to impossible to make sureno teams played on the same day. I agree that the fan base would be an issue, but i think the logistics would be. The cost/beneift ratio i don't think would be there. Ultimately i still see the team staying, but I actually like the Saskatoon idea but I really don't think its viable to go into a current WHL market. From my understanding, most owners woudl prefer a WHL team rather than an AHL team anyway. Quality of hockey isn't drastically better, fan support in Canada is likely to be similar, but your costs are down versus what it would cost to run an AHL team. I think they would have to go into a market where there is not currently hockey there. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Flyerfan52 Posted March 23, 2011 Report Share Posted March 23, 2011 Philly supported both the Flyers & Phantoms when the Phantoms played out of the old Spectrum & it was handy having the farm team across the parking lot. With the Spectrum being torn down the Phantoms were moved to Glen Falls & renamed Adirondack. 3 teams in Calgary would be a scheduling nightmare. Arenas also need dates open for concerts & the like. Best bet would be a reasonably close location that doesn't have a WHL team. So far Abby fits the bill. If needed I wonder if a city like Billings would work. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The_Don Posted March 24, 2011 Report Share Posted March 24, 2011 I think the more logical move would be PHX to MAN and MAN to Victoria. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Baalzamon Posted March 24, 2011 Report Share Posted March 24, 2011 I think the more logical move would be PHX to MAN and MAN to Victoria. why doesn't Victoria have a team anyway? or maybe the Canucks' AHL team should be in Spuzzum. I like the idea of a team being called the Spuzzum Buzzums Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
C_worthy Posted March 24, 2011 Report Share Posted March 24, 2011 why doesn't Victoria have a team anyway? or maybe the Canucks' AHL team should be in Spuzzum. I like the idea of a team being called the Spuzzum Buzzums Or how about the Vancouver Island Ferries? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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