NHL

Unaffiliated

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Surely the Carolina Hurricanes are still stinging from their loss to the Florida Panthers, but I’m guessing they’re also concerned about the lack of an AHL affiliate for next season. After all, the future of their prospects should be on their mind. This all came about in April when the Chicago Wolves announced they wouldn’t be renewing the affiliation. It’s a topic I’ve been thinking about since.

During the 2022-23 season, all 32 teams had their own affiliate to send prospects. That way no team would have to send prospects to a team with another’s prospects. But, as the season neared the end, the Wolves announced they were going independent. The defending Calder Cup champions failed to qualify for the playoffs, and they believe that’s due to the Canes philosophy change. They had initially been focused on winning and developing players, but this season became all about development, according to Wolves GM Wendell Young.

So, with this, questions abound. What are the Canes going to do with prospects? How will the Wolves fare without an NHL affiliate? And will this benefit the Wolves?

First, Canes prospects. Where to? Before the affiliation, the Canes sent players to the Charlotte Checkers. While that makes geographical sense, the Checkers are now the affiliate for the Florida Panthers. In fact, the other 31 AHL teams are spoken for. I’d guess for next season Carolina will try to find a partner to share a team; or spread players through the league. Then, in the future look into purchasing an AHL team so they would be in total control. Many NHL teams own their affiliates and have placed them in geographically convenient places.

Second, I believe the Wolves will fare well as far as on-ice. In the team’s history (including IHL), they have won 5 league championships and 3 of those came during seasons where they were independent. As far as attendance, the team had their best average attendance in the IHL years as an independent (as high as 11,000, low as 8,600), but for the most part in the AHL their attendance has been consistent averaging between 7-8,000 as an affiliated team. As far as fan support, I believe the Wolves will do good, especially since they most likely will be putting every effort to put a good team on ice. But there’s another situation to be looked at. Finances. One reason the IHL had to cease operations was that with teams choosing to or being forced to go independent, the cost of operating rose. The KC Blades had difficulties when they were independent. The main reason for the difficulties was they had to cover all expenses. As the Sharks affiliate, the NHL team paid the coaching staff and most player salaries. As an independent, you have to cover all expenses.

Third, I believe the Wolves will benefit from this as far as the on-ice product goes. This will give them the opportunity to control their fate. They’ll be able to scout for the best players available. My guess is they will probably find a lot of players overseas that’d like to come to North America to play. They’ll also probably look at AHLers who are not currently under NHL contract. If the owners are willing to open the pocketbook to take this risk, I believe they can make it work in the suburbs of a city that’s also home to an NHL team. My only worry is they’ll have hurt their relationship with the AHL and NHL by deciding to go this route. It’s clear the AHL wants to be a feeder league for the NHL, and they want that to be the main purpose-developing future NHL stars.

Now, if I were the owner of a minor league team maybe looking to jump up in leagues, (say…the KC Mavericks) I’d be calling the Canes offering my team as a possible affiliate, if they could help with getting the franchise into the AHL. But that’s just me…

Kansas City Not Ready For NHL: Always The Bride’s Maid, Never The Bride

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After looking at the reasons why Kansas City should get an NHL team and looking at possible targets for relocation, let’s face reality. KC still isn’t NHL ready, or the NHL isn’t ready for KC.

The NHL doesn’t have plans for expansion. And it seems the league, especially Gary Bettman, has no appetite for relocation. Bettman has made the promise to the city of Tempe, Arizona that if they build a new arena for the Coyotes, they will get a 30-year commitment for the Coyotes to stay put (it’s odd how I haven’t heard ownership make that same comment). While the Senators are for sale, that’s contingent on the team staying put in Ottawa.

And about those other teams I focused on being possible targets for relocation. The Flames look like they’re closing in on a new deal with the city for an arena, plus they’re committed given that they relocated their AHL affiliate there. The Sharks look to have a little bit of a post-COVID bump in attendance (a little…not a lot). They’re also committing to rebuilding under new GM Mike Grier as everyone except Hertl is said to be available. They also are committed to their city, having just opened a new arena with the AHL affiliate. That leaves the Sabres. This team, while not great, seems to be improving slowly. They also look like they’ve had a bit of a bump in attendance, although I admit that’s going by games I’ve viewed on TV, I don’t have hard numbers to back that up. So, those teams I thought could possibly be movers now seem like they’re staying put.

Also, cities like Houston and Quebec City look more attractive to the NHL for any possible relocation or future expansion. There is someone in Houston interested in bringing a team to town. In Quebec City, there is the facility and proven support for an NHL team. Kansas City doesn’t seem to have any local person interested in bringing a team to town that has the financial capability to do it, and we are now on the clock with our NHL-caliber facility as it is now 15 years old (half way to talk of needing a new building). So, what’s next? Do we just give up on the NHL dream and stick with ECHL hockey? Well… My opinion is KC should be home to an AHL team. So, in my next blog, I’m going to talk about why an AHL team could work here

Subscribe to The Hockey News

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Just looking over the latest copy of The Hockey News (Volume 76, No. 06, Prospects Unlimited) and discovered some fascinating content. This copy is chalked full of content on prospects, with a cover story on the Buffalo Sabres young players.

There are also two articles that should be of interest to Kansas City hockey fans. One of those talks about the ECHL and building a winner in that league. The other article is about a four-game exhibition series that the Kansas City Scouts played in against the Washington Capitals right before the final decision to move to Denver was made.

The ECHL article, entitled Can’t Coast By written by Ken Campbell, gives good insight into how an ECHL franchise is put together. It also gives you an idea of how much your favorite KC Maverick might be getting paid to play, as they give a bit of information about the league’s salary cap. (With the cap at less than $15,000 a week, no wonder Lamar Hunt Jr. thinks the NHL expansion fee is “ridiculous”.) The article also states that ECHL affiliated teams receive between 3-8 players from an affiliation. It’s a good read, and details how difficult it could be to put together a championship ECHL team.

The Scouts article, entitled When the NHL Invaded Japan by Steve Currier, talks about The Coca-Cola Bottlers Cup 4-game exhibition tournament between the Scouts and the Washington Capitals that was played in Japan. It’s an interesting read, which I assume might just be an excerpt from Currier’s book on the subject, also called When the NHL Invaded Japan. It’s an interesting read and makes me one to grab a copy of the book to read more in-depth description, as well as maybe see more pictures from the event.

The Hockey News is always worthy of a purchase, if you don’t already subscribe, but I found this edition to be something I wanted to share. Oh, and this edition also had part 3 of the series talking about the WHA. It’s been an extremely interesting series to read with Howard Baldwin’s stories about the rise and fall of the league, and specifically his experiences with the Whalers franchise’s place in the league. Part 3 gets in to signing the Howes to play for the Whalers. I never knew Colleen Howe was involved in contract negotiations.

Anyhow, if you don’t have a subscription, why not? And if you don’t, you should think about trying to pick up a copy somewhere.

NHL Back in KC: Target #4: San Jose Sharks

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The fourth team we’ll be looking at is a headscratcher. They’ve always seemed to pack the building in the Bay, but the last few years have not been kind to attendance at Sharks games. You can blame the pandemic, you can blame poor play on the ice, and you can also blame…traffic? That’s one of the issues the Sharks brought up with their current home at SAP Center. During the 2021-22 season, the Sharks average attendance was 12,573 of capacity, which is 71.6% of their arena capacity. But if you watched their games on TV, it rivaled Ottawa Senators and Buffalo Sabres games in number of empty seats. (Remember all attendance statistics are based on announced attendance, which usually is defined as tickets distributed—meaning it’s not necessarily the number of butts in seats.)

What’s this about traffic? Well, there’s a Google project that will be causing traffic headaches for downtown San Jose. So much so the Sharks had placed a few veiled threats about moving. In November 2020, they sent letters to fans about their issues with the project and the hassle it might cause. In April 2021, an email went out with their hints at not being happy about the project and the hassles they’d be facing as result of traffic reductions in front of the arena. But apparently, the city and team settled whatever the beef was with the project, although no details were released about how that happened.

Now, let’s talk about the SAP Center. The arena, originally known as San Jose Arena broke ground on June 28, 1990. It opened on September 7, 1993. The Sharks played their first two seasons at The Cow Palace in Daly City while waiting for the building to be finished. The Shark Tank, as it is affectionately known, is almost 30 years old putting. That puts it on the list of older NHL arenas. The Sharks continuously make updates to the building, the latest being a new video scoreboard set to debut this season.

The building did eventually get a naming rights owner becoming the Compaq Center of San Jose, eventually becoming the HP Pavilion. In 2013, SAP became the naming rights owner of the arena, which made a lot of sense since the co-founder of SAP Hasso Plattner was the Sharks owner since being a charter member of the local ownership who purchased the team from original owner George Gund III in 2002. Plattner is now the sole owner of the Sharks.

While Plattner seems to be committed to the Bay Area, having brought the AHL team to the city. The Sharks recently completed construction and opened a new arena dedicated to their AHL affiliate San Jose Barracuda team. They have also invested a lot of money in improvements to the SAP Center.

But with the drama that’s gone on with the team in the last year; the Evander Kane fiasco, Erik Karlsson not wanting to be part of a rebuild (which the team clearly needs), what happened with Doug Wilson, and that little bit of friction with the city over the Google project; could they think of a move or maybe a sale. The Sharks have signed a deal to keep the team at SAP until 2025, but what happens after that? What if attendance continues to flounder? What if they aren’t satisfied with the Google construction and the changes that it makes to the area? By 2025, they’ll have a clearer picture of what the area is going to be like…maybe change their view on sticking around.

NHL Back in Kansas City: Target #3: Ottawa Senators

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The third team on the list of targets for a move is the Ottawa Senators. Their attendance numbers last season put them at the bottom of the league averaging 9,155 fans, which put them at 47.8% capacity. The Senators have been the center of scrutiny while being owned by Eugene Melynk. Upon his death in March, the team was left to his daughters. While in most cases this would stir up speculation, this seems to have had the opposite effect. Most of that can be contributed to the drama and antics swirling around Melnyk the last few years of his life, from rumors of employee abuse to threats to move the team to legal issues abound.

Let’s discuss the rocky history of the team. The modern-day version of the Senators was the idea of Bruce Firestone in 1988. After campaigning two years, he was awarded a franchise on December 6, 1990 to begin play for the 92-93 season. The team played in the Ottawa Civic Center, while they worked on the development of the new arena. During that process, that included getting rural land rezoned, Firestone had to bow out. Rod Bryden took over ownership in 1993.

After playing the first few seasons at the Civic Center, the Senators finally got to play in the new home on January 17, 1996. What was first known as The Palladium became the Corel Centre one month later. It’d later be named Scotiabank Place, then Canadian Tire Centre. The arena would plague the team with debt, as well as scrutiny for being so far from the city. The debt that Bryden incurred led to a bankruptcy filing on January 9, 2003.

In 2003, Canadian businessman and philanthropist Eugene Melnyk bought the team and arena. At the time, he was seen as the savior, vowing to keep the team in Ottawa. Things went good under his ownership, the team went to the Stanley Cup Finals in 2007. Then, things started to go bad. In 2017, he began threats to move the team if he didn’t see more support. In September 2018, he released a video with plans for a team rebuild, where he referred to the team as being “in the dumps”, which got him criticism. That saw the beginning of the push from fans for him to sell. He had no intention of selling. The 2018-19 season saw the franchise record for empty seats drop to a 22 year low, with the average attendance trending down since 2012-13. In 2019, the New York Post called the Senators the laughingstock of the NHL because of debt, lawsuits, and drama surrounding Melnyk. Part of the lawsuits and drama was tied to Melnyk’s desire to build a new arena Senators in a project known as LeBreton Flats. A project that fell apart for him when the relationship between him and John Ruddy turned sour.

Melnyk died March 28, 2022. Immediately questions arose about the future of the team. NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman told reporters team was left to Melnyk’s daughters, Anna and Olivia, saying it was “completely stable and functioning in the ordinary course.” May 4, 2022 saw a report there were parties interested in purchasing the team. One of those was Quebecor, which would be looking to purchase it to move to Quebec. The other was John Ruddy, who was previously a partner of Melnyk’s in the exploration of the LeBreton Flats project.

June 23, 2022 saw the announcement the Senators had won a bid to build a new arena at LeBreton Flats. Populous Design (KC company) has been named as the design team. With that, it seems almost certain the team’s future in Ottawa is secure and John Ruddy probably has the inside track on purchasing the team if it were to be sold anytime soon. But a dark horse could always come in and throw a monkey wrench into plans, it’s been known to happen.

NHL Back in Kansas City: Target #2: Calgary Flames

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First off, I want to say I’m not going through the teams in any kind of order. And now on to the second team, it might be a shock to some, but the Calgary Flames are on the list. They only averaged 74.1% of capacity this past season (not sure if Canadian COVID regulations were taken into consideration for part of the 2021-22 season when calculating capacity). Of the teams I’m covering in this series, they had the highest percentage of capacity. But, even if the Flames are drawing well and putting a quality product on the ice, there are arena issues. They’ve been looking to get a new home built since 2017 and have had unsuccessful negotiations with the city. Deals have been struck on a couple of occasions, only to be backed out of. Could the Flames be looking for something better than what Calgary has to offer them?

Let’s start off with the history of the organization. The franchise was originally the Atlanta Flames. They started play in 1972, the team was quickly put in place to balance the NHL when they added the New York Islanders franchise to keep the WHA out of the brand-new Nassau Coliseum. The Flames were owned by a group that owned the NBA’s Atlanta Hawks, led by real estate developer Tom Cousins. They played in Atlanta’s Omni Coliseum for eight seasons. Eventually Cousins was forced to sell the team to stave off bankruptcy. Former Edmonton Oilers owner Nelson Skalbania and a group of Calgary oil magnates purchased the team for $16 million. They announced on May 21, 1980, they would be moving the team to Calgary, Alberta, Canada. This gave the province of Alberta two NHL teams.

Skalbania sold his interest in 1981. Since then, the Flames have been under complete local ownership. The first three seasons, the team played in the Stampede Corral before moving to the Saddledome in 1983. The Saddledome was not only built to be the home of the Flames, but also to host the 1988 Winter Olympics. The Scotiabank Saddledome is still the home of the Flames, having served in that capacity for almost 40 years. This makes it the second-oldest arena in the NHL after the New York Rangers’ Madison Square Garden. It has been renovated once in 1994. It underwent some repairs due to flooding in 2013.

The team has expressed interest in getting a new arena since 2017. That was when they gave their first proposal to the city, but they eventually threw in the towel. In 2019, the Flames and city had reached an agreement, but it fell apart in 2021. The official termination of that deal happened January 1, 2022. There’s reportedly a $10 million gap between the city and team. In May, it was reported that a group of Calgary businessman was working as a go-between with the city and team in hopes of facilitating a new deal, but nothing has been reported recently.

While it sounds like this team would be ripe for a move, it’s unlikely with the local ownership group the Flames currently have. Calgary Sports and Entertainment Corporation own the WHL Calgary Hitmen, Calgary Stampeders Lacrosse team, Calgary Roughnecks (CFL), and Calgary Wranglers (AHL affiliate of Flames). They also have managed the Saddledome since 1994. With the group’s major local ties, it seems unlikely they would move. Yet, NHL commissioner Gary Bettman has told the media Calgary will not host any NHL events (i.e. Draft, All-Star Game, Awards) unless they get a new building. If ownership and city continue to bicker on building a new arena, it might be possible that ownership gets frustrated enough they decide to sell. Only time will tell what happens with the franchise, but you never know, five years of trying to get a deal done seems like an awful long time for no ground to have been broken, yet.

NHL in Kansas City: Target #1: Arizona Coyotes

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NHL jersey and affiliation news has been exciting, but back to the subject at hand. It appears the NHL’s not interested in expanding beyond 32 teams, so let’s look at teams that could be ripe for a new home.

After looking at attendance for the 2021-22 season, I’ve made a list of 5 teams that could be ripe for a change of scenery. These teams all fell under 75% of capacity. Two around 50%. Four have gone public with arena issues.

To keep things concise, I’ll focus on one team each blog. The first team is the ever popular soap opera known as the Arizona Coyotes.

First, let’s start with a rundown of team history. The team started as a WHA team called the Winnipeg Jets in December 1971. In June 1979, the Jets were one of the WHA teams absorbed by the NHL. July 1996 saw the franchise move to Arizona and become the Phoenix Coyotes.

In 2003, the team relocated again, this time a few miles away to Glendale. This would be the beginning of the drama. Jerry Moyes bought the team in 2005, by 2009 he declared bankruptcy. The NHL took over the team, signing a short-term lease with Glendale. In 2010, the league received a bid for the team, but it was derailed by a litigation threat. When the league threatened to move the team in 2013 (they nearly moved to KC), Glendale signed a 15-year lease with the team to support the new ownership effort.

By 2015 with new ownership in place, Glendale voided that lease after alleging a violation of conflict of interest laws. This started the year-by-year lease agreements. In 2016, the team had plans to move to ASU, building an arena there, but the university backed out of the deal.

In July 2019, the Coyotes got a new majority owner in Alex Meruelo. He purchased a 95% stake in the team. The previous owner, Andrew Barroway, maintained a 5% minority stake. Despite the change in ownership, the Coyotes arena troubles continued.

The drama with Glendale, Gila River Arena, and Coyotes heated up as the city and arena got fed up with unpaid bills. They threatened to lock the team out if debts were not paid. The Coyotes dodged that bullet, paying the debts off just in time.

Gila River Arena management had enough of the drama, and gave the Coyotes notice they wouldn’t be welcome back at the conclusion of the 2021-22 season. This began speculation of where the team would move, with cities like Quebec and Houston salivating at the possibility of bringing the NHL home.

The Coyotes settled in on a plan to temporarily share facilities with ASU as they worked on a new arena site in Tempe. The Coyotes will be playing the next 3-4 seasons at ASU, sharing the 5,000 seat arena with the college, assuming they don’t violate the agreement they entered with the college. In the meantime, the Coyotes work to get the green light for land they’re interested in near the airport. The airport and FAA have questioned the plans, not just for the arena but the development that would surround it. It should be noted this is land the Arizona Cardinals had interest in building a stadium on 20 years ago.

So, while the Coyotes don’t look like a winning team with the current roster. The team has a promising future on the ice, somewhere. Where that future ends up is a big question mark, until the Coyotes get an agreement worked out on that land, get the land purchased, and start the digging.

Meanwhile, if they can’t figure things out in the desert, KC could be a perfect landing spot. There’s an NHL caliber arena available with no other regular tenants. There would be no need to realign the league, the team would fit perfectly in the Central Division. Also, with the built-in hockey fan base that exists they certainly would draw more than the paltry 5,000 or even their previous season average of 11,601. Of course, in this case, there’s also Houston.

What KC Needs To Do To Get An NHL Team

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(Sorry it took me so long to get around to writing and posting this. Sometimes life gets in the way. I hope to be able to post future blogs with a little more frequency.)

Even though it’s a dream, I think somewhere down the line it’s possible to see another NHL team in KC. The best way for the city to see that dream come true is to set up things up better than the previous foray with the Scouts.

We already have a few things going for us:
1. We have an NHL ready venue. T-Mobile Center is the perfect size for NHL crowds. Having hosted a handful of exhibition games, the league is aware of the facility. While the arena, previously known as Sprint Center, is over a decade old, it’s still newer than 24 of the 32 NHL arenas currently being used.
2. We have a devoted fan base. KC has had numerous pro teams dating back to the 1920s. The area currently supports an ECHL team in the suburbs with the Mavericks in most seasons averaging near capacity attendance at Cable Dahmer Arena. KC also regularly ranks as one of the highest non-NHL markets in ratings for NHL TV games. So, there is support.
3. We have been there, done that, and/or read Troy Treasure’s Icing On The Plains: The Rough Ride of Kansas City’s NHL Scouts. The best way to learn what to do or not to do is experience. KC’s experience with the NHL from 1974-76 with the Scouts is something the city, potential owners, and even fans can learn from. And, for those of us who weren’t around for that experience, read Treasure’s book—it’s an amazing history lesson.

Now, we still have things to do:
1. Find a potential owner or small ownership group. Or, find a current NHL team that’s looking to move to a new city. The best thing would be if someone akin to Ewing Kauffman or Lamar Hunt emerged with interest in the NHL. But, even if we could get a small group of local corporate leaders together to purchase a team it could work.
2. Need to prove to the NHL and potential owners there’s interest in the NHL. This can be done by hosting exhibition games in our NHL arena and selling out. (Something that’s been done and could be done again. It’d also be helpful to continue to show support for the Mavericks by getting back to the pre-pandemic strong near sell-out average attendance.)
3. Moving up the Mavericks to the AHL also would help in showing the support KC has for hockey, by showing the city has an interest in seeing a higher quality product. (This one isn’t necessary, but if getting the NHL in town is in the distant future, which it most likely would be, it would show determination to move up and might draw in new fans.)

I know this isn’t detailed, but these are the thoughts I’ve had on the subject matter. I believe the hardest part would be finding the ownership group or a team on the move, because it’s a well-known fact that KC is routinely on the list of potential future NHL cities published by many media outlets. Heck, even The Great One included KC on his list of future NHL cities.
Look for my future blogs discussing this subject. Next up: Talking about NHL teams that could possibly move somewhere in the future.

Buh-Bye Gila River, Hello A$U…Coyotes Ticket Hike

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It was to be expected that prices would go up *some* for the Arizona Coyotes when they moved to a facility that has a severely reduced capacity, but the numbers that have been presented so far, well… outrageous is one word for them.

First off, ASU’s arena will reportedly have a capacity of 5,000. This is 27% of Gila River Arena’s (previous home) capacity. This also makes the venue the smallest in the NHL, at one-third the size of the previous smallest venue of the Winnipeg Jets’ Canada Life Centre that seats 15,294.

The Coyotes front row-glass seat was $290 and the cheapest seat was $18 at Gila River. (Note: These appear to be single-game prices, which are typically higher than season ticket prices when you do the math for cost per game.)

The newly advertised prices at ASU that were in an article on TicketNews.com appeared to be a breakdown for season tickets. The highest price is $350 ($14,350 for season) for a front row-glass. The lowest price is $89 ($3,649).

While $350 doesn’t sound that much higher than the previous $290, $89 is nearly FIVE times as much as the $18 cheap seats. And while those prices might sound reasonable for a contending team, the Coyotes are far from a contender.

The Coyotes finished the season 25-50-7. There doesn’t seem to be any reason to believe next season will be better. Their highest goal scorer is Clayton Keller, with the only other well-known players being Phil Kessel and Shayne Gostisbehere. Defenseman Jakob Chychrun, a 2016 first-round pick, was rumored to be up for trade all last season until he suffered an injury, and many think he might be traded during the draft. The Coyotes goaltending has been lackluster too, with Karel Vejmelka’s .898 and Harri Sateri’s .866 save percentages. (Those were the two goalies they chose to finish with, the others with better stats were traded, given away, or sent to the minors.) This just doesn’t sound like a team worthy of the new ticket prices, no matter how “intimate” the setting is.

It will be interesting to see if the Coyotes make any moves in the off-season to encourage fans to pony up the dough, or if they fall flat in any attempts to improve their team. It will also be interesting to see if they can fill the 5,000 seat ASU arena given those prices and the fact that they averaged 11,601 in *announced* attendance this past season at Gila River.

I think the Coyotes are going to have to do something better for the fans as this arena scenario will be in place at least through the 2024-2025 season. That’s at least three seasons, possibly four seasons of playing in an “intimate” venue and possibly losing more money. (Not even mentioning the money they are looking into investing in a long-term new facility.) Let’s remember, this is a team that was having trouble paying players’ salaries at the end of the 2020-2021 season and problems paying debts to Gila River Arena until they threatened to lock them out, so if they don’t stop the bleeding soon how long are they going to be able to stay afloat in the desert?