The 2011 affiliation scramble

Every year, some NHL teams decide to take their player development in a new direction and change affiliation with an AHL franchise or in some cases, move their team-owned franchise to another city. It was the same story this year, but all it took was for one domino to fall.

When True North Sports and Entertainment announced their purchase of the Atlanta Thrashers on May 31, the NHL/AHL affiliate scramble for 2011 began. With the Thrashers moving to Winnipeg's MTS Centre, the True North-owned Manitoba Moose suddenly found themselves homeless after playing for 15 years in the Manitoba capital. After destinations of Victoria, British Columbia, Thunder Bay, Ontario, and Saskatoon, Saskatchewan were rumored, the franchise was relocated to St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador, where they will play in the city's Mile One Centre and will be affiliated with the second incarnation of the Winnipeg Jets.

So with the Atlanta Thrashers gone, the only AHL affiliate they ever knew needed a new parent club. The Chicago Wolves found a match with the Vancouver Canucks, who were in need of a new affiliate after the Manitoba Moose/Winnipeg Jets changeover took place. Under Atlanta's watch, the Wolves were able to sign their own free agents, hire their own coaches and management, and dictate other aspects of the team's business and hockey operations. Whether they will continue to do that as Vancouver's affiliate remains to be seen.

Another affiliation that was almost guaranteed to change was the partnership between the Rochester Americans and Florida Panthers. Florida started a dual affiliation agreement with the Buffalo Sabres prior to the 2005-06 season when the long-time partnership between Buffalo and Rochester started to fall apart after issues with ownership, arena management, and overall financial insecurity of the Amerks, were made public. When the Sabres pulled the plug on their 29-year partnership with the Amerks in 2008, the Panthers quickly moved in and became Rochester's sole parent club.

From day one however, it seemed that the marriage would not last as the product on the ice deteriorated when the Panthers started a slow rebuilding process under general managers Jacques Martin, Randy Sexton, and Dale Tallon. Even an ownership change in Rochester--from Steve Donner to Curt Styres' Arrow Express Sports--were not enough to save the relationship. While Styres and company did their best to revitalize the Amerks and their image in Rochester, the affiliation with the Panthers remain the focal point as attendance numbers fell sharply. Many fans in Rochester remained loyal followers of the Buffalo Sabres and the players who had once donned an Amerks uniform who were now starring for the Sabres. Players like Paul Gaustad, Patrick Kaleta, Ryan Miller, Jason Pominville, Derek Roy, Drew Stafford, and Thomas Vanek had once honed their skills in Rochester. By this past season, the top Florida prospects on the Amerks roster included names like Michal Repik, Kenndal McArdle, Joe Callahan, Bill Thomas, Keaton Ellerby, Tyler Plante, and Jacob Markstrom. While they were good players in their own right, the fans in Rochester did not seem to care as they wanted to follow the Sabres' prospects, now in Portland, Maine, more than the ones playing in their backyard.

With the writing on the wall and the affiliation with Florida deteriorating, the Amerks started looking at other options. Rumors surrounding possible partnerships with the Anaheim Ducks, New York Rangers, Phoenix Coyotes, Tampa Bay Lightning, Toronto Maple Leafs, Vancouver Canucks, and the soon-to-be Winnipeg Jets were making the rounds, but everything seemed to change when Terry Pegula purchased the Buffalo Sabres in February and with his wife being a native of Fairport, a Rochester suburb, a reunion between Buffalo and Rochester now seemed possible. Last week, the dreams of Amerks fans were realized when Pegula purchased the Rochester club from Curt Styres for $5 million and restored the longtime Buffalo/Rochester affiliation.

Note: The reason why I went in depth with the Sabres/Amerks partnership is because of my proximity to Rochester. I just know more about this situation than the others.

With the Sabres now back in Rochester, this left the Portland Pirates, Buffalo's affiliate from 2008-11, looking for a new parent club. Buffalo's tenure in Portland had been successful with three playoff appearances, an Atlantic Division championship, and three straight players (Nathan Gerbe, Tyler Ennis, and Luke Adam) winning the Dudley "Red" Garrett Memorial Award as the American Hockey League Rookie of the Year. But with the Sabres' purchase of the Amerks including an affiliation buyout with Portland, the Pirates were left orphaned. Enter the Phoenix Coyotes, who had been affiliated with the San Antonio Rampage from 2005-11. The Coyotes' tenure in San Antonio was a rocky one as the Rampage made only one playoff appearance (2008) in the entire duration of the partnership and several questionable personnel decisions left the fans in San Antonio frustrated. Another question in this new Phoenix/Portland affiliation is the future of the Coyotes franchise as they remain owned and operated by the NHL and enter what could be their final season in Arizona.

With only one AHL team and one NHL team left, the Rampage and Florida Panthers pulled a page from the Buffalo/Rochester book and decided to reconcile. Florida had been the original parent club for San Antonio when the Rampage entered the AHL as an expansion team in 2002 and remained that way until 2005 when the Panthers, who owned a portion of their affiliate, were bought out by the majority ownership group, Spurs Sports & Entertainment, and terminated the affiliation by aligning with the Coyotes. With the Panthers not having qualified for the Stanley Cup Playoffs since 2000 and with the Amerks (Florida's previous AHL affiliate) struggling and not having playoff success under the Panthers' watch, some in San Antonio are not so optimistic about this partnership.

So for 2011, the NHL/AHL affiliation scramble has come to an end. While this is not one of the most followed parts of the hockey offseason, it is certainly an interesting one that can have both positive and negative effects for teams and fan bases in the affected markets for years (and possibly decades) to come.

A not so formal introduction

Many people have said that I have a mind that is made for hockey, both on the ice and away from it, even though I haven't been on a pair of skates in almost 20 years.

I was born into a hockey loving family and was a fan of the Hartford Whalers for roughly ten years before their relocation to Greensboro, N.C. (and ultimately Raleigh) in 1997 and since then, I have been a Washington Capitals fan.

Since 1993, I have lived in the hockey hotbed of Western New York. While most of the posts in this blog will be my thoughts and musings about hockey in general, I will sometimes dip into the two major professional teams in this area, the Buffalo Sabres and Rochester Americans, as well as the Division I R.I.T. Tigers, who advanced to the Frozen Four in 2010.

The purpose of this blog is merely to be an outlet for my thoughts.

Thanks for reading!