AHL President Dave Andrews yesterday during his State of the AHL address said that “no franchise relocations have been approved” despite reports that “as many as five franchises” could move to California next season to form a Pacific Division, according to Pete Dougherty of the Albany TIMES-UNION. Andrews said, “We are still not across the line in terms of the Pacific Division launch for next year. We are making significant progress. I expect at some point in the not-too-distant future that we may have an announcement to make, but there are a number of unresolved issues.” Andrews added that there are “potential franchise shifts outside those teams moving west.” Dougherty notes Manchester, N.H.; Norfolk, Va.; Worcester, Mass.; and perhaps Portland, Maine, “all are expected to lose teams.” Andrews yesterday also said that “there is not sufficient support” for the AHL to reduce its schedule from 76 to 72 games (Albany TIMES-UNION, 1/27). In Norfolk, Jim Hodges prior to Andrews' press conference cited a source as saying that the AHL BOG on Sunday “voted to approve a West Coast Division, triggering a sale of the Norfolk Admirals” to the Ducks, who “plan to move the team next season to San Diego, where it will compete with affiliates” of the Kings, Sharks, Flames and Oilers in a new division. Hodges noted the ECHL Bakersfield Condors “would move to Norfolk and become the Admirals.” The Oilers “will move" the team's AHL franchise from Oklahoma City to Bakersfield, Calif. (Norfolk VIRGINIAN-PILOT, 1/26). In New Hampshire, John Pitarresi noted the AHL Manchester Monarchs have scheduled a Friday news conference to "announce their imminent departure" to Ontario, Calif. Moving the club "makes sense to the Kings' organization since Ontario is about 30 miles away from Staples Center." The ECHL Ontario Reign, Monarchs and Kings are all owned by AEG. As "part of a simple swap," the Reign will take the Monarchs' spot in the ECHL and play at Verizon Wireless Arena in Manchester (New Hampshire UNION LEADER, 1/27).
SPLIT DECISIONS: In Syracuse, Lindsay Kramer notes when the “topic of length of the regular season” comes up for debate in the AHL, “very fervent lines are drawn.” Independent owners, such as Syracuse Crunch Owner Howard Dolgon, “want the schedule to remain as is.” Those owners “depend upon attendance revenue from 38 home games to pay bills and their affiliation fees to NHL teams.” Meanwhile, NHL owners of AHL teams “want to slice games, down to 72 or perhaps even fewer.” This “allows them to cut travel costs and devote more practice time to their prospects.” Dolgon said, “We would lose money (with a schedule reduction), and I’m sure we’re not the only team that would lose money.” Kramer notes 16 of the 30 AHL clubs are “owned independently” and 14 are “owned by NHL clubs.” Any change in schedule length “would have to be approved by a three-quarters board vote, and while Andrews values the NHL’s feedback he doesn’t see that happening any time soon.” That same “philosophical divide strikes at the heart of another issue: AHL teams playing three games in three days.” The NHL teams “dislike the concept because it taxes the players and usually dilutes the quality of play at the end of such stretches.” But the independent owners, “again eyeing their bottom line, cringe at the idea of moving weekend games to much less popular week nights” (SYRACUSE.com, 1/26).
