Official announcement of CHL team in Independence

Let me start with a positive comment.

This CHL team in Kansas City is a good thing. The fact that they are playing in a building that is meant for minor league sports like this is a positive. A 5,800 seat arena is perfect for this level of play. Brad Lund has a successful track record with the OKC Blazers. And, the price of tickets will be right.

But, I just have to comment on some of the things said at the press conference and in the Star’s article.
Short video of press conference

What is with Paul McGannon? Why does everything have to have a tie to an NHL team? Why can’t we just say,

A CHL team is coming to the KC area. It’s fun, affordable entertainment.

In the press conference Paul McGannon says the NHL will be watching. Watching what?

Perhaps I’m far too cynical, but I absolutely do not agree that Gary Bettman and the NHL Board of Governors will watch and be interested in how a minor league team, in an unaffiliated league, in a 5,800 seat arena, in a suburb of Kansas City, is supported.

This team and it’s success has no relationship whatsoever with whether Kansas City gets an NHL team. The only way an NHL team is going to move to KC is if, and only if, a NHL owner can void the lease in their current building and if the owner of that team feels he can make MORE money in the Sprint Center in Kansas City than in the current building and city in which he owns a team.

Can the Islanders or Coyotes or Panthers or Thrashers meet those criteria? Doubtful.

McGannon then tries to use this “affiliate” spin, which is totally unnecessary. He says some NHL teams have their affiliate in their own city and mentions Toronto and Philadelphia. WRONG! Not some…only Toronto has their AHL affiliate in the same city. Philadelphia’s AHL affiliate has left Philadelphia and currently doesn’t have a home. The Phantoms are moving and it looks like they will be playing in Glens Falls, NY (where the Adirondack Red Wings used to play) for three years then moving to Allentown, PA.

And, he says, “we’ve got the affiliate now”. Affiliate of what?

This isn’t an AHL or ECHL team. It’s a Central Hockey League team — a league with only a few loose affiliations with the NHL. The affiliations are more with AHL teams and very few players move between the CHL and AHL. This CHL team doesn’t need this “affiliate” talk to promote their product.

Central Hockey League team coming this fall to Independence

An affiliation with a National Hockey League team has yet to be determined.

A clarification needs to be made here. The ECHL is considered a “developmental” league. The CHL is not. There won’t be many NHL scouts at CHL games. There are scouts at ECHL games. Let’s look at players drafted in the 2004 NHL draft. Why 2004? Because a player drafted in 2004 would have exhausted his Major Junior eligibility and would have moved on to minor league hockey. Of the 2004 third round picks, 13 of the 30 have logged time in the ECHL, 0 have logged time in the CHL. Of the 2004 fourth round picks, 15 of the 30 have logged time in the ECHL, 0 have logged time in the CHL

What does this tell us? Nothing really. It just proves that the CHL is not a developmental league and this talk of “affiliates” is kind of silly and not necessary to attract fans to these games.

Only a few Central Hockey League teams have any kind of affiliation. Those teams don’t actually have affiliations with NHL teams, but with AHL teams. Word is that the new team in Allen, Tx will have an affiliation with the Dallas Stars. The Stars are trying to put their AAA AHL affiliate in Austin. However, NHL teams don’t send players down to the CHL. They send players to the AHL and the AHL MAY send their excess to the CHL, but most NHL teams have ‘AA’ affiliations with the ECHL. The ECHL has 20 teams and 19 of them have affiliations with the AHL/NHL.

That isn’t a bad thing. The product can still be good on the ice. It just isn’t a developmental league. Personally, I think KC can do better…an AHL team in Sprint Center. I also think KC could have both — a CHL team in a small venue in Independence and an AHL team at Sprint Center.

Finally, to wrap up. This team is a good thing. It’s good for hockey fans in KC to have hockey games to attend. But, to say this team could be an NHL affiliate or could help AEG attract an NHL tenant for their arena is just not true. It’s puffery to entice you to buy a ticket.

I’d be willing to bet, and I’m only speculating here, that Paul McGannon has a financial stake in the Independence CHL team. So, he is just throwing around this “NHL will watch” comment to promote his own financial interest without any substantiation that it is actually true. And, I guarantee, no KC media outlet is going to challenge him on his statement.

Hey, I have a novel idea. Lose the unnecessary puffery. How about promote the hockey team as an enjoyable entertainment product rather than trying to deceive people by saying that if the team is successful it increases chances of an NHL team playing at Sprint Center?

Because….it doesn’t.

Just promote the team for what it is…good entertainment at a great value and lose the NHL21 bombast.