According to a story in the Des Moines Register, Paul McGannon of NHL21 says that if Kansas City gets an NHL team, then the AHL affiliate should be in Des Moines.
I could have sworn last year at the Mavericks press conference he said Independence would be the home of the KC NHL team’s affiliate, like in Toronto and (erroneously) Philadelphia. No, wait…he did. There is even a link on that post that shows the video where he says just that…”there are cities in the NHL who have their affiliates right in the city” (there’s one by the way).
Which one is it? Des Moines or Independence?
Perhaps he meant Des Moines as the AHL team and the Mavericks with a working agreement with Des Moines. If that is the case, then why mention Toronto and (erroneously) Philadelphia. I don’t know…I’m so confused.
And this NHL team…if we’re talking about it then there must be an owner, right?
Plus, the AHL is, therefore, going to expand to 31 franchises to get a team in Des Moines? Because the way that I see it, there isn’t an AHL franchise available for Des Moines. All 30 franchises are now active. Sure, there has been some movement — Albany to Charlotte, Lowell to Albany and the former dormant franchise to Oklahoma City, but, for right now, the AHL is full.
The phantom owner of the Kansas City team would have to also purchase a phantom AHL franchise and move the phantom AHL franchise from their current market.
“McGannon, who has been leading the effort for five years to get an NHL franchise in Kansas City, met Friday with a group of Des Moines-area businessmen with interest in bringing minor league hockey back to the city.The link between Kansas City and Des Moines is pretty strong when it comes to the Chiefs and the Royals,” Paul McGannon, president of NHL21, said. “There is no reason why that link wouldn’t work with NHL and AHL hockey. After all, it’s just only three hours by car.”
So, for the sake of the Des Moines “businessmen” let’s total up this equation.
a) have to come with an AHL franchise since some NHL teams also own and operate their AHL affiliates (not likely)
b) have to tell the owner of the AHL franchise with whom they have a working relationship that they must move that AHL franchise to Des Moines
c) have to develop a working relationship with a potential owner of an AHL franchise to purchase one of the 30 AHL franchises and move it to Des Moines
d) right after purchasing an NHL team, purchase an AHL team and put them in Des Moines
Seems plausible.
Is Des Moines going to build a monorail, too?
Though McGannon conceded there is nothing to indicate Kansas City would land a franchise, he pointed out that owners of several franchises, including NHL-owned Phoenix, Dallas, Carolina and Atlanta, have placed all or part of their franchises on the market.
If he met with them Friday, did he share this little nugget that came out Friday morning?
Ice Edge wins exclusive negotiating rights
Probably not — doesn’t make for a good story.
And, Dallas? Really, Dallas? Is there anyone on Earth that believes when Tom Hicks sells his controlling interest in the Stars that the new owner may consider relocating away from Dallas’ AAC? Why even mention Dallas?
I know Des Moines is hurting by the loss of their AHL team. We have fans in KC who are still hurting from the loss of our AAA-level hockey team (me). But, I’m sorry Des Moines, it’s not going to happen. You had your shot. By seemingly no fault of your own, you whiffed and now you and (sadly I must say even though I’ll keep beating that drum) KC are out of the AAA-level hockey game.
It’s just so frustrating. At least we’ll always have Big XII football and the Big XII basketball tournament….what? Aw, crap.
As a life-long resident of the 515 (Des Moines), I sure hope you are wrong, sir!
I know that by the standards of a mid-sized city (approx 200,000 city proper, 600,000 metro) Des Moines has a fairly robust selection of minor league sports available already for its residents to enjoy. We’ve got AFL football (Iowa Barnstormers), NBADL Basketball (Iowa Energy, who’s ranked #1 in the NBADL right now, or so I’ve heard), MiLB Baseball (Iowa Cubs), some lower-level minor league stuff like USL-PDL Soccer (Des Moines Menace – Heartland Division,) and there are others, I’m sure, that I’m either forgetting or was never even aware of. I mean, we even still have Hockey, USHL (Des Moines Buccaneers), so it’s not as if we’re bereft of the ability to go see hockey games…
We’re also pretty blessed as it concerns college sports with an NCAA D.1 and an NAIA team right in the city (Drake Bulldogs (PFL FCS), and Grandview Vikings (MCC) respectively), as well as at least three other NCAA D.1 teams within the state (Iowa Hawkeyes (Big 10 FBS) about an 1 1/2-2hrs away, UNI Panthers (MVC FCS) about 2 1/2-3hrs away, and ISU Cyclones (Big 12 FBS), only about 30 or 40 minutes away.)
I should have no reason to gripe about not having AHL Hockey, particularly in light of having a good USHL team…but I still miss it!
I love them both for completely different reasons, but USHL and AHL hockey games, in my experience are completely different experiences. USHL is scrappy, and dirty, and rough, in a very small, outdated arena (all of which has an undeniable and powerful charm to it), and AHL is more sharp, and polished, and well, professional, in a larger, more modern arena. With the exception of the size of the arena, and audience, and with the exception of the familiarity of the uniforms/names, I cannot detect much of a real difference between AHL and NHL…this is not true with USHL, where the differences are more apparent. They’re both great, don’t get me wrong, in fact, it was by a chance attendance of a Bucs game that I even became a sports fan in the first place (I’m 31, and it wasn’t til I was 26 or 27 that I even began to develop any interest at all in sports), but they’re still not the same, and as such, USHL can’t completely fill the void the AHL left…an absence whic is still felt.
I don’t understand why AHL has failed here twice. Des Moines is a growing city, with huge renovations going on downtown, and in various other parts of the city, plus very impressive suburban sprawl, particularly out west (I don’t remember exactly where it ranks, but Waukee, a western suburb of Des Moines is, or at least was among the fastest growing cities in the whole nation.) This city (MSA) is not only not dead, but is growing both numerically, and culturally, and in amenities, all at a pretty impressive clip….AHL is the biggest thing below the NHL, and getting (and keeping) these “upper-level-minor-league” franchises are an important step in our continued development and growth as a city…so why did we not show up?
Hopefully, AHL Hockey will borrow a page from baseball and at least give us three strikes before we’re out….Come on, AHL….a little love for the 515! We miss you! I know that I, for one, would not squander the opportunity to play my part in making AHL successful, should Des Moines get one last chance.
-J
I think if an NHL team were to truly have a commitment to the Iowa fan base, the team would be successful. Both teams in Des Moines were more successful at the gate than many current AHL franchises. The problem is NHL ownership and affiliation. Calgary should move its west coast team to Iowa which is closer to other AHL teams and still close geographically to Calgary. The interesting thing about the Calgary AHL franchise is that since leaving Saint John, New Brunswick they have never found a permanent home nor a sustained fan base. I think both would be true for Calgary if they chose Des Moines as an AHL home.