The absolute crown jewel of 2012 will be the Ice Breaker Tourament featuring Army, Notre Dame, the University of Maine and your Nebraska-Omaha Mavericks.

Get your tickets NOW!!! I will be at every outstanding game. If you haven’t witnessed top-level Division I college hockey, you are going to absolutely LOVE it.
Your best resource for college hockey news is www.uscho.com. By the way, of the four teams coming to KC, Notre Dame is currently #3 in the country and UN-O and Maine are in the top 25!! What a great tournament this will be.
Second great thing about 2012, the people who owned Ice Midwest are no longer involved in youth hockey. Yes, it’s not an ideal situation with only three (sometimes four with the IEC bowl) available for youth hockey. But, having those people no longer involved is good for everyone in the long run. It’s amazing how well the hockey community is now treated by the existing (and thriving by the way) rinks.
Finally, The problem with an NHL franchise coming to Kansas City is two-fold.

• 1.) There is no owner for an NHL franchise in Kansas City. Well, at least an owner who had made his interest public. There was an article on that vast bastion of inaccurate information, Bleacher Report, that said George Brett was putting together an ownership group. Please. The Brett Brothers do own minor league hockey and baseball teams and a baseball equipment company, but won’t be owning any of the major professional sports leagues’ franchises anytime soon.

• 2.) The NHL is battling major ownership trouble with the 30 franchises they currently have. Therefore, this relates to #1. Kansas City can’t get a franchise without an owner Gary Bettman doesn’t have to worry about. It seems to me that Bettman spends a majority of his time putting out ownership fires.

Look at the Atlanta Thrashers. Sure, you can take the easy way out and blame the “ATL sports fan” for not supporting the Thrashers. If you do, you’re ignorant and have no idea about the NHL over the last decade or so. The ownership group of the Atlanta Thrashers was not only the worst ownership group in, possibly, the history of the NHL, but they may have been the worst ownership group in the history of professional sports. Say what you will about the Clippers’ Donald Sterling, but at least he can keep his franchise together even if they can’t win. The bozos that owned the Thrashers couldn’t get out of their own way. Heck, they were constantly in court against EACH OTHER.
Bettman now is trying to find a viable owner in Phoenix and keep the ownership groups in New Jersey afloat.

All the while, he’s got to worry about:
-Make sure the new ownership group in Dallas is getting ramped up smoothly.
-Find a new owner for the St. Louis Blues now that it looks like Matthew Hulsizer is out.

-The next batch of nonsense from Charles Wang whatever that may be…
On top of all this, Bettman has to worry about former Kansas Citian and UMKC law school grad Donald Fehr f’n up his league the way Fehr f’d up Major League Baseball. Fehr has already started with the ridiculous rejection of the proposed realignment, which most NHL fans and media found to be a great improvement to the league (aren’t we all proud that we can call Donald Fehr one of our own?)
Hate Bettman all you want, but imagine if your job was to keep guys like James Dolan, Jeremy Jacobs, Peter Karmanos, Mike Ilitch, Ed Snider, Philip Anschutz, Ted Leonsis and Charles Wang on the same page, all the while fighting off Donald Fehr.
You think Bettman has given Kansas City one thought. Not on your life.
All Bettman is thinking about is finding a 30th partner who is going to be on the same page as he is and someone who isn’t going to give him undue headaches. Which is why he was thrilled to get David Thomson and Mark Chipman in Winnipeg into the fold and get rid of the nutjobs in Atlanta.
Because he moved Winnipeg in this fashion, I’m fairly sure his next partner is going to be Pierre-Karl Paladeau in Quebec. Paladeau will have Bettman’s back AND he owns a media company. Bettman kills three birds with one stone — gets the Coyotes franchise off his books, gets a solid owner with piles of loonies and he gets a media partner in Quebecor. Beautifully serendipitous.

I could see a scenario where the Phoenix Coyotes move to Hamilton, Ontario for two years while the new arena in Quebec is being finished. The new Quebec franchise plays in Copps Coliseum, sells out every game for two years, then moves on to Quebec.
It would be far better than what happened in Carolina where the Hurricanes played in front “know every other fans first name”-night size crowds in Greensboro before moving to Raleigh.

See why I’m relatively uninspired?

We have a great college hockey tournament coming in October. But, for the next 10 months, there won’t be much else.

Follow The Lost City of Bettman, he updates his blog way more often than I do and is far more creative.

My initial thought is that the Kansas City hockey community is desperate for good news. I’ve always thought of hockey fans and soccer fans to be somewhat kindred spirits. Both are rabid, loyal fan bases of sports that are loved — even ways of life — in other countries, however in the U.S. both sports take a back seat to American Football, both professional and college. Soccer is seen as “not exciting enough” for the short-attention-span American consumer and hockey is seen as “some other country’s” sport (despite the fact the NHL’s original six had as many American teams as Canadian teams).

While soccer fans in Kansas City have received nothing but good news in Kansas City — a winning professional team, with an outstanding new stadium, local, passionate owners who honestly care about the sports fan in Kansas City and wear that fact on their sleeves. All this plus a new Overland Park soccer complex that rivals any soccer complex in the Midwest. All good news. While that eternal jag off Jack Harry may insult the team’s new nickname, Sporting KC (which has grown on me…I kind of like it’s uniqueness now) and even insulted their terrific, young announcer (a fellow member of the media just because he’s English…really, Jack?), it’s been all good news. Sporting KC not only now leads sportscasts, a win on November 2 and the team will be front page material (a little hint for you young Sporting KC fans…just ignore Jack Harry…Jack Harry has been a clown in KC for more than 25 years. He used to do a thing called Big Board Sports where he stood in front of a big video board to do the highlights and the other sportscasters…not the viewers, but his, the SPORTSCASTERS at other stations in town…called him and is colleagues at KCTV “The Pointer Sisters”). Hopefully, Cal Williams will be around Kansas City for many, many years to come and take a much higher profile (though I think he’s good enough to end up back in England doing EPL games someday).

For Kansas City hockey fans — little, if any, good news. The “promise” of an NHL team? Empty from the start. Return of AAA-level hockey when the Blades’ league folded? Never going to happen. Some numnuts owns the only dual-sheet ice facility in the metro area and closed it to make it a sports training facility — only to shutter the re-purposing of the facility after eight months. Hundreds of youth hockey player’s hearts broken for what? Nothing.

The one piece of good news is the Independence Events Center, their community sheet of ice and the absolutely outstanding team (though low, minor league team) the Missouri Mavericks (out of town owners) have put on the ice. The IEC is a great place to see a game and the community ice center is allowing more and more kids in a growing part of the city — Lee’s Summit/Blue Springs — to learn to skate and play hockey. In a few years, the youth teams from Lee’s Summit/Blue Springs may surpass the Johnson County kids.

The bad news continues.

The former Ice Midwest is not going to return to being an ice rink.

I have had a couple people e-mail me through the blog. I called a couple of folks that I know involved in Johnson County youth sports.

Here is what I know.
-The new owner is from out of town. He does have a local guy helping him complete the purchase.
-It sounds as if the new owner has no history of working with an ice facility. I don’t know that for sure, but that’s what it sounds like.
-The new owner/local guy have already been in contact with local youth sports organizations and vendors to complete his re-repurposing of the facility to courts.
-The local youth sports organizations and vendors that I am referring to cater to basketball/volleyball. If your kid has ever played basketball in JoCo, you know which organization I’m referring to.
-From what I know about the volleyball community, it’s made up of different clubs. The clubs play their games at places like Okun Fieldhouse (near KC Ice Center) and the new facility in Gardner. However, they have problems finding places to practice — local churches, elementary schools, a temp facility in Shawnee/Lenexa? (not sure…don’t know anything about his facility). The volleyball community has been clamoring for a more permanent facility.

Here is the other thing that struck me.

These groups — basketball/volleyball — are not nearly as fractured as the hockey community. They’ve got strong, county-wide organizations representing youth sports.

I only know what I hear since my kid is too young for youth sports and isn’t interested in hockey/basketball/volleyball/soccer. I don’t have a horse in the game. However, the past animosity between youth hockey organizations in Kansas City has really hurt youth hockey. Part of it was fostered by the former owners of Ice Midwest’s hatred of the hockey community and the hockey community’s constant demand for the owners to actually treat them like valued customers.

Part of it is the youth hockey organizations not getting along.

I’m not saying this was the reason ice isn’t going back down at the former Ice Midwest building. I don’t think it is. I don’t think ice was in the plans.

I’m saying the Kansas City hockey community needs a shot of good news. What could be different to make that happen?

It’s time to look in the mirror and really say “are the interests of the kids coming first and are we doing all we can to inclusive and grow the sport?” Look hard at what you are doing. I know being rid of the owners of Ice Midwest is a positive step to growing youth hockey in Kansas City. They didn’t understand and didn’t bother to try to understand their customers. But, now it’s time to take positive steps forward.

EPIC Indoor Sports will close. When the one-year anniversary of the “mechanical failure” comes around on January 13 of 2012, there will be a new owner of the facility.

That’s the good news.

The bad news. Well, there really isn’t any bad news, right? However, the challenge has been made to you Kansas City ice hockey/figure skating/curling community.

YOU SHOW THE NEW OWNER YOUR COMMITMENT TO SUPPORTING THE FACILITY AND THERE WILL BE ICE ONCE AGAIN.

I’m not kidding about this. The prospective new owner of the facility is not local. His focus is on basketball and volleyball. However, he is interested in learning more about the shortage of ice facilities in Kansas City. He has been made aware that this facility was viable as an ice sports facility and has not been viable since the loyal, passionate ice skating community was tossed to the curb.

It’s possible one sheet of ice could return to the facility. It’s possible both sheets could return with one of them a dual-use sheet (the concrete side). And, unfortunately, I suppose it’s possible neither will return.

At this point, it seems the Kansas City ice hockey/figure skating/curling clubs can influence the decision.

Now, I know what you are going to say, “Screw that place. They lost me as a customer forever.” Sorry, but this is the absolute wrong reaction.

The General Manager of EPIC Indoor Sports failed in his effort to re-purpose the arena. The owners are no longer willing to sink money into this failing venture and it looks like they will sell and completely wash their hands of it.

Good choice. They alienated the hockey and ice skating community to the point that the other sports, in which they tried to focus, suffered. Parents weren’t willing to patronize them. Kid #1 may play hockey, but kid #2 may play soccer and kid #3 may play lacrosse. Mom and Dad are still upset about how they treated kid #1.

It’s water under the bridge. Time to move on and rally your support.

How? Well, I don’t quite know at this time.

There needs to be one rallying point. Whether that is a hockey-playing group (the Stars or the former Kansas City Outlaws) or NHL21, in combination with the Kansas City Figure Skating Club and Kansas City Curling Club…I don’t know. The adult hockey playing community is far too fragmented for it to be the rallying point. However, we know that 32 adult hockey playing teams, who filled the facility during slow times like Sunday nights and late night on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, have been reduced to a dozen or so teams playing as late as 11 p.m. on weeknights.

I will have more on this later. I need to put my thoughts together. As the Pitch mentioned, I’m not exactly a daily blogger. I blog when I feel like it and when I have time (which is rare).

Two things are key here —
1.) Begin to rally so that the new owner knows that putting ice back down is a good investment.
2.) Remember what the new owners of KC Ice Center have done for the hockey community over the last 8 – 10 months. They are truly committed to our community. Perhaps we can begin to foster a new relationship among Johnson County rinks in which everyone is working to grow the sport — rink owners, coaches, parents and officials. Grow the category, grow your business. Hopefully, the animosity between rinks will never return.

Pitch.com/Sports & Recreation/Best Dose of Reality/PucKChaser
I’m flattered. It’s very cool to get recognized by the Pitch. A snarky blog written by a smart ass who just happens to know a little about the inner workings of local TV stations and the local newspaper to know that local journalists spend miniscule amounts of time researching stories about a professional sports franchise coming to Sprint Center and usually churn out stories directly from a press release gets recognized as a Best of (how was that for a run-on sentence).

You know what needs to get recognized by a Best Of.? The HAVE A SKATE WITH BOB FOUNDATION and the Have a Skate Charity hockey games in Rockford, Illinois and at the Independence Events Center.

This local charity grew from nothing — just an idea between a hockey player and his two daughters. It has grown to an event that will host two charity hockey games. One before the AHL’s Rockford Ice Hogs game on December 3rd and one before a Missouri Mavericks game on March 17, 2012.

This local charity has been mentioned NATIONALLY in the USA Hockey magazine and gotten some press from local TV station KSHB. It hasn’t received nearly as much recognition as it should. It’s a great story!

If you have played hockey, coached hockey, officiated hockey or been involved in hockey in Kansas City in any way in the last 20 or so years, you probably know Bob Klem.

Klemmer, as many people know him, has played goalie in adult hockey leagues for as long as anyone can remember. If you don’t play, you probably know him from when he was a season ticket holder for the Blades and hung out a Replays after almost every game. Hell, the guy even had season tickets to the Outlaws (blech). Now, you’ll find him at Missouri Mavericks games. Walk through the crowd with him at the Sprint Center before one of the NHL Preseason games and it’s “Hey Klemmer from the left.” “KLEMMER!!!” from the right. Then, Bob will stop to glad hand a beer vendor or usher he recognizes from Kemper or the Independence Events Center. It’s like walking the halls with the Mayor…you know in the days when we had a Mayor who everyone liked.

Bob Klem started a charity hockey game a few years ago — Have a Skate with Bob. He scheduled ice time and invited his friends to play. The cost — a donation to PanCan. Well, those who played in “Skate”, as Bob calls it, had a great time. “You should do this every year, Klemmer.” Bob thought he was on to something.

Was he ever!

Have a Skate with Bob is now a 503c registered charity. Two games this hockey season.
Have A Skate With Bob and the Rockford IceHogs presented by Humana — December 3, 2011

Hopefully, Patrick Kane will show up at the game.
Have A Skate With Bob and the Missouri Mavericks — March 17, 2012

If you know Bob, contribute…even a little. If you don’t know Bob, you should. You may come away saying “that’s one interesting guy…”. Your life may also be just a little better once you know him. Many lives are.

So, I’m not going to gloat…well, except that I got a Best Of… and EPIC (failure) Indoor Sports didn’t…sorry, (I had to do that…)

I’m just going to say that if you like hockey and like this blog even a little (or if you like hockey and hate this blog), DONATE TO SKATE TODAY.

Here’s the thing about last night’s sold out preseason game at Sprint Center.
Where there’s smoke. There’s smoke. (yes, I stole that from NHLinKC blog, but it’s still perfect).

When people talk about an NHL team coming to Kansas City all I hear is “blah, blah, blah” and when they’re done with their diatribe, I just say, “Who is the owner going to be?”

The response to this question is usually , “um, err, um, well, we don’t know.”

Look, AEG has officially distanced themselves from their “promise”

“Right now there is not an urgency,” Leiweke said. “This building is doing phenomenal. When we began this process, if we would have known this building could stand on its own two feet and be one of the top five buildings (for concerts and family shows) without an anchor tenant, we would have been going around telling people, ‘If there is an anchor tenant that makes sense, we’ll get it, but we don’t need it.’”

Wait. What? If there is an anchor tenant that makes sense? The Penguins, at the time, didn’t make sense. The franchise was in a shambles. The team was terrible. They had missed the playoffs three consecutive years (four if you count the year after winning the Crosby lottery) and had had six different coaches from 1999-2006 (including our beloved Kevin Constantine). The ownership had been in flux, heck, at one point the team had owed their creditors $90 Million dollars (Mario being one of the creditors).

If an NHL team came to you with that scenario in 2011, I don’t think Sly James would see them as the right “fit”. I hear the goal is to be the #1 relocation market for an NHL team. I thought we were #1 once before. You can’t be #1 without a hint of an ownership group.

Interpretation of all this: “We (AEG) are making a lot of $$ on this arena and if we had an anchor tenant we’d have to throw a bunch of lease concessions at that owner cutting into our profits.”

While the game was outstanding, the attendance and atmosphere were great, let’s take the sell out with a grain of salt, please.

What was the average price point for these 17,000+ tickets? I would guess most people took advantage of the “four lower level tickets for $99″ offer. Upper level seats went for $20 or less. SROs were available for $11.

The average price point of this game was WAY lower than a “real” NHL game. These tickets were priced to fill the building not priced like an NHL game. It’s a smart strategy. It’s what I like to call “sound bit strategy”. You see it used in politics all the time. All people see is “Wow, lots of people went to the NHL game at Sprint Center.” They don’t consider at what price they got in the building and how a different price would affect their decision making.

Just because lots of people buy Two Buck Chuck at Trader Joe’s doesn’t mean those same people would buy a $52 bottle of Jordan.

One “fan” on one of the TV station’s stories said “it’s cheap entertainment”. Really? Ever been to Dallas? The Missouri Mavs are cheap entertainment. The Milwaukee Admirals are cheap entertainment. This preseason game was cheap entertainment. The NHL has never been confused with cheap entertinament.

Last I saw, the average NHL ticket price was around $52. Now, being that KC is a smaller city and demand would be lower, I would suspect an average ticket in KC may run around $42. Still…anyone who says $84 for two tickets is “cheap entertainment” doesn’t live in my neighborhood. One person asked me last night if I would get season tickets if we had a team here. I said, “Yeah, of course I would. But I’d try to split it with five or six other guys.”

Last night, I paid $25 for my ticket in the lower level behind the goal. I parked a few blocks away on the street between P&L and the Crossroads district for free. I had two beers — a Sam Adams and a Miller Lite — and a pretzel. I also bought a charity raffle ticket for $5. Total bill for the night $50. Not sure I would get one ticket for $50 if it was a “real” NHL game.

It was a wonderful game.
The crowd was great.

It’s a terrific building for hockey.

We also need to sell at least 10,000 seats to the NCAA Ice Breaker Hockey Tournament next Fall — a tournament that drew less than 5,000 per game in St. Louis. If we draw well for the Ice Breaker, maybe we could get a Frozen Four. Now THAT is an attainable goal

What we really need is for someone to step up and grow this sport from the grassroots in Kansas City. The building that formerly housed a dual sheet ice facility in Johnson Count is now being used to sell used baby gear. Yeah, that’s right. Instead of teaching the younger generation of Kansas City how to ice skate, play hockey and figure skate, the building is being used to sell spit up stained Baby Bjorns. Nice.

You can’t have a “real” NHL city without a way to get the youth of the city involved in the sport.

Nice to see Jordan Staal, Evgeni Malkin, Dustin Brown and Jack Johnson in the lineup, four of the truly outstanding players in this league.
PENGUINS

FORWARDS
10-Mark Letestu; 11-Jordan Staal; 12-Richard Park; 14-Chris Kunitz; 18-James Neal; 25-Eric Tangradi; 27-Craig Adams; 28-Nick Johnson; 33-Steve MacIntyre; 46-Joe Vitale; 48-Tyler Kennedy; 71-Evgeni Malkin.

DEFENSEMEN
2-Matt Niskanen; 5-Deryk Engelland; 6-Ben Lovejoy; 7-Paul Martin; 37-Brian Strait; 70-Joseph Morrow; 78-Scott Harrington.

GOALIES
29-Marc-Andre Fleury; 39-Brad Thiessen.

KINGS:
Penner-Richards-Hunter
King-Stoll-Brown
Nolan-Loktionov-Williams
Clifford-Lewis-Moreau

Scuderi-Johnson
Martinez-Greene
Drewiske-Voynov

Bernier
Quick

There will still be excitement. Most likely, the Kings will dress Kevin Westgarth. And, if they do, look for a time when Deryk Engelland or Steve MacIntyre is also on the ice.

Fighting is part of the NHL. It’s a part of preseason games as players are trying to earn positions and roles on the team. It’s part of the “exhibition” of NHL hockey and it will get butts out of the seats at Sprint Center.

If you watched HBO’s outstanding series, 24/7 with the Penguins and Caps last year, you got just a slight sense of the atmosphere that surrounds fighting in the NHL and Deryk Engelland. It was subtle. Did you catch it?

Engelland got into a first period scrap. In the locker room between periods, Head Coach Dan Bylsma (who I love) addressed the team about what they did right, looked at Engelland, gave him a thumbs up and said, “Engo, F’n A.”

That was it. The Head Coach acknowledged the courage and selflessness to get out there and get in a scrap to protect your teammates, police the ice and give your team a lift. NHL players don’t fight just to fight. Fighting has meaning. It’s well described in an outstanding book, The Code — Unwritten Rules of Fighting and Retaliation in the NHL.

Remember that when you see the preseason scrap.

For those of you who don’t live in or around KC who are critical of KC having a new arena and just this one game, I drop the gloves with your criticism.

Why?

Because you don’t get it. You don’t understand how badly we needed a new arena. Kemper Arena is fine, but dated and not part of downtown. Our downtown needed a shot in the arm.

I’m not critical of Sprint Center. I’m critical of HOW the powers that be duped Kansas City voters and have no shame about it. I’m critical of how the city has to prop up the P&L District, while AEG doesn’t seem to care that they do.

We have an NFL franchise, a MLB franchise, two (count them) TWO NASCAR Sprint Cup races and arguably the best MLS franchise in the league with a fantastic, passionate LOCAL ownership group.

How many other medium-sized American cities with under 2 Million total population can brag about that? (give you a hint….none). I didn’t even include Top 25 college football less than 200 miles away and top 10 college basketball less than 50 miles away. Of course, you Canucks reading this wouldn’t understand that since college sports is a uniquely American thing.

Be critical of someone else. Be critical of Toronto and their MLB, MLS, NBA and NHL franchises that never, ever sniff the playoffs even though the ownership group is flush with cash. Be critical of Vancouver and how they had an NBA team and lost it to Memphis — MEMPHIS for cryin’ out loud — a small Southern city with…ok I’ll admit it… really good barbeque, but not a huge corporate base. Or, be critical of Seattle losing an NBA team to medium-sized Oklahoma City or of the Southern cities that don’t belong in the NHL.

Just leave us out of your jingoistic, no place other than Canadian cities and cities along the 49th-parallel-are-good-enough-for-the-NHL criticism. Need I remind you Tampa Bay was #2 in the NHL in attendance in 2005-2006?). We in KC haven’t done anything wrong. We replaced a bad arena in a bad part of town. It wasn’t us that started the “NHL to KC” rumor, it was AEG….out of LA…I’d like to point out. A stance they are now backing away from.

Here’s the thing. Yes, we have an NHL or NBA building with no NBA or NHL team. But, you know what? We don’t need one to be a great sports city.

What I would LOVE is for Sporting KC to win the MLS Cup this year. Why? Well, for one, because the owners of Sporting are local guys who passionately care about our city (I’m not sure that is the case at 1 Arrowhead Drive or whatever the hell the address is for Kauffman Stadium). Two, we could get the monkey off our back of having a championship AND we could have at least three and probably more CONCACAF Champions League games at Livestrong Sporting Park, which would give more International exposure to our outstanding stadium. Finally, I’d like to see the OnGoal, LLC folks be able to snub their noses at AEG and the fact that they throw $$ at the LA Galaxy outside of MLS rules.

So, in closing, if you criticize KC because all we have is ONE NHL preseason game in our gorgeous downtown events center, you are completely missing the point.

It’s time for our one shot at NHL hockey in KC.

As Dan Bylsma would say, “F’n A”.

It also doesn’t look like the Kings will have Drew Doughty signed in time for the game. Too bad because Doughty played in exhibition games at Sprint Center in the past and he is a really special player.

Does that matter? Nope. It’s still going to be a fun night of NHL (well, c’mon, really AHL) level hockey.

Word is that the lower level is sold out. That’s good news. It will look good on the highlights that most of the seats are filled.
There have been other neutral site NHL exhibition games already. Saskatoon hosted an NHL preseason game and had 12,375 in attendance. Baltimore had a preseason game in the city’s very old, small arena and 11,000 showed up.
Orlando had 11,688 show up for the Lightning and the Blues.

The Devils and Rangers played in front of 9,420 in Albany.

While I’m looking forward to going to the game Tuesday, you know what I think is more exciting? Tickets are already starting to go on sale for the 2012 NCAA IceBreaker Tournament at Sprint Center.

University of Nebraska-Omaha, Army, University of Maine and Notre Dame are going to play REAL games that really count in the standings next October.

I’m way more excited about the IceBreaker tournament.

The Chicago Wolves are the AAA-affiliate of the Vancouver Canucks.

Is this a big deal? Hmmm…not really.

Is this a good thing? Absolutely. It’s great to be affiliated with the American Hockey League. Part of the struggle of the Central Hockey League is access to really talented players.

Seems like this move was a result of the domino effect of the Thrashers moving to Winnipeg. See if you can follow this:
Thrashers to Winnipeg
Winnipeg ownership keeps their AHL affiliate and moves them from Winnipeg (Manitoba Moose) to Saint-John, NB
Vancouver then doesn’t have an AHL affiliate, so they align with the Chicago Wolves as their AAA team.
The Chicago Wolves used to have a relationship with Gwinnett of the ECHL (near Atlanta…the parent club).
Wolves vacate that relationship for a team closer to Chicago.

Missouri Mavericks — quick flight to O’Hare, which is right next to their arena. Makes total sense.

Now, I’m not 100% sure of this, but I think every Mavericks player has to be found by Mavericks management and then signs with the Mavericks…and that’s it. No flexibility for the player to play with anyone else during the season.

By being an affiliate of the Chicago Wolves, and by association the Vancouver Canucks, some of the players with the Mavericks will be signed to contracts that allow them to move from one franchise to another.

The affiliation agreement allows for Mavericks players to compete in the Chicago Wolves training camp, and it also allows for a limited number of players to be signed to two-way contracts between the Mavericks and the Wolves. Mavericks’ Head Coach Scott Hillman will attend the Wolves training camp in Chicago along with select Mavericks players.

A quick look at hockeydb.com shows that a handful of players played for both the Wolves and the Gwinnett Gladiators of the ECHL last season, including Gwinnett’s leading scorer. It seems like goaltenders are usually the ones that move from ‘AA’ hockey to ‘AAA’ hockey the most. NHL teams would rather have their #1 prospect get playing time in the AHL than ride the bench in the NHL and, therefore, the #2 or #3 prospect goes to the ‘AA’ level for the same reason.

Good job Mavs!! Good news for us hockey fans in KC.

Over this two week period, you are going to hear about how up to six NHL teams are either for sale or having financial trouble.

This statement is accurate. The St. Louis Blues, Dallas Stars, Toronto Maple Leafs and Phoenix Coyotes could be purchased tomorrow if they received the right offer. Peter Karamanos is looking to sell a portion of the Carolina Hurricanes. The New Jersey Devils seem to be in serious financial trouble. There are rumors about the financial stability of the Florida Panthers. The New York (Long Island) Islanders lease is up in 2015 and they’ll need a new place to play. (The Columbus Blue Jackets recently reached a new lease agreement, effectively removing them from the list of possible relocation candidates)/

What does this mean for Kansas City chances of getting an NHL team in Sprint Center?

Virtually nothing.

Why? Well, because four of these teams are absolutely, positively not moving. Obviously, the Maple Leafs aren’t moving from Toronto and, equally as obvious, neither are the Stars or the Blues. Carolina is not moving from Raleigh. They have a sweetheart deal for the RBC Center that couldn’t be matched by any other city. To mention these franchises in association with Kansas City’s search for an anchor tenant for Sprint Center is not only silly, it’s irresponsible.

The Devils aren’t going to move from their new building in downtown Newark. This franchise’s problems stem from irresponsible spending by the new ownership group, not a problem with playing in the NY/NJ market.

That leaves Florida and Phoenix. Gary Bettman has fought awfully hard over the last few years to keep the Coyotes in Phoenix. It seems like the city of Glendale is willing to work with him to keep the team in Jobing.com Arena.

That leaves, it seems, one tenuous franchise.

I guess the Panthers may move. However, it seems more and more like the #1 city on the list is Quebec City.
The former owner of the Nordiques recently said that he thinks the NHL is coming back.

Aubut: In Two Years, Quebec City Will Have An NHL Team

It’s hard to argue with him. It seems Quebec is taking the “Winnipeg/Mark Chipman/David Thomsen” approach to getting an NHL franchise back. Get an owner with DEEP pockets and a passion for hockey — Pierre-Karl Paladeau — and then take steps, behind the scenes and not too publicly, to get a franchise. Plus, the NHL would love to be partnered with a media conglomerate like Quebecor by having the corporation own a franchise. The Philadelphia Flyers are, basically, owned by Comcast and part of Winnipeg’s ownership group controls Thomson Reuters. Quebec City will need a new building and it seems they’ll get one a few years down the road. Do they need the new building right away?

Certainly not. The Carolina Hurricanes had a building on the way, but moved before it opened and played two season in Greensboro.
The Avs played in McNichols Arena before the Pepsi Can was built.
The Coyotes played in America West Arena where some of the seats were positioned so that you couldn’t even see one of the goals.

A city does NOT have to have an arena first.

So, as the game approaches, remember — ATTENDANCE AT THIS NHL GAME MEANS NOTHING AS TO WHETHER KC EVER GETS AN NHL TEAM. Strong attendance is nice. It won’t hurt. However, low attendance won’t hurt either.

Luc Robitaille basically said — We’re (AEG) not working that hard on it. You, Kansas City, have to find an owner among your own ranks.

Go to the game. Wear your NHL sweater. Have fun. Go to Johnny’s for a beer and a burger before or after the game. Show how an anchor franchise at Sprint Center means FAR more to the health and profitability of the P&L District than it does to AEG/Sprint Center — especially on a Tuesday night.

Just remember that by attending you aren’t making any kind of statement about KC’s support for an NHL team. If that were the case, Saskatoon makes a better statement than we do EVERY YEAR!!

A few links to interesting stories about franchise stability:

Carolina

Toronto

New Jersey and Dallas:

St. Louis