Quote:
Originally Posted by zukes
This may end up being permanent.
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I dunno. The Flames had the chance to put their farm team in Calgary a couple of years ago when the deal with Abbotsford expired.
It didn't happen then, someone can enlighten me as to why.
My complete guess is that the population of Calgary can't support the Flames, Hitmen and the Heat, and also the travel issues since (I believe) Abbotsford was the western-most AHL team by a long stretch. This was somewhat remedied by creating an "all-California" division where multiple AHL teams were moved Westward. It reduces travel between teams if they're closer together (remember that AHL teams will sometimes travel by bus).
On the plus side, putting the AHL team in Calgary makes call-ups a lot easier without having to worry about quarantine crossing the Canada/US border. Might also allow some of the younger AHL players to get some exposure to the NHL vets.