Red Deer feels like an obvious place for an AHL team.
Wranglers there would have been good to push Flames fans further north
Too far from an international airport, which is pretty well a must-have if you're going to operate an AHL club in Canada.
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‘You see in Calgary, [Ryan] Huska is no joke. It’s good. He’s really set on a specific model defensively. If you can be reliable, you have the freedom to play offence.’
—Ethan Wyttenbach
This is all Huska's fault. I bet he doesn't give them a single minute of ice time through the whole Olympics!
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‘You see in Calgary, [Ryan] Huska is no joke. It’s good. He’s really set on a specific model defensively. If you can be reliable, you have the freedom to play offence.’
—Ethan Wyttenbach
Re: Abbotsford: The City of Abbotsford built their new arena with public money, assuming they'd be able to become a competitive event venue. They ended up giving the Flames a sweetheart deal to relocate their nomadic farm team from Quad City (with guaranteed revenue) to help fill dates.
They ended up losing a bunch of money on the deal, signing big top-up cheques every year to hit the guaranteed revenue level, to the point where it was probably cheaper to get out of the deal and have the building run fewer dates. (And the league/Heat subsidized travel for everyone to make the deal work, too.)
I like having the Wranglers local but it would be pretty neat to see the Flames farm team move to Saskatoon and have the Oilers farm team in Regina.
It's a neat idea, but it would kill the Blades and Pats stone dead.
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WARNING: The preceding message may not have been processed in a sarcasm-free facility.
‘You see in Calgary, [Ryan] Huska is no joke. It’s good. He’s really set on a specific model defensively. If you can be reliable, you have the freedom to play offence.’
—Ethan Wyttenbach
It's a neat idea, but it would kill the Blades and Pats stone dead.
Regina has 255,000 people and Saskatoon has over 300,000. I would hope a Canadian city that size could support a junior and pro team. Swift Current and their 18,000 people have a team in the Dub. I am not convinced the AHL kills the WHL in those 2 cities but am not really familiar with either place as I have no ties to Saskatchewan
There have been whispers for a long time that either the Flames or Oilers might set-up in Saskatoon (I can't speak to how legit or viable the interest).
I wonder if/when we get the downtown arena if this doesn't become a reality. With my luck it would be the Oilers.
What would happen with the Blades is an interesting question.
Regina has 255,000 people and Saskatoon has over 300,000. I would hope a Canadian city that size could support a junior and pro team. Swift Current and their 18,000 people have a team in the Dub. I am not convinced the AHL kills the WHL in those 2 cities but am not really familiar with either place as I have no ties to Saskatchewan
CMA of Saskatoon is now north of 370,000.
It might be possible to support both.
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Feels like a market opportunity for Calgary to grow. Edmonton already has a bigger market. I’d rather watch AHL in Calgary though than WHL. Hitmen should move to airdrie
Who's going to pay for a new arena in Airdrie to make that possible?
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‘You see in Calgary, [Ryan] Huska is no joke. It’s good. He’s really set on a specific model defensively. If you can be reliable, you have the freedom to play offence.’
—Ethan Wyttenbach
