Alflives Posted September 24, 2019 Share Posted September 24, 2019 Can AHL guys afford to live in the Abbotsford area? Love to have them close, but ... 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tas Posted September 24, 2019 Share Posted September 24, 2019 8 hours ago, stawns said: Didn't say it wasn't a nice dream, but it's been covered and commented on by Canucks brass ad neaseum. They have zero plans to move any time soon. Perhaps in 5 or 10 years, if there's a larger AHL presence in the west they consider it, but it's highly unlikely my bet is that if the years of success we all foresee currently actually come to fruition, and the canucks end up with another season ticket waitlist, francesco will move the comets to abbotsford in a heartbeat. doing it earlier than that, before the demand for more canucks hockey warrants it, could be disastrous as a business move. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bure_Pavel Posted September 24, 2019 Share Posted September 24, 2019 9 hours ago, Bitter Melon said: I'm all for keeping the Comets in Utica. The fans there have been great, the kids are far away from the vulturous media of the lower mainland, and they're given way more practice time due to a significantly shorter travel schedule. One benefit to having your farm team in Canada would be probably more access to high end hockey trainers and skill coaches. The travel is just too rough on buses from the westcoast. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
-AJ- Posted September 24, 2019 Share Posted September 24, 2019 3 hours ago, Alflives said: Can AHL guys afford to live in the Abbotsford area? Love to have them close, but ... Given that most of them make six figures, I'm sure they'd be fine. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
McBackup Posted September 24, 2019 Share Posted September 24, 2019 1 hour ago, Bure_Pavel said: One benefit to having your farm team in Canada would be probably more access to high end hockey trainers and skill coaches. The travel is just too rough on buses from the westcoast. That might be a valid point, but I'm not sure. I think a lot of teams do that in-house and have the budget to hire the best of the best to work for them, especially if you have the budget of a Canadian team. Plus Upstate New York is pretty decent as far as level of interest in Hockey goes. Its pretty close to Ontario too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bissurnette Posted September 24, 2019 Share Posted September 24, 2019 What he said. 10 hours ago, Bitter Melon said: I'm all for keeping the Comets in Utica. The fans there have been great, the kids are far away from the vulturous media of the lower mainland, and they're given way more practice time due to a significantly shorter travel schedule. Plus, the compound of injuries where we are required to call on help from Utica is more likely to happen on road trips. Utica is a much more central location to fly the player out and have them catch up with the team wherever the team is on the road. Comets have a great fanbase in Utica, leave them there and let them practice and earn a living in a blue collar city. Believe it or not, that rubs on people when they live in a blue collar city like Utica. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cuporbust Posted September 24, 2019 Share Posted September 24, 2019 11 hours ago, Slickrick2369 said: What were your thoughts on the game? The Arena? The atmosphere? Can Abbotsford support the Comets? They dont want their AHL affiliate that close for a number of reasons . I'd love for it to happen, but it won't. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Borvat Posted September 24, 2019 Share Posted September 24, 2019 15 minutes ago, cuporbust said: They dont want their AHL affiliate that close for a number of reasons . I'd love for it to happen, but it won't. The one reason it may happen is $$$. Aquilini loves real estate and the City of Abbotsford may just be willing to sell the arena if they can't get a legitimate anchor tenant. It is currently subsidized by city taxes/taxpayers. If Francesco can make some money and obtain some prime real estate as part of a deal he will move the team. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dr. Crossbar Posted September 24, 2019 Share Posted September 24, 2019 I do like the idea from a proximity perspective being that close. But the people of Utica really support the Comets. Our prospects are really lucky to experience such passionate fans. There's a certain rewarding spark and relationship between the Comets, fans, and community. You don't get that type of support everywhere. Also, from a community standpoint, Utica needs the Comets much more than Abbotsford. I'd hate to see the Comets relocate only to see the place half empty most nights. Abbotsford and the arena will be fine. It would be a harder blow to Utica if the team left. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
canuck73_3 Posted September 24, 2019 Share Posted September 24, 2019 Much better to have the AHL team in Utica easier to fly around NA from New York than Abbotsford. Until the AHL truly expands west an affiliate in Abbotsford makes zero sense. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
canuck73_3 Posted September 24, 2019 Share Posted September 24, 2019 5 hours ago, tas said: my bet is that if the years of success we all foresee currently actually come to fruition, and the canucks end up with another season ticket waitlist, francesco will move the comets to abbotsford in a heartbeat. doing it earlier than that, before the demand for more canucks hockey warrants it, could be disastrous as a business move. Until there is more than a handful of teams out west in the AHL a move from Utica makes zero sense. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nucker 67 Posted September 24, 2019 Share Posted September 24, 2019 Where's the Leafs farm team located? Bellingham? lol Canucks farm team should be close to the NHL club as well. Just for the travel alone, it makes so much more sense. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
canuck73_3 Posted September 24, 2019 Share Posted September 24, 2019 Just now, NUCKER67 said: Where's the Leafs farm team located? Bellingham? lol Canucks farm team should be close to the NHL club as well. Just for the travel alone, it makes so much more sense. No it doesn't. 85% of the AHL is based in the midwest and east. So for travel no, it does not make sense. It's easier to fly around NA from eastern hubs like NY, DC, Atl etc... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The_Rocket Posted September 24, 2019 Share Posted September 24, 2019 For players bouncing back and forth between the two organizations (Gaudette, sautner, likely rafferty, macewan, joulevi) I think having the team in Abby would be way better. Also, it would obviously be better for Canucks fans because it would be easy to go see the Comets if you can’t afford big league tickets. However, in terms of how much it would affect development and team success to move the farm out west? Probably minimal, or none at all. Utica is a good hockey town with a good arena and easy travel and lots of support staff and facilities. No need to fix something that’s not broken. Should only switch to Abby if the GM knows that all the good things about Utica will transfer to Abby 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rizzuto&hatoum Posted September 24, 2019 Share Posted September 24, 2019 What was the attendance like last night? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tas Posted September 24, 2019 Share Posted September 24, 2019 (edited) 2 hours ago, canuck73_3 said: Until there is more than a handful of teams out west in the AHL a move from Utica makes zero sense. palm springs will be the ahl home of seattle as well. if it makes sense for the 3 california teams, arizona, edmonton, calgary, winnipeg (not to mention all the teams in the central US), why doesn't it make sense for vancouver? if you scroll the list of nhl affiliations on the ahl website, the canucks are the outlier as far as proximity to their farm team. Edited September 24, 2019 by tas Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
canuck73_3 Posted September 24, 2019 Share Posted September 24, 2019 20 minutes ago, tas said: palm springs will be the ahl home of seattle as well. if it makes sense for the 3 california teams, arizona, edmonton, calgary, winnipeg (not to mention all the teams in the central US), why doesn't it make sense for vancouver? if you scroll the list of nhl affiliations on the ahl website, the canucks are the outlier as far as proximity to their farm team. I wouldn't and don’t agree it makes sense for those teams either. With over 80% of the teams midwest and east just the better travel schedule having a team out east is worth it's weight in gold. Again as earlier mentioned close proximity to major travel hubs in NY, DC, Toronto, Chicago etc. As of now staying out east makes the most sense. Once or if the AHL further expands out west I get the case for it. But right now it makes zero sense wadr. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tas Posted September 24, 2019 Share Posted September 24, 2019 10 minutes ago, canuck73_3 said: I wouldn't and don’t agree it makes sense for those teams either. With over 80% of the teams midwest and east just the better travel schedule having a team out east is worth it's weight in gold. Again as earlier mentioned close proximity to major travel hubs in NY, DC, Toronto, Chicago etc. As of now staying out east makes the most sense. Once or if the AHL further expands out west I get the case for it. But right now it makes zero sense wadr. you should check that math again. 7 of 31 (8 of 32 after seattle/palm springs joins) teams are no further east than colorado. the nhl has a whopping 9 out of 31/10 out of 32. not exactly a huge difference. in fact, if you move the comets to abbotsford ... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
canuck73_3 Posted September 24, 2019 Share Posted September 24, 2019 34 minutes ago, tas said: you should check that math again. 7 of 31 (8 of 32 after seattle/palm springs joins) teams are no further east than colorado. the nhl has a whopping 9 out of 31/10 out of 32. not exactly a huge difference. in fact, if you move the comets to abbotsford ... Still not enough to make it worth it at this point. Utica is fine and if it ain't broke don't fix it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tas Posted September 25, 2019 Share Posted September 25, 2019 16 minutes ago, canuck73_3 said: Still not enough to make it worth it at this point. Utica is fine and if it ain't broke don't fix it. should the canucks pack up and move to albany or are we using real slippery logic? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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