ECHL Affiliation yet,

[robr1can]

Have the Vancouver Canucks signed an affiliation deal with an ECHL team yet? It appears as if only the Wichita Thunder, the Greenville Swamp Rabbits, and the Allen Americans have no AHL/NHL affiliates. With some Abby 'Nucks signing AHL/ECHL contracts, where might they go?

[Goal:thecup]

Oh, no doubt what so ever:

"Play your bags off boys or you'll be a Soggy Swamp Rabbit forever!"

 

[Ghostsof1915]

Why, even when we had an affiliation they didn't help the players out with development. Basically for the most part the ECHL is a dead end for a hockey players career.

We can just loan them to teams that will take them.

[King Heffy]

3 minutes ago, Ghostsof1915 said:

Why, even when we had an affiliation they didn't help the players out with development. Basically for the most part the ECHL is a dead end for a hockey players career.

We can just loan them to teams that will take them.

[Ghostsof1915]

1 minute ago, King Heffy said:

Name two others. Bottom line. Even when we had a team in Victoria or Alaska did anyone else get developed from our prospects?

No. Basically once you go to the ECHL, you are lucky to get back to the AHL.

Burrows is more of the exception not the rule.

[King Heffy]

7 minutes ago, Ghostsof1915 said:

Name two others. Bottom line. Even when we had a team in Victoria or Alaska did anyone else get developed from our prospects?

No. Basically once you go to the ECHL, you are lucky to get back to the AHL.

Burrows is more of the exception not the rule.

https://www.flohockey.tv/articles/7205789-five-echl-players-who-made-the-jump-to-the-nhl

 

Mostly goalies, but it's worth having the affiliate.

 

 

Edited August 1, 2022 by King Heffy

[Chickenspear]

Uggh, ECHL team names are just terrible. The hell is a swamp rabbit? 

[4petesake]

10 minutes ago, Chickenspear said:

Uggh, ECHL team names are just terrible. The hell is a swamp rabbit? 

Them thars is sum gud eatin’!

[Goal:thecup]

28 minutes ago, Chickenspear said:

Uggh, ECHL team names are just terrible. The hell is a swamp rabbit? 

Don't ask.

For your own good.

For reference, see the movie:  Waiting

[Ghostsof1915]

46 minutes ago, Goal:thecup said:

Don't ask.

For your own good.

For reference, see the movie:  Waiting

 

[CRAZY_4_NAZZY]

I asked Chris Faber and Thomas Drance on twitter and both said the same thing.

 

 

Last year Ryan Johnson made 8 ECHL call ups all varying from different ECHL clubs. Toronto Maple Leafs are the only team to have significantly poured resources into their ECHL affiliate with the Growlers. The Marlies have had a fairly healthy influx of their players come from the ECHL affiliate over the years. I do think it would be worth investing into an ECHL parent affiliate, preferably close to us to help with the health of development of players. Certain teams like the Idaho Steelheads or the Utah Grizzlies are a few teams who are the only Western based ECHL clubs but I wonder because of the pandemic whether they look to find an ECHL club in Canada to partner with to avoid border issues.

 

Arturs Silovs spent time with the Trois-Rivières Lions who is Montreal's ECHL affiliate when Abbotsford had Martin and DiPietro. 

 

Carson Focht went to Kalamazoo (when we were on our last year of our ECHL deal). 

 

 

[Ilya Mikheyev]

to me it makes logical sense to have one ECHL affiliation so you can control every aspect of players development. sure, not many will become NHLers, but contributing to AHL teams is important too. any extra leg up you can get in this league with so much parity should be taken pretty seriously IMO. I guess Wichita would be OK, but Greenville is a bit closer to the eastern seaboard teams...Wichita has only made it to the playoffs twice and never past the first round since 2014, so maybe they'd be stoked to have some extra help

[King Heffy]

4 minutes ago, Ilya Mikheyev said:

to me it makes logical sense to have one ECHL affiliation so you can control every aspect of players development. sure, not many will become NHLers, but contributing to AHL teams is important too. any extra leg up you can get in this league with so much parity should be taken pretty seriously IMO. I guess Wichita would be OK, but Greenville is a bit closer to the eastern seaboard teams...Wichita has only made it to the playoffs twice and never past the first round since 2014, so maybe they'd be stoked to have some extra help

I fail to see the downside other than the cost.  It also provides a spot to assign new coaches so you don't get a repeat of a guy like Baumgartner retiring, getting a chance as an assistant, and causing a ton of damage to the prospects.  Having our own ECHL team to give staff an opportunity is much less risky.

[Ilya Mikheyev]

5 minutes ago, King Heffy said:

I fail to see the downside other than the cost.  It also provides a spot to assign new coaches so you don't get a repeat of a guy like Baumgartner retiring, getting a chance as an assistant, and causing a ton of damage to the prospects.  Having our own ECHL team to give staff an opportunity is much less risky.

Yea for sure . And ECHL owners would be thankful for the extra personal and guidance I imagine? I'm not super on top of the nuances of the ECHL right now, but I agree with you, there doesn't seem to be a downside (other than cost but I don't care about how rich Aqua is, I want the Canucks to win...which will in turn make Aqua richer...hmmm)

[hammertime]

Swamp rabits. Please let it be the swamp rabits. 

[Ghostsof1915]

2 hours ago, Ilya Mikheyev said:

Yea for sure . And ECHL owners would be thankful for the extra personal and guidance I imagine? I'm not super on top of the nuances of the ECHL right now, but I agree with you, there doesn't seem to be a downside (other than cost but I don't care about how rich Aqua is, I want the Canucks to win...which will in turn make Aqua richer...hmmm)

Only problem is as I've seen from previous ECHL teams, we didn't seem to have much influence on player development when players went down there.

Nor does there seem to be any kind of effort to try and get the type of coaches, trainers, and professionals that try to help players improve.

 

[Goal:thecup]

7 hours ago, Chickenspear said:

Uggh, ECHL team names are just terrible. The hell is a swamp rabbit? 

A swamp rabbit is a genetic evolutionary descendant of ancient alien visitations by threesome-loving furry cat-eating bustaroosters.

[Goal:thecup]

The swamp rabbit (Sylvilagus aquaticus), also called the cane-cutter, is a large cottontail rabbit found in the swamps and wetlands of the southern United States. The species has a strong preference for wet areas, and it will take to the water and swim.

Like other lagomorphs, they have a double digestion. Food passes through their gut twice, first producing soft, green feces (cecotropes) which still contain nutrients. These are eaten by the animal (coprophagy), and after further digestion the remains form drier, dark brown or black hard pellets, which are not eaten.

Unlike their ancient ancestors, they are plant eaters and are not often confused with the frozen-water, or ice skating, Snow Bunny seen at hockey rinks:

 

[lmm]

2 hours ago, Goal:thecup said:

The swamp rabbit (Sylvilagus aquaticus), also called the cane-cutter, is a large cottontail rabbit found in the swamps and wetlands of the southern United States. The species has a strong preference for wet areas, and it will take to the water and swim.

Like other lagomorphs, they have a double digestion. Food passes through their gut twice, first producing soft, green feces (cecotropes) which still contain nutrients. These are eaten by the animal (coprophagy), and after further digestion the remains form drier, dark brown or black hard pellets, which are not eaten.

Unlike their ancient ancestors, they are plant eaters and are not often confused with the frozen-water, or ice skating, Snow Bunny seen at hockey rinks:

 

I ain't got the dough for a snow bunny, so I guess it'd be swamp rabbit for me

cane cutter sounds rough

[sonoman]

16 hours ago, 4petesake said:

Them thars is sum gud eatin’!