Moose remain in picture

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This article was published 25/05/2011 (5291 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

A relocated Manitoba Moose franchise will be the only AHL affiliation option for a potential Winnipeg team in next season’s NHL, several sources have told the Free Press.

“It certainly isn’t going to be the Chicago Wolves,” said a person currently involved in the AHL’s annual off-season game of musical chairs — the shift of affiliations between NHL and AHL teams.

The Wolves are the present AHL affiliate of the Atlanta Thrashers, who are the subject of intense negotiations that may see the Thrashers sold and relocated to Winnipeg in time for the 2011-12 season.

A report from St. John’s, NL, last weekend, said that the Moose AHL franchise will be relocated to that city in the event of a deal between Winnipeg’s True North Sports and Entertainment and the Atlanta Spirit Group, current owners of the Thrashers. The report said the relocated Moose franchise would be the affiliate of Winnipeg’s NHL team and that True North would maintain ownership of the AHL club for a year.

“St. John’s, that’s by far the front-runner deal they’ve got going, from what I’ve been told,” another AHL executive told the Free Press.

A Moose relocation only compounds the challenge this summer for AHL president Dave Andrews, who is both deal-maker and peacekeeper when it comes to NHL affiliations.

It’s rare a year goes by without the AHL president trying to quell some squabbling within affiliations or attempting to find better matches for those who declare they are looking for something else.

This year, Andrews already was dealing with the divorce of the AHL’s Rochester Americans and the NHL’s Florida Panthers, a match made in a place not called heaven. The Amerks have struggled repeatedly under Florida’s oversight and have come to the end of their agreement with the Panthers. The Sabres and Americans broke up in 2008.

The only other “unattached” partners, assuming a Thrashers-to-Winnipeg move, would be the Vancouver Canucks, who will lose their Moose affiliation, and the Wolves, who would lose their Atlanta partnership.

But things could be even more complicated still for two reasons.

First, there would seem to be a lot of factors suggesting a swap to simply Vancouver-Rochester and Florida-Wolves hook-ups wouldn’t be the best fit, not the least of them being that the Chicago Wolves prefer an autonomy greater than your average affiliation.

Second, the NHL’s Buffalo Sabres have entered the picture by confirming they are at least in talks to buy the Rochester franchise and restore the regional arrangement between Buffalo and Rochester that makes so much sense. There’s no guarantee that would happen for next season, but it does open up the possibility that Buffalo’s current affiliation with the Portland Pirates may have to change.

If NHL Buffalo and AHL Portland are brought into the mix, that means more potential combinations.

And it doesn’t stop there.

One source said the Wolves have already fielded several calls putting out feelers from NHL teams, which is not terribly surprising given Chicago’s central location.

And you can be sure the Canucks, who could well be looking for a new affiliation, would covet an arrangement with nearby Abbotsford, though that city is tied to the NHL’s Calgary Flames for several more years.

It’s only speculation that multiple suitors could materialize for the Chicago Wolves or that Calgary and Abbotsford could be in play but you can see how the possible combinations — and Andrews’ challenge — expand if they are.

tim.campbell@freepress.mb.ca