One executive proposed “merging” locally owned teams with the others for one year. (I accidentally ended up in the middle of a hilarious argument between Bryan Murray and Jim Rutherford that year over who was better.) It is not at all beneficial to have your top prospects inert.īut no one is escaping the financial implications of the pandemic, and NHL owners will be careful about costs. Jason Spezza and Eric Staal took huge steps in the AHL while the NHL slept. In theory, it would make sense for the NHL clubs to do just that. It may not make sense for them to operate unless their NHL partners are willing to increase financial support. That group includes Hershey (Washington’s affiliate) and Syracuse (Tampa Bay).Īndrews would not go into it, but it is believed those locally owned organizations are most concerned about playing without fans. Nineteen of the AHL’s 31 teams are owned by their NHL parents (three have local groups that operate those teams). What if we start in October? What if we start in November? What if we start later? Asking people, ‘What do you think about this?’”Īndrews hopes to present those different scenarios in a couple of weeks. It’s about modelling different scenarios. We’ve been in a good place, and we’re going to find a way to make sure we can stay in a good place. “This is about coming up with a plan to make sure the league is sustainable. “It’s important for people to understand that this is not about panicking,” Andrews said. That is an absolute worst-case scenario, but it exists. Over the last week, however, NHL GMs were warned about concerns that the AHL could potentially go without playing next season if fans were not allowed into buildings. One theory as to why that hasn’t happened is some AHL players could end up playing for NHL teams, and, as a result, there’s no point in giving them the mindset their year is over. The AHL has not officially cancelled the rest of this year, but that’s a formality. And that is still the case as he shot down rumours that pandemic planning will keep him in his position past that date. After 26 years as the American Hockey League’s president, Andrews is leaving that position on June 30.
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