St. Louis Blues AHL Nightmare Will End…Eventually
By Todd Panula
The St. Louis Blues were not long without a true AHL affiliate. Unfortunately, it will still be too long for the situation to really not have any impact at all.
The St. Louis Blues are officially, but not officially, attached to an AHL team again. Sadly, they still have to wait for another season for it to come into effect.
As reported by the St. Louis Post-Dispatch’s Jeremy Rutherford, according to sources embedded in both the NHL and AHL, the Blues are poised to announce a five-year deal with the San Antonio Rampage of the AHL.
Unfortunately, the Rampage are currently the affiliates of the Colorado Avalanche. This deal will not take effect until 2018-19.
This was always the likeliest of scenarios. As we discussed in a previous article, the Denver Post had already reported that the Avalanche were going to attempt making the Colorado Eagles of the ECHL the team that would move up to the AHL and make them their affiliate.
What stings about that is Colorado’s, or the Eagle’s, willingness to pony up for the fees it will take to make the switch. Rutherford’s article points out that the Blues were unwilling to spend the roughly $7 million it would have taken to get the ECHL teams in Independence (Kansas City) or Indianapolis promoted.
The Blues entered talks with potential ownership groups in Kansas City and Indianapolis about an expansion club, but the price proved too expensive. The two cities already have ECHL franchises — the Kansas City Mavericks and the Indy Fuel — and the combined costs of the AHL franchise fee, ECHL exit fee and other financial factors would have totaled an estimated $7 million-plus. – Jeremy Rutherford,St. Louis Post-Dispatch
It becomes difficult to tell where the problems fell, whether it was Blues ownership or that of the other teams. Principle owner Tom Stillman told the Post-Dispatch “…(the organization) worked extremely hard over the last two years to come up with an option. Really because of some specific circumstances involved, those things didn’t work out, but believe me, it was not for lack of trying.”
You can take that at face value or say it’s the usual cover up, but the story is backed up by comments made by the AHL’s President Dave Andrews. “There were a number of opportunities that the Blues helped to develop that potentially could have created a 31st team for this year,” said Andrews in an interview with the Post-Dispatch. “But certainly through no fault of anyone’s, we were just not able to secure an opportunity for this year anywhere. I don’t think there were better options than those that they turned up, and both the Blues and ourselves were disappointed that those didn’t move forward in time for this year.”
It’s kind of sad, because there seemed to be so much promise in the option of an AHL team in Kansas City not long ago. In the end, though, at least this odd situation is all but officially done with. We now know where guys will end up.
The only other things remaining are wondering what kind of relationship the Blues can build with San Antonio. The Rampage have some of the best owners in all of sports.
The team is currently owned by the same group that owns the San Antonio Spurs. So, we know they are committed to putting a top notch product out there. Conversely though, the Rampage have only made the postseason in four of their 15 seasons.
You could make the case that being the minor league team for a down franchise such as Colorado did not help them. Their other affiliates have been the Florida Panthers and Arizona Coyotes (in reverse order). Admittedly, they have not had the best to work with.
On the plus side, the Rampage were in the top 10 in attendance in 2016-17 and have been right around that same mark for several years. So, that simply leaves 2017-18 as the question mark.
Doug Armstrong told Rutherford that he expects around eight prospects to play with the Chicago Wolves. Six could begin the affiliation with San Antonio. The rest will, unfortunately, have to be scattered around the AHL.
Armstrong continued in his interview with Rutherford saying the Blues are currently evaluating which prospects will go where. The decision will be a mix of what is best for the team getting the prospect and the player themselves.
That just doesn’t pass the eye test, so to speak. There is nothing to be done this season though.
Owning their own team again is apparently a non-starter. So the Blues are always going to be at the mercy of having to work with another ownership group. They just need to hope the Rampage will be more on board with their process, like most affiliates are with their NHL teams, than the Chicago Wolves were.