Who knew that being a hockey fan included so much worry with cities you don’t even live in. Such has been the case with the Blues minor league situation of late.
The St. Louis Blues have had an odd minor-league situation of late. While we should always care about what is going on with the team’s prospects, who would have known that there would be so much drama regarding which teams the Blues were affiliated with.
It mainly began when they cut ties with the Peoria Rivermen. There had been times in the past when the Blues were not affiliated with the Rivermen, but the two had long-standing ties.
St. Louis even owned the Peoria franchise until 2013. Once the Blues sold off the franchise, things seemed to go a little south regarding the Blues affiliates at all levels.
Don’t get me wrong. I understand the reasoning behind Tom Stillman and Company’s decision.
As a more local group, they did not feel it was in their financial interests to keep funding a minor league team. The Rivermen were struggling a little bit at the time and the ownership wanted to keep their sole focus on financing the Blues. Makes sense.
However, St. Louis cut ties at the ECHL level too. The same year, 2013, they ended their brief relationship with the Evansville Icemen. The team did relocate to Jacksonville recently, so perhaps it was a wise decision. However, until now, the Blues had not had any real connection to the ECHL.
That has now changed, at least for another brief moment. The Blues will now be affiliated with the Tulsa Oilers of the ECHL for 2017-18.
The announcement from the team is odd in many aspects. There is nothing wrong with the Oilers organization overall, but the name alone makes the entire minor-league merry-go-round rather comical.
One would think the Oilers would be affiliated with the Edmonton Oilers, if for merchandising reasons alone. However, Tulsa’s name dates back to the late 1920‘s and the American Hockey Association.
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Also, why do the Blues suddenly need an ECHL affiliate? They have gone without one for four years.
The answer, in part, reverts back to the Blues AHL situation. While the Blues will be affiliated with the San Antonio Rampage in the future, they are without their own affiliate right now.
Some prospects will go to Chicago, some to San Antonio and others scattered throughout the AHL. With a true affiliate in the ECHL, the Blues can send a few players that are not suited to go back to juniors, or ran out eligibility, but not yet ready for the AHL.
Having an ECHL team in your back pocket also gives you some wiggle room in emergency situations. Though rarely utilized, ECHL teams can be used to rehab players without putting them through waivers.
So, if the Blues were having problems getting guys playing time or there was an actual injury, you can somewhat skirt the waiver wire by sending them to the ECHL for a rehab assignment.
Of course, that is not a permanent situation. The ECHL has rules that prohibit veteran players from staying on a roster too long.
Still, it’s not a bad idea to actually have an affiliate willing to help in those random situations. At least you know what you are getting into.
The Blues thought they had a decent thing going with the Missouri Mavericks with their working relationship. That soured about a quarter of the way into the year when Ville Husso was not getting the desired playing time.
Now, the Blues don’t have that same problem. If someone like Luke Opilka or Evan Fitzpatrick has a good camp and they don’t want to send them to juniors again, they can put them in Tulsa without overcrowding their AHL situation again.
Ultimately, the affiliation with Tulsa will have little bearing on the Blues. Only signing a one-year agreement seems odd, but it gives the Blues freedom to potentially work something out with the Mavericks again in the future. It also gives them a little more breathing room in their odd situation book.
Don’t expect to hear too much about the Oilers after this announcement. Then again, who knew we would even be discussing the ECHL in the first place.