St. Louis Blues Prospects Trading Southern Warmth For Eastern Cold

The St. Louis Blues moved quickly to secure a new AHL partnership. They looked eastward this time and found an old ally in the New England area.

When the St. Louis Blues found out that their current AHL affiliate, the San Antonio Rampage, had been purchased by the Vegas Golden Knights, there was a feeling of here we go again. The Golden Knights had already pushed the Blues out of a partnership with the Chicago Wolves, though that relationship was already souring regardless.

Nightmare visions of Blues prospects scattering to the wind the way they did in 2017-18 began clouding the mind. Worries of goaltenders being relegated to third string roles on foreign franchises, ala Jordan Binnington in Providence, or potential top-six players relegated to a fourth line role flooded the brain.

However, cool as a cucumber, Doug Armstrong and his front office crew got to work. Barely a month after learning the Blues would no longer have San Antonio as their AHL club, the Blues founded a new partnership with the Springfield Thunderbirds.

This will not be the first time in franchise history that St. Louis and Springfield have partnered up. The Blues affiliate in 1983-84 was the Springfield Indians.

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The last time the Blues affiliate was this far east was when the Worcester IceCats were their affiliate from 1995 to 2005. Interesting side note: the IceCats actually used to be the Indians before they were moved 30 minutes east and then the IceCats were moved to Peoria to resurrect the Rivermen franchise, when the Blues owned them in the mid-2000’s

Funny enough, the shift in geography might cause the biggest shift for the current group of Blues prospects. They are trading the sun and relative comfort of weather in San Antonio for the unpredictability of Springfield and the harsh New England winters.

Perhaps that might actually spur some of these youngsters. The crew of the Stalter and Rivers show on 101 ESPN made the comment that Klim Kostin would do everything he could to make the NHL next year to avoid that weather shift.

It was said in jest and Kostin is close to making it anyway. However, that could play a part in guys getting their act together a little more.

Of course, weather won’t be a deciding factor in their work ethic overall. If weather was that big an influence, teams like the Florida Panthers and Arizona Coyotes would have Stanely Cup rings on both hands since guys would flock there.

In all seriousness, the biggest thing is just that the Blues have a home for their prospects. We do not yet know what, if any, control the Blues will be given over the Thunderbirds.

Clearly the Blues do not want, or cannot afford, their own AHL franchise or they would likely set one up in Kansas City. Nevertheless, NHL teams would usually like to at least have a say in the coaching hire or system that is in place so that there is not as much a learning curve when prospects get called up.

Nothing was said about that in the press release from the two franchises. All we know for sure is that a five-year agreement was reached between the Blues and Thunderbirds.

Of course, we know how well that works sometimes. The Blues had a five-year deal with the Rampage and that lasted a year and a half.

As long as no other team comes in and buys the Thunderbirds, the Blues should be alright. As mentioned, the biggest thing is knowing you have a central location for your high-level prospects and fill-in NHL talent.

Even if you don’t pick the coach, at least those players are getting to know one another and learn how to be a professional together instead of with other team’s players. Now, if we can just keep Vegas out of our business for a little bit.