Breaking Down What The AHL's 2020-21 Season Will Look Like
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With the National Hockey League's (NHL) plans finalized for their 2020-21 season, the American Hockey League began to take steps necessary in furthering its own return to play process - with Monday's Board of Governors meeting serving as a final deadline for the league's 31 franchises to either opt-in or opt out of the 2020-21 season.
There are still plenty of loose ends that need to be finalized - a playing schedule, a potential playoffs format and most importantly health and safety protocols immediately come to mind - but the AHL's upcoming season is still set to begin on February 5th, moving forward with their return to play plans.
Charlotte, Milwaukee & Springfield Opt Out
Three AHL franchises - the Charlotte Checkers (Florida), Milwaukee Admirals (Nashville) and Springfield Thunderbirds (St Louis) - opted out of the upcoming season, with the remaining 28 AHL clubs being re-aligned into five separate divisions (graphic pictured above via the AHL).
The three teams who opted out are among the league's 12 independently-owned franchises, with two of those three entering the beginning of a new partnership with their respective NHL affiliate.
“The prospect of playing the season without fans and the lack of any revenue was too difficult to manage,” Milwaukee Admirals Governor and CEO Harris Turer said in the team's press release shortly after the league's announcement Monday afternoon.
Independently owned AHL teams pay an annual affiliation fee to their NHL parent club, which in essence gives that minor-league team the green-light to profit off of their affiliates prospects. However, with box offices potentially slated to generate zero revenue this coming season, that affiliation fee - which sources say can be in the ball park of $1,000,000 - feels a lot heavier a deficit than it usually does. That also doesn't include the day-to-day operating costs of running an AHL franchise.
Even with the Admirals having served as the Nashville Predators’ AHL affiliate for the past 22 seasons, the 2021-2022 season will be the final year of the clubs most recent five-year affiliation agreement. If Milwaukee wants to be able to continue this relationship with the Predators, it’s actually better for them to minimize losses from this season so that they can have the means to strike another deal with the Predators after what will hopefully be a successful 2021-2022 season.
For the 2020-21 season, Nashville will be sending their prospects to the AHL's Chicago Wolves, effectively sharing a dual-affiliation with the Carolina Hurricanes who are just beginning their new partnership with the Wolves this season.
READ ALSO: Inside The AHL's Return To Play Process
Entering a new partnership of their own, the Springfield Thunderbirds and St. Louis Blues weren't able to begin their new five-year affiliation agreement they inked back in March.
"Unfortunately, due to health and safety concerns, travel logistics, new player supply rules, and other considerations we collectively determined that it was in the best interests of all parties to opt out for this season," Thunderbirds President Nate Costa said in the team's statement Monday. "Over the past few months, we have worked tirelessly with the Blues to explore every possible avenue for returning to play this season."
The Blues and Thunderbirds will begin that five-year agreement in the 2021-22 season, according to Costa.
St Louis will be sending their prospects to Utica for the 2020-21 season, sharing a dual-affiliation with the Vancouver Canucks.
In a similar situation to Springfield in some regards, Charlotte was also in the hunt for a new NHL partner after Carolina and Charlotte cut ties on a decade-long, in-state NHL-AHL affiliation. Now in a partnership with the Florida Panthers, new GM Bill Zito said in the team's statement that the two sides made the decision together to opt out of the 2020-21 season.
“There are several travel, safety and player supply challenges to consider," Checkers Owner and CEO Michael Kahn said in the team's press release. "Those, coupled with the increasing number of new cases in our area, make it very unlikely that we will be able to host fans at our games in the near future. We are appreciative of our partnership with the Florida Panthers regarding the navigation of this very difficult matter and will immediately focus our efforts on beginning the 2021-22 season in the fall."
AHL Schedules Soon, But Playoffs?
The schedule should be the next shoe to drop for the AHL and according to Syracuse Crunch owner Howard Dolgon, it will be a 100-day (14 weeks and two days) regular season running from February 5th to May 15th. The schedule matrix - a list of how many games teams will play and which opponents - will be finalized Friday according to Dolgon.
Thursday evening, Dolgon told viewers on the team's Facebook page during a live chat that the Crunch will be playing 32 games this season against a total of three opponents - Rochester (BUF) , Utica (VAN/STL) and Wilkes-Barre/Scranton (PIT).
Dolgon also said during the Facebook chat that as of right now there was no commitment to an AHL postseason. Dolgon has been open and up front in previous media availabilities about Syracuse and their NHL partner in Tampa Bay not being interested in any such postseason.
InsideAHLHockey.com reporter Tony Androckitis reports that the Lehigh Valley Phantoms (PHI) are expected to play 38 games in 2020-21 with a similar three-opponent schedule against in-state rivals Hershey (WSH) and Wilkes-Barre/Scranton (PIT) and Binghamton (NJD).
Tony also reported that the Hartford Wolfpack (NYR) are expected to play 24 games, the minimum amount of games AHL teams will play this season. Hartford plays in a three-team Atlantic Division with the Bridgeport Sound Tigers (NYI) and Providence Bruins (BOS), so it's likely a similar 24-game in-division schedule could be had for all three teams.
Could NHL-CHL Player Agreement be temporarily amended?
If Canadian Major Junior Hockey (CHL) leagues—the WHL, OHL and QMJHL—still aren't operating by February 5th, chances are that NHL teams will be able to assign prospects, who wouldn't otherwise be AHL eligible, to their minor-league affiliate.
The NHL-CHL player agreement forbids NHL clubs from assigning prospects who are younger than 20 years old, or have played less than four seasons of junior hockey, to the AHL. The NHL-CHL agreement is in place to keep the CHL—which sees the three of it’s leagues perennially produce premier NHL-talent in large quantities—thriving.
If the CHL doesn’t make considerable progress in getting their three leagues up-and-running, AHL hockey could become a whole lot more exciting. With the World Junior Championships concluded, some of the elite CHL players - and top NHL prospects - could begin their seasons in the AHL.
Other News & Notes
The Vancouver Canucks (Utica Comets), Calgary Flames (Stockton Heat) and Edmonton Oilers (Bakersfield Condors) will continue to operate their AHL affiliate in the United States. It’ll be interesting to see how often these teams dip into their AHL prospect pool, if at all. With the taxi squad there as a cushion, teams will never need a call-up to play within 24 hours but if a couple of injuries pile up, players called up to their would certainly be subject to quarantine and other safety protocols, which will undoubtedly delay their arrival to their Canadian affiliate.
Five AHL teams won’t be playing their home games at their usual home rinks this season. The San Diego Gulls will play in Irvine, California. The Ontario Reign will play out of El Sequndo, California. The Binghamton Devils will move to Newark, New Jersey. The Providence Bruins will operate out of Marlborough Massachusetts, and the Laval Rocket will play their home contests in Montreal's Bell Centre. All of these are temporary agreements for the 2020-21 season.
