Realignment & Relocation? Flames Moving AHL Operations To Calgary

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The smoke has been building for quite some time, and multiple sources have reached out to Inside AHL Hockey over the past few weeks indicating the expectation is the Calgary Flames will be relocating their American Hockey League (AHL) affiliate from Stockton and moving it into Canada - and into the Calgary area, specifically - for the 2022-23 season.

The re-location would need to be approved by the AHL's Board of Governors (BoG), but as one league source informed Inside AHL Hockey over the weekend the AHL's BoG is scheduled to meet this week. It's certainly possible the relocation won't be addressed at Tuesday's meeting, and will be something formally voted on over the summer, but the chatter around the league is certainly building on that topic.

Divisional realignment is expected to be among major the topics of discussion, since after all the AHL will be welcoming it's 32nd franchise into the fold in the fall.

With the Coachella Valley Firebirds entering the league next season (2022-23) as the Seattle Kraken will have their own AHL team after sharing the Charlotte Checkers with the Florida Panthers, it creates a bit of a logjam in the Pacific Division which currently already has nine teams.

With another California team entering the league, it's unlikely the league will have 10 teams in that division in 2022-23.

The current Pacific Division includes Abbotsford (VAN), Bakersfield (EDM), Colorado (COL), Henderson (VGK), Ontario (LAK), San Diego (ANA), San Jose (SJS), Stockton (CAL) and Tucson (ARI).

With the Coachella Valley Firebirds expected to enter the league in the Pacific Division, which teams are likely to be moved?

Option #1: Realign The Divisions to Make Four Eight-Team Divisions

Coachella Valley enters league in the Pacific DivisionColorado and Tucson move from Pacific to CentralGrand Rapids moves to the Eastern Conference's North Division

While this creates the most movement, it also creates an even placement of teams in both the Eastern Conference and Western Conference as well as the standard 8-8-8-8 format with four eight-team divisions.

With the league moving to a standard 72-game schedule for all 32 teams, this is a chance to make things unilateral league-wide with game play and divisions all having equal teams/games played.

I think it's probable that Colorado shifts to the Central Division, and after that Tucson makes the most sense as a candidate to move to the Central Division.

Not that it's a must, but this option would also see the AHL and NHL's Pacific Divisions have the same eight organizations represented as well as see Colorado and Arizona's AHL affiliates in the Central Division similar to their NHL counterparts.

Grand Rapids' NHL affiliate Detroit Red Wings is in the NHL's Eastern Conference in the Atlantic Division with Boston, Buffalo, Florida, Montreal, Ottawa, Toronto and Tampa Bay so moving Grand Rapids to the Eastern Conference in the AHL makes the most sense as they could face Belleville (OTT), Laval (MTL), Rochester (BUF) and Toronto (TOR) in-division similar to their NHL parent club.

Option #2: Less Movement, 17-West and 15-East

Coachella Valley enters the league in the Pacific DivisionColorado or Tucson moves from Pacific to Central

If the league is looking for a quick fix to stall any major changes and postpone them for a few years down the road to allow AHL teams to get their legs back under them coming out of a financially crippling pandemic, then minimizing the amount of changes to the landscape might be the way to go.

In this scenario, the league would be a bit unbalanced with 17 teams in the Western Conference - and still nine teams in the Pacific Division to go along with eight teams in the Central - but the AHL is currently uneven this season with 31 teams and a 16-15 split with one more team in the Western Conference.

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