Why is Binghamton Rangers territory? He means most people in that area are Rangers fans. They probably are because it is the closest NHL team to Binghamton and people in that area tend to identify with NYC teams.
Why do most people want Hartford to move to Binghamton? Realize that he is talking about most people in Binghamton and the answer is obvious. He just said they are mostly Ranger fans, they want to have the Rangers farm team in their town so they can see Rangers prospects instead of Senators or Devils prospects. Those who aren't Rangers fans probably realize that having the Rangers AHL team means better attendance and therefore more likelyhood the team stays around, so they are hoping it will be the Rangers also.
The fact that most NHL teams are moving their AHL team closer to their home market doesn't have any bearing whatsoever on what Joe Hockey Fan in Binghamton wants to have happen.
The POINT I'M basing my objective opinion on, royals, is this: What economic factors have changed since 1997, to convince MSG to return to Binghamton, the same business decision they made by filling the hole left by the Whalers relocation to Carolina, what I'm trying to get you to respond to is this: Give me one reason to convince the majority here that the Rangers should be considering Binghamton now that the deal is apparently sewn up/known that Belleville has landed this Senators franchise (btw, this current Senators franchise was awarded in 1972 and spent 20 years in New Haven as the Nighthawks Before spending 1 season as the New Haven Senators, it has only been in Binghamton since 2002, after a 3-4 year stay in Charlottetown, PEI; now home to a QMJHL franchise called the Charlottetown Islanders.) Last I knew both Albany and Hartford have valid leases through 2018/19, and Albany has not been ruled out yet as a replacement via the rumor mill since Belleville has already been announced.... I just don't want to have Mitchell saying Ottawa has been cordial in securing Binghamton's next affiliation/team and then have what happened here in Portland occur there even though there were possibilities that Arizona pulled the buy card and could've exercised it instead of playing that card this offseason forcing Springfield Hockey into playing the resulting acqusition of the Pirates.
Excluding Hershey, which is a trust decree, how much longer will we see the AHL Affiliates become fully owned/operated by the parent NHL Clubs, squeezing out those like Mitchell and THE Springfield ownership.... that's the danger risk this league, its fanbases, past, and/or present franchises must decide.
By definition, all opinions are subjective, not objective. That's why they're called opinions, and not facts.
There are currently two important trends in AHL franchise ownership / locations:
1) NHL franchises buying AHL franchises.
2) NHL franchises relocating AHL franchises to be closer to the NHL parent club.
It's important to note that, despite some individuals' beliefs, neither of those trends are large-market vs. small-market. Belleville is a small market. Should the Rangers' affiliate move to Binghamton, that is a substantially smaller market than Hartford. Same goes for the Oilers moving from OKC to Bakersfield, and the Habs moving from Hamilton to Laval. Yes, teams are leaving smaller markets for larger markets, but that's because those larger markets are closer to the parent club (San Jose, San Diego, Ontario).
Both of these are the result of the salary cap. The presence of the cap means that:
(1) teams need to have a steady stream of young, inexpensive players, thus making player development more important than it was in the past, and
(2) teams need to carefully manage their NHL roster, thus making it more important to be able to quickly recall players from the AHL.
Regarding the question of Binghamton vs. Hartford ... yes, Binghamton is about 1 hour further from NYC than Hartford, but it's still easily driveable, thus making it simple for the Rangers to quickly recall a player, and thus take advantage of having their AHL franchise within close proximity.
Hutch chooses to view NHL ownership of AHL franchises as a negative. I'm not sure why, given that NHL owners are much wealthier than AHL owners, and should thus be able to support their AHL franchises more capably. More importantly, there is absolutely no evidence that the AHL is weakened by this structure. We do know that attendance is much higher than it has been in the past, and the growth of player and coaching salaries suggests that the league is getting stronger, not weaker, with greater attention being paid by NHL owners.
