Where did the Thunder Cats play?
It will be interesting to see how many teams actually move the teams. Also, maybe Colorado gets a team and moves it to say Colorado Springs.
Bad idea, IMO - the WCHL team there (their last attempt at a pro team) never won the hearts and minds over Colorado College. Yes, I know an AHL team is "fancier", but Loveland/Fort Collins has shown itself to be FAR more embracing of minor pro hockey.
Now, a Colorado AHL affiliate in Loveland might work -- they've sold out every game of their existence in both the CHL and ECHL, if I recall correctly.
But yes, they'd have to either convince some other owner to move there and affiliate, or buy a team from someone, and I doubt the Cavs owner is at all interested in selling his AHL team.
I've always said that this was possible, but would take a LOT of coordination and pieces falling together, because of the number of parties involved in each individual market -- the team owner who actually owns a franchise, the arena management who can decide not to offer or make bad terms on a lease, and an NHL affiliation being needed. So, there's a LOT of combinations of outcomes possible out there.
Things people seem to be forgetting:
* Edmonton owns OKC (which is not living up to its prior promise)
* Edmonton now also owns ECHL Bakersfield
So, if the lease in OKC and the lease in Bako allow, they might flip the teams, or just fold/sell the ECHL Condors and move the AHL Barons into Bako in their place. That's one possible moving piece.
* The LA lease in Manchester runs out in 2015, I believe
* LA also owns the ECHL Ontario Reign, so once again, there could be a swap or a fold/sale or even move of the Reign so that the Monarchs could move into Ontario. Heck, maybe the Reign move to San Diego, bringing the ECHL back.
So, some mysteries here are:
* How does Anaheim fit into this framework? Are they buying and moving a franchise, or hoping some other owner will be found out West that they can affiliate with?
* How does Colorado fit into the framework, with the situation as mentioned in Lake Erie?
* Is there a way to get the Vancouver affiliation into Abbotsford?
* What are the thoughts on the Norfolk owners -- re-affiliate with someone else (as they've done in the past), or just sell to Anaheim (or someone else)?
And I'll wager that the participants themselves don't know all the answers to these questions yet.
It might fall apart, but it's interesting to watch the participants move towards making it happen, and speculate on what the moving pieces might be.