Capitals reach agreement with AHL's Hershey Bears

[Lidstrom5 D-Man 0]

Hershey Bears

So I wonder who Colorado will use as their farm team.

[Icer 0]

The Avs (and Hurricanes) will send their top prospects to Lowell.

[joshy207 156]

So who's Portland going to be affiliated with? Or are they going to be independent? It seems to me the AHL wants 30 teams so each NHL club has its own affiliate, I don't think they want to travel the independent route (like the old IHL)...

[Lidstrom5 D-Man 0]

Okay, some more changes in the A for next season:

Dallas Stars will drop their affiliation with Hamilton Bulldogs (shared with the Montreal Canadiens) and start up again with the new Iowa Stars. Montreal Canadiens will keep Hamilton all to themselves.

Calgary Flames will drop their affiliation with Lowell Lock Monsters (shared currently by the Carolina Hurricanes) and start up again with a new team in Omaha (currently no mascot). Carolina will continue to share Lowell next season but this time with the Colorado Avalanche.

St. Louis Blues will have a new AHL affiliate next season in the new Peoria Rivermen team. The Blues' current affiliate, the Worcester IceCats, are moving to Peoria, Illinois. That will be a big help to St. Louis to call up players at the last minute.

Toronto Maple Leafs will no longer have St. Johns Maple Leafs as their farm. St. Johns is packing up and moving to Toronto to become the Marlies.

As for the Portland Pirates losing their affiliation with the Washington Capitals, Pirates Managing Owner/CEO Brian Petrovek issued the following statement:

“A relationship between the Washington Capitals and the Hershey Bears makes a great deal of sense based upon the locations of the respective markets. This is a good move for both organizations and for the league and we wish the Capitals well. We look forward to introducing our new NHL affiliate to our fans in the near future and to launching a new era of Portland Pirates Hockey.”

All I can say is...good luck with that. When the Dallas Stars dropped the Michigan K-Wings as their IHL farm team, the K-Wings were looking at folding the team because no other NHL team needed them.

[eva unit zero 271]

Portland may join the ECHL if they don't become an affiliate team. That or they will continue to play in the AHL and will sign the best players available, and may become a jumping off point for derelict free agents since the WHA never happened.

With 30 AHL teams and 30 NHL affiliates, that leaves precious little room for guys to try and work their way up from the UHL or ECHL if they are not a draftee, or were at one point but didn't stick.