AHL Thoughts: A Look Around The American Hockey League
The current situation in the American Hockey League (AHL) can probably be best described as a game of whack-a-mole.
No, seriously.
Getting to this point is certainly an accomplishment of its own for the AHL, what with all of the challenges of getting 31 teams in 31 different markets all under the same umbrella - and in the midst of a pandemic.
It ended up being 28 teams (with Charlotte, Milwaukee and Springfield choosing to opt out), but all in the same - endless virtual meetings including the league's Return to Play Task Force, the Board of Governors, the players union (PHPA), the Executive Committee were conducted and months were spent working on a plausible solution for the league's return to play.
It just seems like with each challenge met and conquered by the league (the mallet whacking the mole back into it's hole), several more challenges/problems arise (the moles popping up from other holes).
For example, they get to the deadline for opting in and 28 teams do so (mentioned above). Great.
They later figure out a playing schedule. Better yet.
But now, the Calgary Flames relocate their AHL affiliate from Stockton, Ca. back to Calgary for the 2020-21 season, citing difficulties in player movement and quarantine protocols between the U.S. and Canada. Stockton's already released schedule had them playing in the Pacific Division with four other AHL teams in California.
Now, they've scrapped that team's schedule and added them into the all-Canada division, which is another problem all on it's own. There isn't a finalized schedule for the Canadian Division, and it wasn't released when the AHL put out their initial schedule for the other 24 teams, now 23 thanks to the late relocation.
There are still two teams in Ontario - the Belleville Senators and Toronto Marlies - awaiting provincial approval the Canadian government to be able to return to play.
Last Monday, the AHL announced a revised schedule for the Pacific Division teams and added that the Canadian teams would not be playing this weekend as the league begins the regular season schedule. The league also stated that the schedule for the five Canadian teams - Belleville (OTT), Laval (MTL), Manitoba (WPG). Stockton in Calgary (CGY) and Toronto (TOR) - will be released at a later date.
The question becomes how long of a delay is there for these teams, and once they are able to resume play how many games will they be able to get in? The AHL's regular season schedule currently runs from February 5th to May 16th, so after opening weekend there are 14 weeks of regular season play.
Another example - Training camps and preseason.
With no set guidelines on when AHL teams could open training camp, or how many preseason games they could schedule - some teams broke camp in the middle of January.
Some AHL teams in California had scheduled as many as SEVEN preseason contests before the league's regular season is set to begin on February 5th.
Including the odd in-game cancellation Saturday night in Henderson, which saw Vegas' new AHL affiliate hosting the San Jose Barracuda and playing 40 minutes (a 1-0 game) before not returning for the third period due to "following COVID protocols", and San Jose's subsequent postponement of Monday's preseason game against Tucson, it marks 10 AHL preseason games league-wide that have been cancelled/postponed due to COVID-related issues in the past two weeks.
That doesn't include three AHL preseason games that were postponed due to the snowstorm that pummeled the northeast. The Lehigh Valley Phantoms rescheduled their Tuesday preseason game against the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins to Thursday evening at 6:05 p.m. ET at PPL Center.
With all of that going on, the Penguins (Pittsburgh) just began their AHL training camp on Friday after a delay for what was reportedly one positive result from an initial round of pre-camp COVID-19 testing (Tyler Piccotti/@CVPiccotti). They were originally scheduled to begin at the beginning of the week.
Down the road, the Penguins' rival Hershey Bears (Washington) cancelled both of their preseason contests over the weekend. One AHL source told Inside AHL Hockey a positive COVID test result that was the cause of their preseason cancellations.
Completing the Pennsylvania triangle, the Lehigh Valley Phantoms (Philadelphia) had their game last Friday in Newark against the Binghamton Devils - a game that was just scheduled not 24 hours prior - canceled after an initial positive test result was later confirmed to be a false positive, according to a source close to the situation.
On Sunday, the Laval Rocket (Montreal) canceled practice for precautionary reasons.
Circling back to San Jose, the Barracuda released a statement updating why Saturday night's game in Henderson was stopped after two periods of play.
"During the San Jose Barracuda/Henderson Silver Knights preseason game, the team received lab results that indicated one Barracuda player had tested positive for COVID-19. Per American Hockey League protocol, the remainder of the game was canceled."
Also in the statement, the Barracuda postponed the team's preseason contest against Tucson and all team activities for the next several days.
Since then, the AHL announced the Barracuda's season-opening game Friday in Tucson against the Roadrunners would be canceled and not rescheduled, while the Saturday San Jose-Tucson game will now serve as the opening game for both teams but it will be played instead on Sunday afternoon.
Some AHL affiliates are playing whilst their NHL partner has been hiatus due to the NHL's COVID-19 Protocol.
The Vegas Golden Knights returned to practice Wednesday after their games February 1st and 3rd against San Jose were postponed following four members of the Golden Knights, including three coaches, being isolated in connection with the League's COVID Protocol. Their AHL affiliate Henderson had a scare of their own after canceling the third period of their preseason game against San Jose last week, but it was due to a positive test from their opponent and the Silver Knights are back on the ice gearing up for their regular season and home opener on Saturday against the Ontario Reign.
Binghamton, who relocated to Newark, NJ for the 2020-21 season, was planned to continue practicing and playing despite their parent club New Jersey Devils postponing games through February 6th.
"The National Hockey League postponed New Jersey Devils games through at least Saturday, February 6," the AHL Devils said in a statement. "The Binghamton Devils will continue to operate out of the RWJBarnabas Health Hockey House, while following all recommended league guidelines to ensure the health and safety of their players and staff."
That changed Friday when Binghamton postponed their opening games this weekend - their regular season opener against Hershey Friday and their Saturday road game in Wilkes-Barre - due to league COVID-19 protocols affecting the Binghamton Devils staff. Friday's game was rescheduled to February 17th, while Saturday's game in Wilkes-Barre was moved to Monday, February 8th.
The Rochester Americans are full-systems go while their nearby parent Buffalo Sabres have had their games through February 8th postponed. Taylor Hall, Brandon Montour, Tobias Reider and Rasmus Ristolainen are on the NHL's COVID-19 Protocol List.
The Minnesota Wild are the latest to have their season on hold. Following the addition of five players to the NHL's COVID-19 Protocol List, the league postponed the Wild's games through February 9th. At the time of this story's publishing, it does not appear Minnesota's hiatus will have any direct effects to the Iowa Wild's plans to begin their host the Texas Stars in their regular season home opener Friday night.
Which brings us to the next topic of discussion. Testing protocols.
An AHL source familiar with testing protocols in the AHL informed Inside AHL Hockey that the quality of the tests might vary from team to team, depending on where you are located.
AHL teams sharing facitilies with their NHL parent? A high quality test administered daily.
An AHL team at their own facilities separate of their NHL parent?
"A $9 test every third day."
While it appears that likely taxi squad call ups are being tested daily while in the AHL, the notion that most AHL players are being tested daily isn't entirely accurate.
"Doesn't make sense, but it is what it is," one AHL source with direct knowledge told Inside AHL Hockey.
Let's not forget about the labor strife between the players and the league, either.
EDIT: The AHL announced that the PHPA and the league approved modifications to the CBA for the 2020-21 season.
For those who haven't been following along, the players' union (PHPA) and the AHL made an agreement back on June 2nd that stated players salaries in the AHL would be prorated based off the percentage of games the league played this upcoming season compared to the "normal" full league schedule of 1,146 games.
This was, as stated, back in June.
Both sides, at that time, expected the 2020-21 season would be shortened - but the expectation at that time was that players who were already under contract would still collect on most of their salaries.
The AHL put together a Return To Play Task and it was announced less than two weeks later.
At the end of July, the AHL moved it's anticipated start date back to December 4th.
Heading into August, free agents looking for jobs knew that AHL teams were also sweating it financially.
After all, the final weeks of the regular season are where AHL teams generally draw higher attendances and increase profits. The remainder of the 2019-20 season being canceled prevented that from happening.
Several AHL teams announced contract signings in August.
The truth of the matter is these free agents took a pay cut at the time they signed their contract, knowing teams didn't have the money to pay AHL veterans who in a typical year earn six-figure salaries ranging from $100k to as much as $500k or more depending if they are able to get a one-way NHL contract or a higher guaranteed salary on a two-way deal.
Several players on NHL contracts last year took AHL deals this season due to the market dictating it.
Then, the AHL season needed a later start date than December 4 and pushed the target start date back to February 5, where the league's 2020-21 regular season is still expected to begin next weekend.
Based on what is known now, and the previous agreement between the PHPA and AHL, the salaries of these players were to be prorated based on the amount of games on the schedule. With three teams opting out, and the season not starting in February, the season was essentially cut in half.
Imagine taking a pay cut and then finding out you're getting less than half of that.
"It’s crazy. It’s totally forgotten about. Lots of players are extremely stressed out by it and the uncertainty," one AHL player told Inside AHL Hockey earlier this week.
Up until Friday, the AHL and PHPA were not in agreement on salary proration for the upcoming season that starts this weekend.
The league still needs to approve the changes to the CBA that the PHPA "begrudgingly" approved on Friday, and it's one more issue resolved - albeit a major one - but there are still plenty of challenges ahead for the league and its teams.
A breakdown of the changes to the AHL's CBA, for the 2020-21 season only, was first reported by Inside AHL Hockey on Saturday. It includes a salary proration of 48%, but players making under $62,500 would be paid no less than $30,000 - another item Inside AHL Hockey first reported on Tuesday.
"It's definitely a tough time. I saw a list of how many veteran guys that have been [in the league] awhile that would have deals if it were normal circumstances right now," Phantoms forward Cal O'Reilly said in his conference call with media Wednesday. "It's very tough. I was fortunate to be in the middle of a two year deal, but a lot of guys weren't and I feel for them. There a lot of really good hockey players that don't have anything right now."
And even the players that do have contracts right now haven't received a paycheck since April, almost a full 10 months ago.
Some concessions are being made in an effort to help the players, including the PHPA waiving AHL players dues for the 2020-21 season (Patrick Williams/@pwilliamsNHL).
Also, some player agencies are waiving fees normally assessed to AHL players - including Norton Sports.
More AHL games will be on television than ever before in 2020-21 season
With many teams opting or being unable to have fans in attendance at games due to COVID restrictions on large gatherings in indoor venues, several AHL teams have been able to work out television deals with local providers to broadcast some, most or in some cases all of their home games this season.
Every little bit helps these AHL teams, who are losing lots of money for the sake of being a good partner to their NHL affiliate and furthering the development of top hockey prospects who have their sights set on graduating to full-time NHL duties.
The Bakersfield Condors will televise six games LIVE on 23ABC (KERO-TV) beginning with both games on “Opening Weekend” February 12 at 5 p.m. and February 13 at 8 p.m. against the Henderson Silver Knights.
The Henderson Silver Knights and My LVTV announced today, February 3, the broadcast schedule for the Silver Knights inaugural 2020-21 season. A total of 10 home games will be televised during the Silver Knights inaugural season, including the first game in team history on Saturday, February 6 against the Ontario Reign.
Select Iowa Wild games will be broadcast on MC22. During the past seven seasons, Mediacom and the Wild have partnered to bring hockey to televisions across Central Iowa and for the 2020-21 season, MC22 will broadcast six Wild home games.
The Lehigh Valley Phantoms have all of their home games broadcast locally on Service Electric Network.
Each televised Rockford IceHogs broadcast for the 2020-21 season will be available locally in the Rockford area on WIFR’s 23.2 Antenna TV.
The Rochester Americans will televise eight of its 16 home games locally on CW Rochester.
The San Diego Gulls will have eight of their home games air live on FOX 5 San Diego.
The Syracuse Crunch partnered with the stations of CNY Central to locally televise 14-of-16 Crunch home games live on CW6 on Saturday nights this season.
The Utica Comets have partnered with local broadcaster Nexstar Inc for their first-ever live television broadcast contract. All 16 of the Comets home games, as well as any home postseason games, will be broadcast live on WPNY channel 12 (Spectrum Cable), in both standard and high definition, and will be available over the air on channel 20.2. WPNY is the Mynetwork TV affiliate for the Mohawk Valley. WPNY is also available via the Spectrum streaming app. The station is owned and operated by Nexstar Inc. and is a sister station to WUTR and WFXV.
