Canadiens send players to Bulldogs
The Canadiens have sent 21 players to the AHL’s Hamilton Bulldogs on the second day of the NHL lockout. European players are beginning to go home to their old teams and North American players to look for spots in Europe too.
Chris 22:46 on 2012/09/17 Permalink
I’m honestly ignorant about hockey. There’s an AHL? Why isn’t there a CHL?
Marc 23:18 on 2012/09/17 Permalink
Yes there is a CHL; a junior league.
Faiz Imam 00:55 on 2012/09/18 Permalink
the AHL is the highest pro hockey league after the NHL and has teams in both USA and Canada, but there are others. They are generally regional, and a large part of their role is to foster the best young talent.
In Canada there are 3 leagues that fall under the umbrella organisation of the CHL: Western Hockey League (WHL), the Ontario Hockey League (OHL) and the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League (QMJHL).
In the US they have: ECHL (East Coast Hockey League), Central Hockey League (CHL), Southern Professional Hockey League (SPHL), Federal Hockey League (FHL)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canadian_Hockey_League
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minor_league#Ice_hockey
Chris 07:07 on 2012/09/18 Permalink
I guess what I meant was… why don’t we have something Canadian comparable to the NHL? Like NFL vs CFL. Sure the CFL is smaller/less skilled, but people pay money and fill stadiums. Aren’t we hockey country, not football country?
Kate 09:05 on 2012/09/18 Permalink
Chris, I’d like that a lot. I wonder if it could be made to work, in the absence of the NHL.
Louis 09:47 on 2012/09/18 Permalink
The idea of having a Canadian pro league comes out every time there is a labour dispute in the NHL, but I don’t see how it can happen. Big markets (Montréal, Toronto) will stick to their NHL team, and there is no room for anything else, it has been tried many times. The NHL want to keep the farm team system with the AHL, so the new league will have to compete against a league filled with prospects who wait for their shot at the big league.
Moreover, Europe has solid professional leagues (Sweden, Russia, Germany, Switzerland), so European players can stay there and have an interesting career, and talented North American players just not good enough to keep a good spot on an NHL team can cross the ocean, earn about 1M$ and be a star there, so I don’t see where the Canadian league would find its players, unless the NHL completely crumbles, which is unlikely.
Josh 11:17 on 2012/09/18 Permalink
Two big problems with the idea of another pro league are the arenas and the TV networks. Without TV networks, there is no money to make the league go ’round. And with the NHL’s broadcasting rights coming up for bid soon, no TV network wants to upset the beast (by, say, televising a rival league).
And with arenas – the problem is that most of the big arenas in Canada are wedded to an NHL team in one way or another: It’s the same people that own the Canadiens who own the Bell Centre. Ditto the Leafs and the Air Canada Centre. Ditto the Senators and Scotiabank Place. You get the idea. None of those owners are going to want the competition moving into their arenas, and other arenas are too small to make the league profitable.
walkerp 11:19 on 2012/09/18 Permalink
More basketball on the screens.
Josh 11:21 on 2012/09/18 Permalink
I think in the case of a really extended lockout (say 2 years), there might be a chance to work out all the logistics a new league would need to sort out, but if the lockout is shorter, even another whole year like last time, I don’t think there’s enough time to get something off the ground.
Robert 14:17 on 2012/09/18 Permalink
If we replaced our NHL teams with a Canadian league, the most talented Canadian hockey players would likely move to the US and would not be able to pursue a high-level career in Canadian cities even as much as they are now. Also, I’ve always appreciated the contact Canada has with the US in NHL hockey. Many Canadians I know owe much of their knowledge of the US to growing up watching NHL hockey.
I hate the sun belt teams as much as anyone else, and deplore the fact that Quebec/Winnipeg were moved down there, but I don’t want to see Montreal or Toronto cut off from great hockey cities like Detroit and Boston. I’d like to see a more “regional” league, with teams in places like Seattle and Portland, and some of the smaller Canadian markets and Northeastern American markets. A dozen Canadian teams plus twenty or so American teams from Northern cities would be great.