NHL: 10 Best Current Partnerships Between AHL and NHL Teams

For those fans who are just a tad too geographically distant, financially strapped and/or too slow to land NHL tickets more than once in a blue moon, what is better than having a minor pro hockey team in one’s neighborhood?

Having an AHL team in one’s neighborhood that partners with one’s preferred NHL team—that’s what. Preferably a team that bears the same nickname, or at least the same color combination, as the NHL parent club.

It only makes sense for NHL teams to earnestly attempt to house their primary minor-league affiliates within their own spheres of influence. This makes it easier for borderline prospects to travel for every call-up and reassignment and promotes more loyal followings from fans.

These partnerships—the ones in which the child and parent clubs are separated by only a few hours—are the ones that tend to last. Not ones like the ho-hum development last month that saw the Tampa Bay Lightning and Anaheim Ducks essentially trade farm teams in Syracuse, N.Y. and Norfolk, Va.

The top active AHL-NHL affiliations that one need not expect to discontinue, at least not without a substantial backlash, are ranked as follows.

Honorable Mention: Hershey Bears and Washington Capitals

The oldest franchise in the AHL, the Bears have partnered with eight NHL parent clubs over their 74 years of existence. When they joined forces with the Capitals in 2005, it marked the renewal of a previous relationship that lasted from 1977 to 1984.

Of the teams the Bears have worked with in the past, only the Philadelphia Flyers are geographically closer than the Caps, and the difference is altogether negligible.

10. Albany and New Jersey Devils

In the congested New York City metropolitan market, the Devils have managed two terms of success with AHL affiliates in Albany. The namesake child club came about in 2010, relocating from Lowell, Mass. to replace the River Rats, who had been given to the Carolina Hurricanes in 2006 and subsequently moved to Charlotte.

Speaking of which…

9. Charlotte Checkers and Carolina Hurricanes

The AHL edition is the latest and highest-ranking edition of the Charlotte Checkers and the first to have forged a no-brainer North Carolina alliance with the Hurricanes.

8. Connecticut Whale and New York Rangers

If anyone did not previously notice the deep divide between New England and New York allegiances in the Nutmeg State outside of the NHL, it surely came to light after the Whalers departed in 1997.

The Whalers were promptly replaced by the Hartford Wolf Pack, who entered and underlined the virtual dividing line in the Connecticut capital by promptly linking up with the Rangers.

In 2010-11, the Wolf Pack “rebelled” and shed their parents’ colors in favor of the familiar blue-and-green and a new moniker, the Connecticut Whale. But the partnership remains unruffled.

7. Rockford IceHogs and Chicago Blackhawks

Since their IHL inception in 1994, the Chicago Wolves have consistently given the impression of being a business competitor with the Blackhawks. Their survival is likely owed to the fact that the Hawks were so mediocre and did not televise home games until the tail-end of the last decade, allowing the Wolves to sculpt a separate contingent of fans.

But barely two hours away from the United Center sits the BMO Harris Bank Center. There, for five years and counting, the IceHogs have proudly worn a matching uniform scheme while simultaneously training future Blackhawks and catering to the same fanbase.

6. Peoria Rivermen and St. Louis Blues

Not unlike Hartford and its role in the Boston-New York feud, Peoria is in a position where one can find fans and broadcasts of both Chicago and St. Louis teams. But in terms of hockey, the Blues have held an assertive upper hand for nearly three decades.

The AHL introduced the third incarnation of the Rivermen in 2005. The preceding IHL and ECHL editions combined for 16 seasons of partnership with the Blues between 1984 and 2005. It was only fitting that St. Louis would eventually return its Triple-A prospects to Peoria.

5. Grand Rapids Griffins and Detroit Red Wings

By the time the IHL folded in 2001, taking the likes of the Detroit Vipers and Michigan K-Wings down with it, the Griffins were the last remaining high-level minor pro team in the state.

They would spend their inaugural AHL campaign finishing up an alliance agreement with the Ottawa Senators, but it was virtually inevitable that they would come under Detroit’s auspices. And now they have rounded out a full decade of partnership.

4. Bridgeport Sound Tigers and New York Islanders

The harmless insertion of “Sound” in the team’s nickname is obviously owed to Bridgeport’s location along the Long Island Sound. You can take a boat along that sound or just drive on land and find yourself in Nassau County within about 90 minutes.

There have even been occasions when the Sound Tigers have been permitted to use the Nassau Coliseum for regular-season or postseason games.

3. Toronto Marlies and Maple Leafs

Common markets and metropolitan areas are highly recommended when it comes to major- and minor-league affiliations, but it can be a little daring to try to harbor one’s main team and farm team within the same city limits.

The Philadelphia Flyers made it work with the Phantoms for 13 years before the old Spectrum was condemned for demolition. But now, Toronto is one of the few hockey cities where this is actually a feasible proposition.

So far, in seven seasons of operation a mere 15-minute drive from the Air Canada Centre, the Marlies have enjoyed healthy support. In fact, they reached a new high in nightly average attendance of 5,480 spectators in the 2011-12 season.

2. Providence and Boston Bruins

The Bruins’ distinctive “Spokes” logo signifies Boston’s status as a sphere of influence throughout the better part of New England. Sports fanbases are a perfect testament.

At 20 years and counting, the P-Bruins and their parent club boast the longest continuous AHL-NHL alliance, one that has successfully emulated that of the Red Sox and their Triple-A farm club in the Providence suburb of Pawtucket.

One of the most recent noteworthy testaments to Rhode Island’s unyielding love for the Bruins was when Boston kicked off the last preseason with an intra-squad scrimmage at the Dunkin Donuts Center.

1. Rochester Americans and Buffalo Sabres

The Sabres and Americans worked together in the common market of western New York for 29 straight seasons, even sharing regular appearances on the old Empire Sports Network.

When Buffalo broke up the partnership in 2008, the ensuing three years were like the one season of That 70s Show during which Eric and Donna were apart. With the Florida Panthers serving as the new parent club, attendance at Americans' home games plunged to nightly averages in the 3,000-4,000 range after previously hovering above 6,000 or 7,000.

Fortunately, under the Sabres’ new ownership, common sense and normalcy were restored in 2011.