According to the Calgary Herald, the Edmonton Oilers want to move their AHL prospects from Springfield (Falcons, currently coached by Rob Daum) to Oklahoma City the year after next.
But that is not even the best part about this article.
Unless I am reading this wrong, it does not look like the Dallas prospects will be playing in Austin next season, which has previously been reported. Edmonton has called the Stars about Dallas putting their prospects in Springfield next year while the Edmonton club prepares the move of their dormant franchise to OKC for 2010-11.
Is this the first unofficial signal that the new building will not be ready to go by October?
If anyone reads that or understands that differently, please let us know.
--Aeroscribe
Update:
The Dallas Stars have not been able to secure a franchise for the Texas Stars from the AHL. No one is selling. Edmonton has the Roadrunners franchise that is suspended but they want to use that in the 2010-2011 season themselves. Apparently Edmonton has offered to lease that franchise to Dallas for the 2009-2010 season.
So much so, according to Andrews, that the Dallas Stars have a turn-key operation ready to go in Austin but haven't been able to find an owner willing to sell.Here is where I got this information.
"We're left with the strange situation of having someone ready to go and buy a franchise and have yet to find a seller," Andrews said.
From that same article you get a sense that this may be the tip of the iceberg with teams moving West as evidenced from this
Not everything is roses for the league, however. The league's future in Philadelphia, one of its biggest markets, is in doubt, and the league's relative stability could be affected by what happens with the dormant Edmonton franchise.-- Fred
Edmonton currently is affiliated with Springfield, Mass., but owns an AHL franchise the Oilers can activate at any time. Should the Oilers do so and take the team and affiliation to a new city, it could be the domino that causes a wave of movements around the league.
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4 comments:
I read that the same way that you do.
I orignaly wrote:
I read it that Edmonton will remain in Springfield for the 2009-2010 season next year and that they've asked the AHL to allow Dallas to lease the suspended Roadrunners franchise for next year only and it would play as the Road Runners in Cedar Park for the 2009-2010 season.
Edmonton then plans to take the Roadrunners franchise back in 2010-2011 and have that franchise in OKC.
That leaves Dallas another year to secure a franchise from the AHL for Cedar Park.
But now I'm confused and see what John and Andrew are saying. If the Texas Stars are already an approved franchise from the AHL why would they need to lease the Road Runners for 2009-2010. And the only reason I can see to do that is if the arena is not ready. Where would the Star/Road Runners play? OKC one year earlier than Edmonton put in the Falcons?
I revert back to my crazy scenario of the Stars leasing the Roadrunner franchise and playing in Cedar Park for the 2009-2010 season.
It seems the Stars do not have a franchise yet and no one is willing to sell as yet.
http://www.poststar.com/articles/2009/01/27/sports/today/14358918.txt
So much so, according to Andrews, that the Dallas Stars have a turn-key operation ready to go in Austin but haven't been able to find an owner willing to sell.
"We're left with the strange situation of having someone ready to go and buy a franchise and have yet to find a seller," Andrews said.
That somewhat makes sense as the Phantoms arena is going to be destroyed -- or has already been destroyoed. Movement westward would be nice, but they've really got to be careful to not do an NHL which has expanded and moved to markets that don't care and can't support a team.
And I had forgotten about Edmonton owning a franchise they weren't running. I just thought that Dallas building an arena and being willing to put out a team would be enough, but if there actually are 30 teams, it would make no sense to add a 31st. And it kind of looks like Dallas didn't think everything through.
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