The AHL, which has never had a franchise in California, will now have five of them.

Story by Mark Newman

California is known for its seismic activity, and the hockey world was rocked recently when the AHL announced that five of its franchises would be moving there next fall for the 2015-16 season, the league’s 80th campaign:

• The Anaheim Ducks will purchase the Norfolk Admirals franchise and move the organization to San Diego;

• The Adirondack franchise owned by the Calgary Flames will relocate from Glens Falls, N.Y., to Stockton;

• The AHL franchise owned by the Edmonton Oilers will move from Oklahoma City to Bakersfield;

• The Manchester, N.H., franchise owned by the Los Angeles Kings will head to Ontario, which is located halfway between Los Angeles and San Bernardino;

• The AHL franchise owned by the San Jose Sharks will find its way to San Jose from Worcester, Mass.

“Relocating five teams is a complex process, and we are very excited to have brought this initiative to a successful outcome,” said AHL president and CEO David Andrews, who explained that the move was the culmination of three years of discussions between the league and western-based NHL clubs.

Full division alignments and schedule formats will be determined by the AHL Board of Directors at a later date, but the move was seen as a major step forward to further align the NHL with the AHL as its top developmental league.

With the vast majority of the AHL franchises located east of the Mississippi, the western-based NHL teams felt they were at a competitive disadvantage in terms of costs, travel time and opportunities for practice. The formation of a Pacific Division will allow the impacted teams to benefit from the close proximity of their operations.

“To use a favorite word of our recently retired Teemu Selanne, this is an unbelievable day for hockey,” said Ducks general manager Bob Murray, who added that his organization has been pursuing such a move ever since Henry and Susan Samueli bought the NHL team in 2005.

Murray recalled how he and his then-boss Brian Burke, the team’s new GM, immediately concluded that having their AHL affiliate on the East Coast – at the time, Portland, Maine – was less than ideal. “We looked at each other (and said), ‘We’ve got to move our minor league team out here.’ So this is a dream come true.”

Hall of Famer and former Detroit Red Wing Luc Robitaille, president of business operations for the Los Angeles Kings, is equally excited about the move.

“This is a wonderful growth opportunity for the game of hockey in the western region, and it will have a tremendous impact for years to come,” said Robitaille, who played 14 of his 19 NHL seasons in L.A.

San Jose Sharks chief operating officer John Tortora agreed. “The immense growth of the game of hockey in the state of California shows that hockey fans here love the game and they support it,” Tortora said. “Having our top prospects playing on the same coast as our National Hockey League team will greatly enhance our ability to monitor their development.”

Oilers president of hockey operations Kevin Lowe estimated that the relocation will lead to an extra 25 to 30 days of practice for the Bakersfield team, with four division foes now within driving distance. The Oklahoma City Barons have had to fly to most of their games, playing in the AHL's isolated West Division with two teams in Texas, one in Iowa and one in North Carolina.

All agreed that the timing was right for the AHL’s rush to the Golden State.

"This couldn't have happened 10 years ago, 15 years ago," said NHL deputy commissioner Bill Daly, noting the hockey landscape in California was not ready, even after Wayne Gretzky energized the area with his arrival in 1988.

But the success of the NHL teams in California – Anaheim won the Stanley Cup in 2007, the Kings took the top prize in 2012 and 2014 – coupled with the success of hockey at the ECHL level, proved there was growing fan support for the minor league migration.

The teams involved “shared a vision of player development and overcame their differences,” Daly said. “They each had different interests for the good of player development for their franchises. At times, I heard the commitment to do this, (but) I didn’t know if they could pull it together. They were able to present a united front and, as a result, we were able to get this done.”

Despite intense on-ice rivalries, the teams managed to find ways to work together. “It’s pretty amazing,” Robitaille said. “This has been a true team effort by everyone to get the deal done.”

Even so, questions remain. Will the relocated teams travel to play outside the Pacific Division? How many games will they play? The original proposal brought to the AHL board of governors last spring called for all of the California teams to play just themselves over a reduced schedule, but that seems unlikely, especially given Andrews’ insistence that the league’s 76-game regular season won’t be shortened.

The coming realignment won’t eliminate logistical challenges for every team. The Vancouver Canucks have their affiliate in Utica, N.Y., and the Arizona Coyotes have theirs in Portland, Maine. Meanwhile, Colorado Avalanche prospects play for the Lake Erie Monsters (Cleveland).

Rochester Democrat & Chronicle hockey writer Kevin Oklobzija has speculated that Colorado will eventually abandon Cleveland for a western-based team. Arizona, he suggested, could move its team from Portland to San Antonio, while the Florida Panthers could move their prospects to Portland. The Columbus Blue Jackets, Oklobzija continued, would happily leave Springfield (Mass.) for the Cleveland market to promote an all-Ohio connection.

Of course, at this point, it’s all speculation, but it’s likely that there will be more moves to come. Nevertheless, the AHL is basking in the sunny thoughts of expanding its brand into new markets.

There hasn’t been high-level pro hockey in San Diego since the last incarnation of the hometown Gulls folded in 2006 after it became part of the ECHL. Today, San Diego is the eighth largest city in the United States.

“San Diego was a really good hockey town a while ago and somewhere it got off the tracks,” Murray said. “It's a good market. They're excited down there and we're excited to be going there. This is a pretty good marriage.”

Eighty-eight percent of current players at the NHL level have played in the AHL, which means that hockey fans in California – whether in Bakersfield, Ontario, San Diego, San Jose or Stockton – will be seeing an excellent brand of the sport.

"Fans will be able to see players one phone call away from the NHL," he said. "They will be able to see a very, very high skill level, and it will be lot of fun for the fans who have the opportunity to see those games. It will be a great thing for hockey."