Colorado Eagles officially become Avs’ AHL affiliate
Hockey in Colorado is entering a new frontier with the unification of its two biggest entities, a partnership each hopes propels them to a brighter future.
The Colorado Avalanche and Colorado Eagles officially announced their partnership Tuesday afternoon, a 10-year affiliation agreement making the Northern Colorado-based Eagles — the defending ECHL champions — the Avs’ AHL affiliate beginning in the 2018-19 season.
When the NHL expanded to a 31st team in Las Vegas, it threw a kink in the minor-league system, which remained at 30. Whispers spread that the St. Louis Blues’ relationship with their affiliate in Chicago had soured and that Las Vegas would take over, leading St. Louis to court San Antonio, currently serving as an affiliate of the Avalanche.
As it stood, one club would be left out in the cold. Anxious to ensure that the Avalanche weren’t that team, general manager Craig Billington and Eagles CEO Martin Lind met halfway along I-25 between Denver and Loveland to discuss “what-if” scenarios, but only if the Eagles moved fast.
“There happened to be a window of opportunity,” Lind said. “And so we acted fast. We seized the opportunity with the American Hockey League to procure the opportunity (at membership).
“When the dust settled, we got the affiliation with the Avs.”
“If an ECHL operator says that they don’t want to be in the AHL, they’re lying,” Lind said. “The AHL is the pinnacle of minor-league sports; of any sport. The AHL is the pinnacle. You have The Show in your building. They’re just younger.”
If other affiliations had worked better, the move never would’ve taken place. The Eagles were happy with their position.
Affiliation agreements with Calgary and Winnipeg in previous years lasted only short stints. Often times, the Eagles operated independently, a status they were quite comfortable with since inception and an eight-year run in the now-defunct Central Hockey League, so far removed from the NHL that affiliations weren’t needed.
Only through a series of personal connections did the Eagles even become linked with the Avalanche front office last year, two clubs close in proximity but never previously having a working association.
“No, I don’t think there was a chance we would’ve done this (without first having an ECHL affiliation),” Lind said. “We didn’t have any relationship at all.”
Each club’s reasons for making the move are different.
For the Eagles, it was a matter of sound business sense.
The Avalanche will have control over the roster, coaching staff and decisions on the ice, while the Eagles remain autonomous on the business side of running the organization. All of the Avalanche-controlled players playing for San Antonio this season will move over to the Eagles starting in 2018-19.
“You always do what’s in the best interest of the company you’re working for. If you stand in line and are told your marching orders, you do them or you get out of the way,” Eagles general manager Chris Stewart said, his role in dayto-day hockey operations likely to change after this season. “It’s one or the other. We did what’s in the best interest of this community, what we started 15 years ago. It’s all part of growing, getting better and seeing this thing expand. The big picture is this way.”
Stewart’s function from a hockey standpoint isn’t the only one in question moving forward as the Avalanche may want to bring in their own coaching staff to replace head coach Aaron Schneekloth and assistant Ryan Tobler after this season.
Lind said he consulted with both Stewart and Schneekloth before moving forward, and both offered the same response.
“Are you kidding me?” Lind remembers of his conversation with Stewart. “‘This is where this should go,’ he told me, unselfishly, knowing that his job could change.”
Logistically, the move is a perfect fit for the Avalanche. Front office, coaches and players are all within an hour’s drive, cutting down both time and cost for the litany of movement throughout an 82-game NHL season.