[QUOTE]Originally posted by CanadianTeke

Quote:

Originally posted by Optimist Prime What is the AHL? American Hockey Leuge I would guess. How is Pittsburgh in both? How does that work? Do they play in a world championship? The AHL is indeed the American Hockey League, even though there are Canadian teams in it as well. It is the minor league system for the NHL. Alot of cities have two teams an AHL team and an NHL team. The Leafs just moved their AHL team from St John's Newfoundland to Toronto, it makes it easier if you have to call up a player in an emergency.

Just to add to the above thread...

Philadelphia have both an NHL and AHL team that literally share a parking lot but play in different arenas. So if a player is called up to the NHL Flyers from the AHL Phantoms, they basically walk across the parking lot.

Then there are teams like my "beloved" Admirals. Our NHL team is in Chicago, while the AHL Admirals are in Norfolk, VA. Quite a long trek to the parent club. (I am sure we are not the only team in this situation!)


As for Thibault, does this mean that Pittsburgh is paying his full NHL salary so he can ride the pine bench? For a team that is increasingly in financial troubles, why are they wasting that money? That would help free up a fair chunk of change.

Our AHL affliate is the Syracuse Crunch, which is a short hop of about 500 miles from Columbus :)

You're thinking of it the wrong way . . . the money is sunk cost anyway (it's not like they can recoup the contract expense), so why would you play the guy just to 'justify' the contract?

Isn't winning more important than some ridiculous 'use of sunk cost' plan?

The Crunch were Vancouver's farm team years back; we now call our extras up from the Manitoba Moose.

The way that I understood it...Players get two salaries, one for the NHL and one for the AHL (which is significantly less). With the two good goalies playing in Pittsburgh, and no signs of them going anywhere. Why pay him full salary, when you could put that money into another player that can contribute to the team effort. (He certainly is not contributing on the "coat-and-tie" line.)

Thanks for the info Canandain Tke and ZTABullwinkle. I looked on NHL website but couldnt' find the Riverdogs Affilate. Oh well.

You're wrong.

There are two salary classes - AHL contracts and NHL contracts. A player may only have one 'type' of contract - it's either/or, and is INDEPENDENT of which level the player is on (sort of).

Here's an example: if a player is signed to an AHL contract, he makes whatever his AHL pay would be, generally in the 45-75k range. When he is moved up to the NHL, he will be paid the NHL minimum (450k-ish).

If a player is signed to an NHL deal, he can still be moved to the AHL - if so, he'll still make his NHL dollar figure, which will be applied to the NHL cap number for his team. Many examples of this exist for players at the 'minimum' - for instance, the Iowa Stars (our AHL team) has 2 players with this arrangement from Dallas (and one from Edmonton), including Dan Oliver, who makes $450k/season to play in Des Moines.

Now, I'm pretty sure that NHL contracts work in a similar fashion to NFL contracts - this means that each year is guaranteed, but not the contract as a whole. Cutting players (such as John LeClair, who has been awful) is only a solution as far as stopping them from playing on your team - you still eat their salary, and it still counts against your cap figure.

It's almost better to ship them to the AHL - you're still paying them, but there's the small chance they put it back together and wind up contributing.

FWIW, the Pens are in a weird situation - if Fleury plays in 20 games, he gets a $3 mil bonus . . .

Anyway, I'd encourage all you Pitts cats to get out and support your f-ing team - they suck right now, but are potentially one of the most exciting in hockey . . . speak with your wallets, have some freaking pride.

-RC
--AHL season ticket holder . . . good ones too, 2nd row in the away corner

The River dogs play in the United Hockey League, which is a minor league to the AHL. Players on these teams have often been drafted by NHL teams but still don't have the skill or maturity to play in the AHL, so they play in smaller leagues and then get called up to the AHL and finally if they are lucky or skilled enough to the NHL. There are a number of minor leagues across the continent including the East Coast hockey league (ECHL) and the Central Hockey League (CHL)

but the ECHL is the best of those leagues:D

I have question:

Should a team check out a player's off ice life style before they sign them or should their signing only be about their on ice contributions?

I was thinking about this because I was bored so I decided to google a player and a few distrubing things came up on the web (not rumors). I was just thinking why would they want to sign this guy, yeah he's good on the ice but what about off the ice.

That's funny - I went to a bunch of their games during high school.

KSig RC - thanks for straightening my wrong thoughts! my bf and I are also season ticket holders. Great seats, diagonal from the visiting penalty box but on the end we shoot twice. At times it is more fun to watch the opposing players get heckled and react than to watch the game!

USCTKE - we were in the ECHL for a LOOOOOONG time, remember Coach Brophy??? So many people were ticked that we were "forced" by the city to make the jump to the AHL. But I enjoy the hockey more. Faster, better quality. Some fighting but NOTHING like the ECHL. Want to talk about going to a boxing match and hockey game breaking out?



annice22 - I can name several players, both AHL and NHL, that have a "colored" past. Including at least one who can't play games out of the US....I think if you googled other sport's players you will find that this trend is not just in hockey. But I will agree with you that not everyone is a "choir boy" in the hockey leagues.