by Patrick Williams, Canoe Sports
Much consternation arose last season with the NHL's revamped scheduling format, the chief complaint being the repetitive nature of that schedule.
Well, the 2006-07 AHL schedule is now released, and those individuals with complaints about the NHL docket might well cringe upon taking in the AHL's scheduling format. As usual there is no shortage of bizarre scheduling in the AHL.
First, it must be strongly emphasized that the league's schedule- makers do the best they can operating under any number of constraints. Those folks construct a schedule with the dates and format that they are handed. The format is approved by the AHL's board of governors, and assembling a six-month playing schedule for a league pushing 30 teams is an utterly thankless task.
That said, while nobody wants IHL-style travel, is it asking too much to have a sensible, logical schedule format that incorporates a healthy mix of variety?
Instead, questions are raised.
What sort of effect does the schedule have on the AHL's competitive balance, given unequal travel burdens and a very unbalanced schedule? It is one thing to beat up on a foe eight times (as in the NHL). But 10 times? Twelve times? That can swing a playoff race. When the league's scheduling format that in some cases has some clubs facing the same four or five opponents 10-12 times per season to the exclusion of nearly half the league, what effect does that have on marketing? Marketing the future NHL stars of tomorrow is difficult when those stars may well miss out on half the league's ports of call.
Consider that San Antonio, an AHL member since 2002, has yet to play Providence, Philadelphia, Hershey, Lowell, Springfield, Albany and Portland. Now multiply that scenario for several teams across the league.
The travel burden is also unfairly spread across the league. It is one thing when geographically isolated teams in Houston and San Antonio have difficult travel, but the travel burden is also unduly placed on long-time franchises that are smack-dab in the middle of long-time AHL territory.
Take teams like the Rochester Americans and Syracuse Crunch, clubs that are expected to haul through the better part of two-thirds of North America this season. The Amerks, a franchise entering its 51st season and playing in one of the AHL's strongest markets, are forced with Syracuse to the Western Conference and mostly far-off opposition.
For years, the Amerks and Crunch had a healthy Eastern presence. The AHL's swollen New England presence that exploded over the past 10 years eventually forced Rochester and Syracuse westward.
As a result, Rochester this season has a Texas trip, two swings to Winnipeg, a Grand Rapids-Chicago trip, and an excursion out to the American Midwest, all in addition to the rest of their road schedule. And on the other hand, there is Providence. The Bruins have one extended trip, a Wednesday-to-Sunday trip that takes them to the southern tier of the Eastern Conference. The rest of the season, the Bruins leave New England just three times, two of the trips being to nearby Albany.
The AHL's heavy New England footprint (eight of the AHL's 27 franchises are New England-based) is another topic fit for discussion on some other day, but the Bruins, Lowell Devils, Bridgeport Sound Tigers and Portland Pirates hardly leave the snug confines of New England. None of the three clubs will venture any further west this season than Hershey, Pa. None of this trio will play even one Western Conference opponent this season.
All through the league, there are bizarre scheduling scenarios in play.
Hershey and Rochester, the AHL's two most-storied franchises, do not meet at all this season.
Wilkes-Barre/Scranton, a member of the Eastern Conference, plays Western Conference member Syracuse eight times this season. However, the Penguins do not play Eastern Conference teams Worcester, Springfield and Manchester.
Teams within the same division play fellow division members a random number of games. For example, in the East Division, Philadelphia plays Albany four times, meets Hershey 12 times, sees Wilkes- Barre/Scranton 10 times and goes up against Bridgeport eight times. Travel costs are often cited as an issue in needing to go with a schedule heavily tilted toward keeping travel to a minimum.
But if travel costs are such an issue, then why will the Springfield Falcons and Albany River Rats, teams located about 90 minutes apart, play each other just twice in the 2006-07 season? Why do the Hartford Wolf Pack and Binghamton Senators not hook up even once this season, despite being Eastern Conference brethren located not even four hours apart?
The bottom line is that the ability to fund overnight travel, hotel stays and other costs that are part and parcel of a professional operation are necessary costs of doing business to ensure a logical schedule in a league one step removed from the NHL. This is after all, the AHL ^ Triple-A hockey, in other words^ and a schedule should befit North America's second-best league.
MORE FUN WITH SCHEDULING
Check out this zig-zag scheduling fun that the Hershey Bears will endure October 13-15, the AHL season's second weekend. The Bears have a game in Hamilton on Friday night, which probably means a departure early Thursday from Central Pennsylvania. Nothing too unusual there.
But the schedule turns merciless late Friday night for the Bears, who will then cross back into the States and head 3 PI hours east to Syracuse for a game on Saturday night.
Immediately after the game, the Bears will have to hustle out of Syracuse, head back west, clear Canadian customs and proceed down the QEW for a Sunday afternoon game in Toronto with the Marlies before heading back home. That Syracuse-to-Toronto trip can easily push close to four hours.
Nothing does a hockey team well like making four stops in four days at one of the busy Buffalo or Niagara Falls border crossings and criss-crossing Southern Ontario and New York State.
Meanwhile, that same weekend will see the Philadelphia Phantoms play a Friday-Saturday doubleheader in Winnipeg and then have a Sunday evening date back in Philadelphia. Keep in mind that AHL teams fly commercial and the Philadelphia-Winnipeg trip involves at least one connection.
Exactly what will the Bears and Phantoms have to offer by the time that Sunday rolls around? How much fuel will be left in the tank? For sure, the scheduling grind has long been a reality - and perhaps even a hidden charm - of AHL life. The weekend dates are where it is at, business-wise, and that is understood.
But at what point does a tough schedule simply veer off into the absurd?
DEVS CHANGING LEADERS
After years of wandering in the AHL wilderness, the New Jersey Devils, AHL picture scored a big coup this week with the addition of Kurt Kleinendorst as head coach.
Kleinendorst, a long-time Devils scout, replaces Robbie Ftorek, who will be elsewhere in the New Jersey organization. This season will be Kleinendorst's seventh with the Devils, and he will step back behind a bench for the first time since the 2000-01 season.
Certainly he will have his work cut out for him with a New Jersey affiliation that has been an AHL doormat for years. But Kleinendorst has a good hockey mind, a varied coaching history ranging from the ECHL to the British circuit, and his well-tempered personality should be a good fit for the Lowell dressing room.
Holdover Chris Terreri and a newcomer, former defenceman Kevin Dean, will serve as assistants to Kleinendorst.
THAT'S CONTINUITY
Speaking of the Devils, Terreri's New Jersey ties are probably as deep as those held by Scott Stevens, Ken Daneyko, John MacLean, et al.
With Terreri moving on to Lowell, he has now been a part of each stop of a New Jersey AHL picture that dates back to the 1983-84 season when the Devils and the old Maine Mariners joined hands. Terreri began his New Jersey career during the 1986-87 season with the Mariners. From there, he moved on to the Utica Devils, spending two seasons in that former AHL locale.
Last season as an assistant coach in Albany, Terreri made his first AHL appearance since the 1988-89 season when he filled in for the beleaguered Frank Doyle in a December game at Hershey.
WOLVES HOWLING
After a terrible 2005-06 season that saw them miss the AHL's postseason, the Chicago Wolves are back in a big way this summer. Veteran centreman Steve Martins is the latest addition to the Chicago line-up, having signed a deal this week.
Last season with Binghamton, Martins put up a career bests with 22 goals and 80 points. As well, the 58 assists that Martins recorded ranked him fifth in the AHL.
This season will be a second tour for Martins, who spent time with the Wolves during the late-1990s and won the 1998 Turner Cup in the old IHL.
Atlanta, the Wolves, parent club, has been active in the AHL marketplace this season. Martins, a Gatineau, Que. native, may spend time this season likes of Darren Haydar, Cory Larose, Jason Krog and perhaps even Fred Brathwaite in the Windy City.
NOTEBOOK
The Wolves will be without the services of scrappy forward Karl Stewart, who was sent to Anaheim in the Vitaly Vishnevsky deal on Thursday.
Well-traveled NHL defenceman Eric Weinrich has left the playing ranks to join the Portland Pirates as an assistant coach.
