According to The Hockey News writer Jacob Stoller on Wednesday, Chicago Wolves GM Wendell Young has informed agents that the team is planning to operate without an NHL affiliate in the 2023-24 season. Furthermore, the Wolves would be open to receiving players via loans from other NHL teams.
The Wolves are the AHL affiliate of the Carolina Hurricanes. They will become the first independent AHL team since the 1994-95 season. The Wolves joined the AHL in 1991 after the International Hockey League (IHL) folded. Chicago is one of ten independently owned teams that operate in the AHL and are partnered with an NHL club.
Among the other, independently owned teams are Charlotte, Lehigh Valley, Grand Rapids, Providence, Hershey, Springfield, Milwaukee, Syracuse, Colorado, and Cleveland. Some of these teams have great relationships with their NHL clubs. The Wolves have been affiliated with the Carolina Hurricanes for three seasons.
The Hurricanes do not have a good track record when it comes to their AHL affiliates. Their longest AHL affiliate was the Charlotte Checkers from 2010 to 2020 before they separated due to conflicts between the two teams.
The Chicago Wolves are taking a huge gamble here as they won’t be receiving players from an NHL club and instead will have to sign players on their own. But, are they on to something that we’ve never considered before or taken into account?
It’s crazy to think this but could the Chicago Wolves be planting the seeds to leave the AHL and either form a new hockey league with other independent teams not affiliated with the NHL or join an independent hockey league like the SPHL?
The Southern Professional Hockey League (SPHL) is an independent hockey league that does not have any NHL ties. One of the teams that play in the SPHL is the Peoria Rivermen, a former AHL club. Well, the AHL club relocated to Utica before relocating again and is now known as the Abbotsford Canucks.
However, the Rivermen still play at the Peoria Civic Center and are owned by CSH International Inc. A team like the Rivermen would give the Wolves an in-state rivalry. The others clubs in the SPHL have replaced previous teams that have either folded or relocated that were previous members of either the ECHL or AHL.
The benefit of being an independent team and not having an NHL affiliate is you don’t have to worry about players getting called up or sent down, especially if they are in the mix for a playoff spot. The players that you sign are there to play for the season. If you’ve ever been to a minor league hockey game, sometimes seeing your favorite player can be a challenge.
Depending on the date you go, there is a chance that your favorite player won’t be there if they’ve been called up and it costs more to attend an NHL game versus an AHL game. It’s a bummer but that’s the nature of the business.
While many will argue that it will be a tough road ahead for the Wolves when it comes to putting together a roster, I don’t think it will be a problem at all. In fact, there are plenty of players out there all over the world and it won’t be hard to put a team together.
Sure, they won’t be getting future prospects of NHL teams, but they will find the best players not affiliated with an NHL club and this opens the door for many players whose contracts are set to expire at the end of the season.
This is an interesting time for minor league hockey and we’ll see how this pans out. Nevertheless, I think the Chicago Wolves will be just fine with or without an NHL affiliate.
