The St. Louis Blues will have to deal with a rather awkward affiliate situation in 2017-18 as they share an AHL team with the Vegas Golden Knights. Thankfully, that situation will only last a season as the Blues will have a new affiliate in San Antonio for the 2018-19 season.
As reported by STLToday, the Blues will sign a five-year deal with the AHL’s San Antonio Rampage, the current affiliate of the Colorado Avalanche. With reports coming in that the AHL will expand and that the ECHL’s Colorado Eagles might be that expansion team, the Avalanche will likely have a new AHL affiliate which will allow the Blues to reach a deal with San Antonio.
Previously, the Blues had an agreement with the Chicago Wolves, but due to the franchise being an independently owned club, it made life difficult for the Blues as they didn’t have any control over the hockey operations. That will change through San Antonio as the Blues will have total control of the management and hockey operations of the team.
There were rumors that a new AHL team could pop up in Kansas City, a likely fit for the Blues if the rumors panned out, but those rumors never came to fruition. Now, they’ll reportedly have a new long-term deal with San Antonio which will alleviate a lot of the problems the Blues have had to deal with over the past few years.
Things are going to be rocky for the Blues at the AHL level in 2017-18. There’s really no telling how things will go as the Blues share an AHL club with the Golden Knights. Due to limited roster space, some of the Blues’ young prospects will be spread around other teams which obviously isn’t an ideal situation. Thankfully, there’s some light at the end of the tunnel.
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