After years of turmoil at the AHL level, the Edmonton Oilers finally found a new and permanent home two years ago in Bakersfield. While the Condors have missed the playoffs in both seasons, the relationship between the teams has been very good and it appears Edmonton’s AHL outfit will stay in Southern California for a long time.
At the ECHL level, however, things continue to turnover. After a few seasons affiliated with Stockton and Bakersfield, the Oilers teamed up with the Norfolk Admirals prior to the 2015-16 season. Yesterday, the rumors were confirmed that Edmonton would no longer be affiliated with the club.
After selling the Admirals in September, rumors began to swirl that the relationship would end after the season. While there was never any confirmation from the Oilers side of things, the hints were strong from Norfolk that Edmonton would not be the parent club anymore as the season wore on.
An official “breakup” never did occur, but Oiler fans found out last night that the club is down an affiliate after Norfolk announced an affiliation with the Nashville Predators.
It’s official! We are the proud to announce that we are the new @ECHL affiliate of the @PredsNHL. pic.twitter.com/0KBniJeVQe
— Norfolk Admirals (@NorfolkAdmirals) May 4, 2017
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It’s not overly surprising that Edmonton parted ways with the Admirals. Norfolk is way out of the way from both Edmonton and Bakersfield, so from a travel point of view this relationship didn’t make much sense. Why would the Oilers want some of their prospects nearly a six hour flight away from both their NHL and AHL clubs?
The Oil also badly underused the club one season ago. Outside of a select few prospects, Edmonton didn’t really send anyone down to Norfolk and the Admiral lineup was with filled with veterans who would never help at the NHL or AHL level.
Eetu Laurikainen, Ben Betker and Zach Pochiro were the only Oiler prospects to see time in Norfolk. Both Laurikainen and Pochiro are likely to be gone from the organization by July 1st. Brodie Dupont, Joey Benik, Frankie Simonelli, Mikael Tam, and Jaedon Descheneau all saw AHL time and were in Norfolk, but that’s only a very small portion of the roster.
Most of the Admirals players were on ECHL deals and very few had a chance to help the Edmonton organization at the next level, let alone the NHL. To me, it seemed like the Oilers were not utilizing the team in a way that would be beneficial.
Personally, I think having an ECHL affiliate is very useful and is almost a must for an NHL team. It affords more prospects playing time and it allows an organization to cast a wider net on prospects. I’d like to see Edmonton land another affiliate and stock the team with low-risk, high-reward AHL contracts.
While not every young player will work out, more players like Joey Benik and Jaedon Descheneau can only help at the ECHL level. While most won’t make it, there will be a few that do and it will make the Oilers a better organization.
I don’t think Edmonton will have an ECHL affiliate next season, and that’s too bad. I think it’s a missed opportunity for the team and I do believe they will regret the decision. Hopefully Edmonton can find a team a little further west that is looking for a parent club.
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