The 5 WORST nhl affiliate cities (ahl)

[@emersonmanning1124]

In defence of San Jose. It makes it much easier if players get called up/sent down. Players don’t have to move, pull their kids out of school, and allows team facilities to be shared (AHL players having access to NHL fitness coaches, medical facilities, etc.). It just makes more sense for teams to have their AHL affiliates close to their home city

[@adblue8955]

Yeah you see the same thing in the NBA D League. Everyone plays in the same city now. It's good for the organization but as a fan I hate it

[@bjnt922]

@@adblue8955A few MLB teams have their AAA team in the same city as well or close to it in the suburbs.

[@geoff3103]

naw still dumb, If anything they should move them to either Oakland or Sacramento. Close enough yet far enough. You don't make any new hockey fans in SJ having two teams there.

[@andiiramii2775]

@@geoff3103 As a Reign fan living in Sac. that would be awesome.Not many hockey fans out here

[@geoff3103]

@@andiiramii2775 I hope they come to their senses one of these days. If the Sharks are the team for NorCal they need to spread their "fins" and get to as many people/areas as possible instead of just concentrating on SJ. Makes ZERO sense what they are doing.

[@supermegaguy666]

No, it's the Quahog from The Simpsons

[@GrillVogel]

Stockton, CA would’ve made this list if the team hadn’t moved to Calgary and became the Wranglers.

[@ry-flix]

Yup, Stockton would have been #1. My cousin played there and was afraid to leave his hotel room

[@SaveznaRepublikaJugoslavija]

@@ry-flixYou know guys in the AHL? Sick 👍

[@geoff3103]

they should at least have a Double-A team

[@PensOneTimer]

heard guys say they had gang shootouts infront of the arena

[@hamburglar83]

Funnny thing 0about Rockford is they are getting better against crime and infrastructure cuz the state got some jobs back in the region…..housing prices actually went up like 20-50%.

[@ChrisHulett]

Worcester is pronounced Woo-ster, not War-cester. I’m from Mass and even we struggle to pronounce other local city/town names. The 2015 Pacific shift killed AHL hockey in New England even though the shift made sense logistically. Great video btw.

[@toddgelineau6536]

I’m a Hartford fan and deeply miss Manchester, Lowell, Portland, Worcester and even New Haven

[@TimothyWenger]

No, it’s “woo-sta”

[@austinsmith7731]

At least Portland still has an ECHL franshise. Mariners games are fun

[@grapefruitsodags8387]

I'm pretty sure it's worse than Springfield. Oh, and they have an ECHL team too. It's also where the Red Sox AAA affiliate moved to unfortunately (I live near Providence so I don't like it)

[@Max-oo8yo]

Yeah even though i'm a providence fan, I dearly miss the Sharks and my Worcester Sharks jersey is one of my favorite jerseys i own

[@harrisonosirrah]

Awesome video. Thanks for calling in to record it.

[@filejw862]

Well what you say about Springfield is true except with 5 min drive across the river from the arena you can be in some pretty nice towns.

[@rayspooner1982]

Springfield is a bad city, but the area around d the arena is actually not bad. With the casino there now they have cleaned it up pretty good. Plus you can hit Theodores pregame for some of the best BBQ around. I never feel unsafe going to a T-Birds game.

[@monarched]

The main reason Springfield has had so many teams over the years, is that they have the AHL headquarters in the western part of the city.

[@mcap72]

Move the Belleville Senators to Kingston!!!

[@TheSpeedophile76]

what about hamilton ?

[@geoff3103]

why not to Ottawa? I'm for Canadian NHL teams sharing the market with AHL teams.

[@Fatblue246]

ngl, surprised no Bridgeport mention tbh.

[@kylet3033]

Thumbnail looked like the Bridgeport Islanders (the old sound tigers) too

[@geoff3103]

right? Stupid AF that the Islanders don't put their AHL team at the old Coliseum in Nassau

[@GarretMartinn]

Not sure if those cities or this video are more terrible. I’m leaning toward the video at the moment.

[@AT-el8eq]

Bakersfield, CA is a large community. Those photos you showed definitely depicts parts of East and South Bakersfield but a huge part of the community is very nice, luxury homes, clean, and a place Im happy to call home. I have told folks before that to travel from the furthest part of southwest Bakersfield to Northeast Bakersfield, it’s about 23 miles and a 30 minute drive. So yes, in a town of that size it’s hard to not have some kind of trash involved.

[@chickenalaking1319]

What do you expect from someone who poverty shames?

[@DanielOrteez]

People see one picture of a dirty dumpster and they assume that the entire city is like that. Same with homeless people.

[@geoff3103]

Bakersfield should be a Double-A market for one of the SoCal AHL teams

[@neilwhitaker6284]

Hey I lived 30 minutes North of Belleville for nearly a decade!!! The thing about these small cities/towns like Belleville or I assume Springfield is you can live half an hour outside of town and be in some really nice quiet places.

[@LetsGoT_Birds]

Hey I know we don’t have the best city out there but we love our team and it’s not that bad downtown also it’s the MassMutual Center not area Let’s Go T-Birds

[@billchoinski1672]

Springfield has the AHL league offices located there. They also have had a team since the founding season of 1926. HOF legend Eddie Shore owned the team while playing for the Bruins, and many times played for both in the same season

[@sblack53]

I wonder if St. John’s would have made the list before the Leafs moved their AHL team to the Ex grounds.

[@murphsave1]

It’s Worcester not Worcester

[@RJM1693]

Wuhh-Stah.

[@ashvanes484]

@@RJM1693 this is the right answer

[@Heyzeus891]

Bakersfield condors have been a team for a while but started off in the echl, and recently got promoted to ahl. Also I grew up in Tehachapi, a 45 minute drive outside of Bakersfield, everything you cited as negative in Bakersfield doesn’t exist in Tehachapi. It’s a small mountain town, clean, and enjoys 4 seasons. It also doesn’t get the same summer heat that Bakersfield does and air quality is much better than Bakersfield.

[@Hockeydudemaddox]

ok but hes talking about bakersfeild not tehachapi

[@bobbyjenkins7946]

Correction Pacific Coast Hockey League is where the Condors started off first, not ECHL

[@Heyzeus891]

@@bobbyjenkins7946 news to me but by the time I started following them as a kid they were echl and no one around talked about a previous league so 🫠

[@jakeellman7447]

As someone who lives in Rockford it’s really not bad. The BMO is in the heart of downtown and during game days is pretty busy and crowded and police are usually not hard to find so it’s pretty safe

[@geoff3103]

And I like going to the Piggies games there. Especially in light of how bad yet still expensive Hawks tickets are. I go there and to Steel games plus the odd Wolves game (if they play the Piggies) for my live hockey fix.

[@glaframb]

NHL Teams tends to get their farm team closer to them geographically i.e. Bakersfield is to far away Saskatoon will be a better choice. But it's all depend on the contract they signed with their affiliates.

[@mikegeiler2347]

It’s not about being close to the team you’re affiliated with. It’s better to be closer to the teams you play against in your division

[@geoff3103]

@@mikegeiler2347 well now wait a sec kids which is it? I've been hearing conflicting arguments.

[@MattpGrant57]

Rockfford Ill has always been the shittiest place in America.

[@seandiaz99]

There is no homeless around Santana Row you have to go to a freeway underpass to see homeless. The area is just full of super rich people from the tech business. Great place to live and work. If you don't want homeless you need to live where there is snow for 7-8 months out of the year.

[@de-fault_de-fault]

Or, you know, build them someplace to live and then they won’t be homeless.

[@stlfatman]

Stop voting red if you want the homeless problem to improve.

[@martysouth5903]

And seriously, where is there snow for 7-8 months anywhere in the lower 48 or the provinces?

[@TGsports_Free2watch]

At first I thought it was worst markets. But yeah most of these cities suck but take Rockford and Springfield for instance. They both get huge crowds

[@MrJdigangi]

Springfield has some of the deepest Hockey Tradition in the US. The surrounding suburbs are beautiful and really support the team.

[@geoff3103]

I hope the Blackhawks flip Indy and Rockford like the Kings did a few year back with their AHL and ECHL teams. You can make a lot more fans in Indy with an AHL team, and its still close enough to Chicago plus has an airport for flying players out. I'd even go a step further and move the Chicago Steel to Rockford and find another bigger market for the ECHL team. Louisville maybe. But Rockford is wasted as an a minor league market. Shame also the Hawks cant have a relationship with the Wolves but that won't happen while Don Levin is still alive.

[@paulj6756]

I know. A Wolves - Blackhawks affiliation would be great. But the Wolves have always had a strange relationship with the NHL and the AHL. Levin & co decided to go it alone this past season (2023-2024) and play as an independent team. Well that was a disaster on so many levels. They ended up re-pairng with the Carolina Hurricanes for the next three seasons. I think the NHL intervened , stating that there should be as many AHL teams as there are NHL teams. Plus the Hurricanes have been given more oversight on the Wolves day -to-day operations.

[@geoff3103]

@@paulj6756 why doesn't the NHL do more to intervene and stop the Wolves from going off the reservation?But yes, Don Levin hates the Blackhawks ever since old man Wirtz tried to keep the Wolves out of Rosemont.

[@geoff3103]

@@paulj6756 ever since Bill Wirtz tried to keep the Wolves out of the Chicago area Don Levin has hated the Blackhawks. Can you imagine how much more business the Wolves could've had last decade when the Hawks were hot? Sheesh.

[@dennis3351]

I am in Springfield and most of the crime is in certain hoods and contained to certain demographics , if you mind your own business and avoid those areas like every city. your chances of crime are alot less. . And suburbs of the city are ok. Too many simply parrot a statistic that never goes to detail where and how the crime originates. And Springfield hockey besides Hershey goes back to 1936. Its history is deep in Hockey. Going to games is very safe. Has nothing to do with the ahl there. Stop knocking the city. If you wont be visiting then don't. And I knew Springfield hockey since 1970. I also do not like how nhl teams rake in plenty of profits and take teams from other locations to move then next door to their arenas. Also some teams had individual identities like the Providence ''Reds.' Now names after nhl team Bruins. They should have their own identity that relates to the history of the ahl there not copy past nhl team. Additionally how Belleville got a team is beyond me. population 55k. an arena that's like college.

[@bayareasportsfan04]

San Jose is not a good city for sure, but the Barracuda being there just makes sense. Better them being there than way far away like a few other teams

[@BRIANCOTNOIR]

I live in New England. Springfield isn't anywhere as bad as you make it out to be. They've got the MGM Grand Casino next to the arena (you can usually find fans going there after games) Springfield also has the Basketball Hall of Fame and several other museums to visit. Now if you want to talk crime laden cities in the AHL. I would never want to be anywhere near Bridgeport, CT after dark. Hartford, CT had it's ups and downs with crime, but there's literally nothing to do downtown, and the same goes for Providence, RI

[@wigsy99]

Belleville is not that bad. The mayor over reacted when a bunch of druggies over dosed just like what is happening in every city these days.

[@guythibodeau4976]

Which ones would be the five best?

[@ry-flix]

I'm currently working on that video, stay tuned

[@geoff3103]

in terms of growing fans and proximity to the parent club its San Diego, Cleveland, Ontario, Tucson, Des Moines, Rochester, Providence, Austin, Hartford, Abby, Calgary, Laval, Toronto, Winnipeg and SHOULD be Charlotte. Everyone else needs to be relocated.

[@geoff3103]

5 cities that should have an AHL team: Baltimore, KC, Orlando, Portland, Memphis. You can guess for who

[@rayspooner1982]

I would add Bridgeport CT to that list. Place is a dump.

[@meddyven]

Bridgeport, is as bad as New Haven was, back in the day. Going to games at the New Haven Coliseum, you had to constantly look over your back. Plus you always wondered, leaving the parking garage, if you'd make it out, the way that thing shook.

[@toddgelineau6536]

The parking garage was on the roof of the arena, hence the shaking. The New Haven fans were obnoxious and had their own section called The Jungle.

[@RobotShlomo]

@@toddgelineau6536 Ah yes. Section 14. I knew it well. The Coliseum is long gone now. Former New Haven mayor John DeStefano drove sports out of the New Haven as he wanted the city to be an "arts town". Within a few years we lost both the Beast of New Haven and the New Haven Ravens. Not many cities get to have minor league teams, and the city took something that any other town would have bent over backwards to save, and ran them both straight into the ground.

[@toddgelineau6536]

@@RobotShlomo mob money talks. Waste Management had a sweetheart deal with the crooked mayor of Bridgeport to put up Harbor Yard and lure the Isles farm team. That really put a nail in New Haven's coffin when the coliseum opened and the Bluefish baseball stadium was opened.

[@donaldpaluga]

Not to mention a very popular women's tennis tour stop

[@richardrice8076]

1:36 ok that was 2013 what about oh I don't know 2023?!?!?!?

[@MrJoeolive]

If Houston gets a team we better have the affiliate in San Antonio.

[@geoff3103]

1000%

[@andiiramii2775]

Ontario Reign fan here 🍿

[@geoff3103]

me too. From back when they were a Double-A team and the venue was the CBBA

[@roshango125ab]

As a Massachusetts native I was incredibly excited to see how you would mispronounce Worcester and you didn't disappoint

[@ry-flix]

Lol

[@stormcloudfilms]

No these cities make sense. Added motivation.

[@PhoenixRiseinFlame]

Places like Springfield and Bakersfield get teams, but somehow, Atlanta, Indianapolis, and Cincinnati don’t have teams

[@davidshea7865]

springfield had 14+ consecutive sell outs this year. the market is legit

[@heylol2187]

Atlanta obviously is not good for hockey, check out the last NHL team there.

[@53SUDS]

Cincinnati and Indy both have teams….

[@JohnZoni]

Atlanta, Cincinnati and Indianapolis all have ECHL teams....

[@dennisking7872]

@@davidshea7865 Springfield has a long, well-established hockey history (especially in the AHL, though the team's name has changed many times over the years).

[@sarff99]

Cities you wont believe has AHL teams?? How about KZbinRS you cant believe has s KZbin Channel. If you havent been to a place, dont make a video bashing the place you haven't been to. Also, you don't pronounce the "S" at the end of ILLINOIS. Nice try sport.

[@benkenobi_]

Surprised wheeling WV isnt on here

[@paulj6756]

Wheeling is an ECHL city.

[@TheBandit025Nova]

1:52 They now know as the Sticky Bandits

[@trollo_ed8869]

Springfield from Family Guy? No, unless your talking about the special episode where Family Guy visited Springfield but the main show who lives in Springfield is The Simpsons

[@ry-flix]

It was a joke brother

[@CohenBraun]

They should make the dallas stars farm team go to Birmingham Alabama bc they already have a nice rink and the city could easily support a team there

[@geoff3103]

Dallas should move their team to OKC IF Houston gets a team.

[@danielryan8089]

Bring the ahl back to San Antonio!

[@Mad_ox8]

Go Cuda!

[@ethanmcdonald7840]

how tf is UTICA not on this list lmfaoooo

[@jasonmelendez5216]

Bakersfield Fog was a WCHL team back in the day. Their logo was a smog cloud.

[@mjpottertx]

Send one to Houston, please!

[@geoff3103]

better. They should have the Carolina Hurricanes or Winnipeg Jets. Those teams would double in value overnight playing in Houston.

[@mjpottertx]

@@geoff3103 Unfortunately , few hockey fans here (and the people who are live in the outer suburbs an hour away from downtown) , nowhere to train, and the basketball team owner controls the arena. Not happening, I'm afraid.

[@geoff3103]

@@mjpottertx naw, it'll happen. If hockey can work in Vegas, Dallas, Tampa and other non-traditional cities Houston is a cinch. And who cares where people live? Most people don't work from home. How many people work or visit in a 5 mile radius of downtown Houston?

[@mjpottertx]

@@geoff3103 Well, Houston isn't Dallas. Dallas is more cosmopolitan. Houston, especially the city itself, is a dirt poor city getting poorer. And a strong cultural hatred of hockey as a "fureign" sport. If it wasn't for my job and friends, I'd move to Dallas in a second.

[@meddyven]

You forgot Utica, which is an armpit; Tuscon which is rife with crime and Ilegal aliens.

[@mikegeiler2347]

Leave it to a right wing nut to find a way to complain about immigrants on a video about minor league hockey 🙄

[@ry-flix]

lol Shootica didn't make the cut. If I make another video, they'll be featured

[@Vincent-Van-Gogh-Fuqyurself]

Utica is red trash land

[@davidcrossley5165]

Isn't Tucson moving to Phoenix? (not the city--the Roadrunners)

[@meddyven]

@@davidcrossley5165 They are rumored to be moving into Mullet.

[@Manoahfan69]

Bakersfield makes no sense for the Oilers affiliate

[@getube9]

Wrong, we actually support our team.

[@Manoahfan69]

@@getube9 I know, but its a random place for a team from Canada to place their affiliate

[@getube9]

At Quick Glance sure. But this town has a very good tradition of supporting its hockey teams. I still think Calgary should have moved their franchise to Fresno and rekindled this rivalry.

[@geoff3103]

@@getube9 thats well and good about the support, but still doesn't make sense though. Bakersfield could definitely be an ECHL team for San Diego.

[@getube9]

Cough sputter... hack... Condors EAT Gulls! LOL

[@sergoogle5061]

you remind me of a kid that qq's on games a lot. Kek