Hawks agree and the Jets may even get retention with this trade from the Hawks.

Hawks probably accept but it seems unlikely Johnson would waive for a Canadian team.

This is true but its for like 3-4 months...not a lifetime

Why waste away on a crappy team just cuz Chicago is a great place

He's a Pending UFA trying to rebuild his Value for a new NHL Contract that at his age isnt guaranteed even if he goes on a SCF run team like Staal for example
That was years ago and teams have held off on a number of players who are still unsigned trying to return with Josh Bailey just recently being signed after a long time as a NHL Regular.

Its a Numbers game and there's more Pro Bodies then there is spaces to showcase them proper at with level at least not in their designated Roles.
Now players got to adapt out the gate just to get minutes to earn a shot at getting into a position to play their game like Luke Tuch in the NCAA for example ,Pezetta or Davidson in the AHL in the past years or even Jesse Ylonen who we've seen explode when put in the position to play his hockey style.

IMO NHL and AHL need relegation for teams to be able to properly develop their talent and turn ECHL into what AHL use to be in a proper development league for those post Junior and seniors post NHL/AHL tours to mentor the kids. Relegation only Benefits Rebuilding teams by putting them in a position to succeed against talent more at their level in a rebuild full of youth. It also gives AHL Players ,Owners and Cities a reason to go all in on these Franchise creating Growth by Proxy

fire Bettman
Hire some IIHF experience Westerner like Luc Tardiff to oversee the Process
This way Teams Like Chicago could fast track their Rebuilds giving us a higher quality of Entertainment to at both levels

Just going off the reports from the Hawks beat guys that there are no Canadian teams on his 20 team trade list. I obviously have no actual knowledge. A 3rd for him is fair value for sure.

Relegation is not going to work for an established league like the NHL. All you are doing is decreasing the quality of players on NHL teams.

1 NHL Team but the key is to raise the AHL to a point where its not a huge fall from grace just a chance to rebound
Far as those players values i disagree long term but short term you're right it will devalue players like Gallagher and Anderson for sure

Long term the league would build up to become a youth based development league
It would reduce the amount of long term contracts hand out with ridiculous term
Those who dont choose to partake will likely see their Franchise of older contract heavy players fall to the youth movement.

But that means more high end quality hockey at the NHL at the current level at worst but much more likely an increased level of High End Play.
Would the days of players having 15-20 year uncontested NHL careers been done? Yes overall unless you're a Playoff Performer on a good team that you lead to being one.
There would be less guys like Armia or Gallagher even playing into their 30s before seeing another AHL game
But hows that a bad thing if it means they're elevating the AHL and making the next generation better?

It would be a True Best of the Best in 10 years
Elevating the AHL to become the #2 most televised league in the world would also see AHL Profits and Pays increase.
We'd get to the point they could house 3/4 of a NHL areana as a standard in the league then you're looking at Big Money.

But again all that only works if the ECHL is repurposed to be basically the AHL where both leagues can bury bad contracts rather then stink up the league or Development league

1. I think it is unlikely Americans support a 2nd tier league enough to get make it profitable for owners.
2. US leagues are based on drafts and minor league systems. Tier leagues in other countries get control of players at a younger age with out a draft.
3. AHL arenas are simply not large enough to compete.
4. Most AHL markets are not large enough to compete.
5. How do current AHL teams get players. Most players (all the best) are under NHL team control, not AHL contracts.

None of this works with out completely blowing up the current system and no owners is going to go for that. They are entrenched in Leases, Contracts, Television Deals, Sponsorships. You have to scrap ALL of that and start over. Just not going to happen.

Then it will Bloat and other leagues will rise
Cap era has killed the ability to skate the best roster available.
The more all these leagues begin Contributed players the more players there are lost in limbo between NHL/AHL and Europe.

You think pretty low of Americans eh?
You go where the Action is from what i see
**** even womens games have fans at them in USA
So i wouldnt think so lowly of yourself
Its just that the AHL overall is a very **** product today
NCAA in games vs the top half of the AHL are often much more exciting
Junior hockey is 100% more exciting

AHL grew Stagnate to the point they fell behind the KHL in tv viewers after being 2nd to the NHL for like 20+ years.
KHL is REALLY Boring in most of their arenas as they still have big Ice in like Half, but their Small Arena's are actually quite high end entertainment
The more they switched their Arena's the more the league Grew Until Covid anyways

Not just them , now the NLA one of the ****tiest producers of NHL Players in the Pro World in Europe is considered a top development league.
Why? Overflow from AHL , KHL, SHL, Liiga have left the DEL, NLA , and even Czech Liiga seeing a boost in Foreign players especially form the NHL

We keep developing our youth at an increased rate then abandoning many by age 23-25 before most fully develop
Easiest way thought would be to make Eligibility a non factor in the NCAA allowing players to go back or join later until lets say 25
I mean 3 Divisions and only half of the top division is stacked. I mean top tier is a big tier dont get me wrong but there's players getting scholarships to play Division 3 who will never see an invite to an ECHL, EIHL or any paid forum of note while solid players are left twisting in the wind because the system as it was designed was based on Canadians proving 75% of the NHL's talent or more .Each year that goes by thats less and less the case as USA rises, Sweden Rises, Finland rises and even DEL rises.

So something has to be done to address it as many of them especially defensman and goalies just need time and a place to play competitively

What players are lost? Certainly not the best players. Sure maybe there are a handful of 3rd/4th line players out there in some other league (not including KHL which has stricter control on players).



I am not sure what you are getting at here. NHL is the red-headed step-child of American Professional sports. At best they are 4th behind NFL, NBA, MLB. And MLS is close behind the NHL for views. Even then College Football and Basketball (men's) surpass NHL in viewership numbers. Yes people watch women's sports, but that is not the same. I couldn't find good AHL TV numbers, but they would be abysmal. There are not nearly the same numbers of fans for most of these teams. The AHL is a minor league product the same as NBA G-League, MLB Minor Leagues.

How many 2nd tier Football leagues have been tried recently only to completely fail to grab more than a passing interest from the public. AHL teams exist in the as popular and as profitable as they are BECAUSE they are tied to NHL teams (minus Chicago Wolves). If there was no NHL affiliation half of these teams would go out of business and the level of hockey players they could roster would plummet.



Again, none of these former AHL/NHL players are good enough for the NHL. If they were some team would sign them. And even if they are good enough they are fringe players at best. So yes, some of them will go to Europe to continue their careers and make a little more money than a minimum salary contract in NHL.



I don't even know whet you are trying to say here. But the NCAA is not changing it's status as an amateur sports league to allow former professional players to join teams. The average age of AHL teams is 23.5 to 26.5 this season. CHL players can't play in the NHL until they are 20. AHL is the development league for 23-25 year old players as seen from the average ages there. The best players make their NHL debuts around 20 years of age (give or take). Defensemen and Goalies take a bit longer and thus are give a longer leash. But most skaters by the age of 24-25, you know what you are going to get and there likely is not to be any major jump in performance. There are always outliers.

Your take on this just doesn't resonate. You are trying to fix a problem (not enough space for talented players in the NHL) that truly doesn't exist. And by expanding the pool of players for this "Top League" (with 2 tiers) you just end up spreading those good players across how many teams? 48, 52, 60, more? You just water down the level of play. Not elevate it.