Condors expect smoother affiliation with Ducks
| Wednesday, Aug 26 2009 07:44 PM
Last Updated Thursday, Aug 27 2009 11:42 AM
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By MIKE GRIFFITH
Californian staff writer
It took most of the summer, but the the long-expected announcement that the Bakersfield Condors were renewing their National Hockey League affiliation with the Anaheim Ducks finally came on Wednesday.
"We would have liked to announced year two of our affiliation sooner but some things just take time," said Condors president Matthew Riley. "We've had this intent for a number of months; it was just a matter of crossing the t's and dotting the i's."
Dave McNab, senior vice president of hockey operations for Anaheim, said there was little doubt the two clubs would be united again.
"We knew it would get done and sometimes when you know it's going to get done you sort of plug along," he said.
There were a few ruffled feathers between the organizations last year but those have been ironed out and all parties expect a much more harmonious relationship this season.
"Both parties sit down and hash out the good and bad on both sides and the second year is a great year because now you know exactly where you stand," said Condors coach Marty Raymond.
And the Condors may be standing in pretty good territory when it comes to players assigned by the Ducks due to an unique situation. The Ducks dropped their American Hockey League affiliation with the Iowa Chops at the end of last season and do not have a primary AHL affiliate.
McNab said the Ducks hope to place a number of players with a single American Hockey League team but will not be able to place all of their AHL-caliber prospects in one location.
"If we don't have the ability to put a guy in the American League he may be in Bakersfield," McNab said. "We're not going to put them someplace (in the AHL) where they're not going to play.
"You want guys to be playing a lot so sometimes you decide between are they going to be in the American League and maybe not playing as much or sending them to (Bakersfield) where they will be playing more."
McNab said the AHL picture remains a bit cloudy so it was impossible to say how many players could end up in Bakersfield but did say one would be a goaltender.
"It's difficult for me to predict how many players will be down there since we don't know where we'll be loaning players or how many. But every player, or 95 percent of the players, we have in Bakersfield will be on a National Hockey League contract. You assume your top prospects are on NHL contracts.
"Whether it's four, five, six or eight ... it's a guessing game right now due to the uniqueness of our situation. We're still figuring this out."
