NEW AHL TEAM

By Tim Panaccio
CSNPhilly.com

The next time the Flyers need to send a player to the ECHL, they won’t have to worry about the difficult trip to Biloxi, Miss., among other things.

Wednesday afternoon, the Flyers announced a new minor league affiliating agreement with the Kalamazoo Wings, who were formerly part of the IHL.

The Flyers were partners with the Mississippi Sea Wolves last season.

“We are very excited and pleased to be a part of the rebirth of professional hockey in Kalamazoo,” said general manager Paul Holmgren on a conference call. “We look forward to a strong working relationship with the K-Wings. The ECHL is known to be an excellent developmental league not only for the American Hockey League, but also for players making the jump to the NHL.”

The Flyers can designate players to either Kalamazoo or to their AHL affiliate, the Adirondack Phantoms.

Kalamazoo will have two NHL affiliates this season – the Flyers and San Jose Sharks, who lost their ECHL affiliation when the Phoenix Roadrunners folded this past spring.

Under the new set-up, Kalamazoo will hold four to seven roster spots for the Flyers. The K-Wings will also send detailed ECHL scouting reports to both the Flyers and Sharks.

“We envision good things in Kalamazoo,” Holmgren said. “There is a strong history of hockey in Kalamazoo that is going to be present again. We believe that their philosophy on development and giving back to the community and reaching out to the fan base is similar to our thought process and we are extremely excited to be a part of this happening today.”

Holmgren admitted it was not a “seamless” partnership with the Sea Wolves, given the geography, environment and other factors.

“When we found out that Kalamazoo was coming back as a potential partner in the ECHL, we were extremely excited for a number of reasons,” Holmgren said. “The strong history there, the Flyers had ties with Kalamazoo in the past. It’s an ideal environment for players to be a part of.

“Hockey is one thing. But when you are away from the rink, what’s the environment like, what’s the area like? We’ve had ties there in the past. We’ve had good memories of those ties.

“And being in with San Jose, they are a competitor of ours but they’re in the [Western] Conference and if we have to play them in the Stanley Cup Final, we’ll worry about that when we get to it.”

This is the second time the Flyers had an affiliation with Kalamazoo. The Wings were a minor league affiliate of the Flyers for three seasons (1984-85 to 1986-87) as part of the International Hockey League.

Flyers goalie Ron Hextall, now the assistant general manager of the Los Angeles Kings, appeared in 19 games with the Wings during 1984-85.

E-mail Tim Panaccio at tpanotch@comcast.net