With the Utah Grizzlies right down the road, is it viable for the NHL team to use it as a new pipeline?
Continuing my tangent on walking so someone could run, the Utah Grizzlies have long done that for hockey in the Beehive State.
The Grizzlies were in the top ten in attendance this season in the ECHL, and have produced 200 NHL players such as Salt Lake City native Trevor Lewis.
With a good track record like that, it only makes sense the Grizzlies should at least be considered as a minor-league affiliate for the new Utah NHL team (they are currently affiliates for the Colorado Avalanche).
It would continue a recent trend of keeping AHL and ECHL affiliates as close to the NHL squads as possible.
For example, Vegas' AHL affiliate is literally right down the road in Henderson, Nevada, while Anaheim has their AHL affiliate, the San Diego Gulls, literally a few hours down the I-5 in California.
As for the Utah Grizzlies? Their NHL affiliate, the Colorado Avalanche, have their AHL counterpart, the Colorado Eagles, an hour away from them in Loveland.
Another option for the Grizzlies would be to move up to the AHL, which is what the Bakersfield Condors did in 2015.
It would simplify the process more for the new NHL team to get minor-league affiliates onboard, not to mention it would be easier to ship prospects back and forth, given the traffic that can wreak havoc on the I-15 in the early morning hours of the work week.
Whatever is chosen, the Utah boys in the front office have good options to create a powerful prospect pipeline — and the best one is literally right on their doorstep.