It's happened in recent years, but having two NHL teams share an AHL affiliate is easier said than done if the Hurricanes go that route, say Jacob Stoller and Patrick Williams.

The AHL has an added level of intrigue this coming season, with the Chicago Wolves planning to play without an NHL affiliate.

This means the Carolina Hurricanes are searching for a new AHL affiliate. But with the 2023-24 AHL schedule set for next season with 32 teams, the Hurricanes may have to partner up with another NHL team to share an affiliate in the top development league.

Jacob Stoller and Patrick Williams discussed dual affiliations in the July 12 episode of The Hockey News On The 'A' Podcast. While it's happened as short-term measures, there are a bunch of difficulties with the process to avoid in the long term.

Dual affiliations happened a handful of times in the past few years due to league expansion and COVID-19. 

In the shortened 2020-21 AHL season, the Charlotte Checkers (Florida Panthers), Milwaukee Admirals (Nashville Predators) and Springfield Thunderbirds (St. Louis Blues) were inactive. The Tampa Bay Lightning had to share the Syracuse Crunch with the Panthers, while the Vancouver Canucks and Blues sent their AHL players to the Utica Comets. 

The Wolves were even in on the action, being affiliated with Carolina and the Predators for the season. They also had players from the Vegas Golden Knights and Blues during the Knights' inaugural 2017-18 season – St. Louis didn't renew its affiliation with the Wolves but supplied players to the team, which was considered Vegas' affiliate.

The Seattle Kraken and Florida Panthers chose to have a dual affiliation with the Charlotte Checkers in 2021-22 before the latest expansion team created the eventual 2023 Calder Cup finalists, the Coachella Valley Firebirds. 

While short-term solutions did the trick for these teams in exceptional circumstances, the Hurricanes and their deep prospect pool could run into issues if they try to partner with another team since dual affiliations are never a 50-50 split, says Patrick Williams. Only time will tell if that's the route they choose.

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