The Colorado Avalanche’s AHL affiliate, the Eagles, will not get a chance to compete for the Calder Cup this season because their season has been cancelled.
The Colorado Avalanche’s AHL affiliate Colorado Eagles are officially on summer break. The AHL has announced today that the remainder of the season and the playoffs have been cancelled.
It’s not too big of a surprise that the AHL has made this decision. Their league is much more based on ticket revenue than broadcasting or advertising. Trying to put on games without fans would be less feasible than cancelling the season.
Indeed, here’s what the league said of their decision:
"“After a lengthy review process, the American Hockey League has determined that the resumption and completion of the 2019-20 season is not feasible in light of current conditions.”"
The Colorado Eagles were in almost the exact same boat at the Avalanche concerning their standings. They were second in their division, three points out of first with two games in hand. What’s more, only two teams had played fewer games than they had, which means they could have made a good run, and they were almost assured a playoff berth.
The AHL’s decision doesn’t necessarily impact the NHL’s approach. The NHL has a lot more options to generate revenue on TV, and teams have contractual obligations with their networks that will see them lose a lot of money.
This decision can impact teams in some other ways, though. For example, Ottawa Senators’ GM Pierre Dorion lamented that some of their young talent would be denied valuable playing experience.
That could certainly be the case for the Colorado Avalanche, too, with players such as Shane Bowers, Martin Kaut, and Conor Timmins having their seasons truncated. Two other of our best prospects, Bowen Byram and Alex Newhook, have already experienced that situation with the cancellation of the WHL and NCAA seasons respectively.
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If the NHL season does resume in some fashion, the Avalanche could insert any of the AHL players into the lineup who also have NHL contracts — which are the big names anyway. What’s more, I believe they’d be able to play Byram, too, since he has an NHL contract and his WHL season is officially over.
Truthfully, though, the Avalanche would have little to no need for that. At the time the season went on pause two months ago, five players were on injured reserve and Nathan MacKinnon was expected to miss a couple weeks.
The team has reported they’re all healthy. The Avs have such a full roster that they’re going to have tough decisions to make if the season resumes.
The NHL is currently considering a 24-team playoff format instead of a resumption of the season. I’m guessing that would see bubble teams in a tournament, but I hope it would also see the playoff bound teams getting some games in before they became sudden-death situations.
The Colorado Avalanche is one of the teams that will lose the most if the 2019-20 season is cancelled — just like the Eagles lost a lot with the cancellation of their season.