The 5 WORST nhl affiliate cities (ahl)

Here are the 5 cities that you wouldn't want to play in as a young AHL player:

0:09 San Jose, Califorina
1:22 Rockford, Illinois
1:52 Springfield, Massachusetts
2:28 Belleville, Ontario
3:08 Bakersfield, California

Let me know what cities I missed

[emersonmanning]

In defence of San Jose. It makes it much easier if players get called up/sent down. Players don’t have to move, pull their kids out of school, and allows team facilities to be shared (AHL players having access to NHL fitness coaches, medical facilities, etc.). It just makes more sense for teams to have their AHL affiliates close to their home city

[supermegaguy]

No, it's the Quahog from The Simpsons

[GrillVogel]

Stockton, CA would’ve made this list if the team hadn’t moved to Calgary and became the Wranglers.

[ChrisHulett]

Worcester is pronounced Woo-ster, not War-cester. I’m from Mass and even we struggle to pronounce other local city/town names. The 2015 Pacific shift killed AHL hockey in New England even though the shift made sense logistically. Great video btw.

[hamburglar]

Funnny thing 0about Rockford is they are getting better against crime and infrastructure cuz the state got some jobs back in the region…..housing prices actually went up like 20-50%.

[AT-eleq]

Bakersfield, CA is a large community. Those photos you showed definitely depicts parts of East and South Bakersfield but a huge part of the community is very nice, luxury homes, clean, and a place Im happy to call home. I have told folks before that to travel from the furthest part of southwest Bakersfield to Northeast Bakersfield, it’s about 23 miles and a 30 minute drive. So yes, in a town of that size it’s hard to not have some kind of trash involved.

[mcap]

Move the Belleville Senators to Kingston!!!

[neilwhitaker]

Hey I lived 30 minutes North of Belleville for nearly a decade!!! The thing about these small cities/towns like Belleville or I assume Springfield is you can live half an hour outside of town and be in some really nice quiet places.

[filejw]

Well what you say about Springfield is true except with 5 min drive across the river from the arena you can be in some pretty nice towns.

[billchoinski]

Springfield has the AHL league offices located there. They also have had a team since the founding season of 1926. HOF legend Eddie Shore owned the team while playing for the Bruins, and many times played for both in the same season

[MrJdigangi]

Springfield has some of the deepest Hockey Tradition in the US. The surrounding suburbs are beautiful and really support the team.

[Fatblue]

ngl, surprised no Bridgeport mention tbh.

[GarretMartinn]

Not sure if those cities or this video are more terrible. I’m leaning toward the video at the moment.

[BRIANCOTNOIR]

I live in New England. Springfield isn't anywhere as bad as you make it out to be. They've got the MGM Grand Casino next to the arena (you can usually find fans going there after games) Springfield also has the Basketball Hall of Fame and several other museums to visit.

Now if you want to talk crime laden cities in the AHL. I would never want to be anywhere near Bridgeport, CT after dark. Hartford, CT had it's ups and downs with crime, but there's literally nothing to do downtown, and the same goes for Providence, RI

[TGsports_Freewatch]

At first I thought it was worst markets. But yeah most of these cities suck but take Rockford and Springfield for instance. They both get huge crowds

[jakeellman]

As someone who lives in Rockford it’s really not bad. The BMO is in the heart of downtown and during game days is pretty busy and crowded and police are usually not hard to find so it’s pretty safe

[geoff]

I hope the Blackhawks flip Indy and Rockford like the Kings did a few year back with their AHL and ECHL teams. You can make a lot more fans in Indy with an AHL team, and its still close enough to Chicago plus has an airport for flying players out. I'd even go a step further and move the Chicago Steel to Rockford and find another bigger market for the ECHL team. Louisville maybe. But Rockford is wasted as an a minor league market. Shame also the Hawks cant have a relationship with the Wolves but that won't happen while Don Levin is still alive.

[sblack]

I wonder if St. John’s would have made the list before the Leafs moved their AHL team to the Ex grounds.

[dennis]

I am in Springfield and most of the crime is in certain hoods and contained to certain demographics, if you mind your own business and avoid those areas like every city. your chances of crime are alot less. . And suburbs of the city are ok. Too many simply parrot a statistic that never goes to detail where and how the crime originates. And Springfield hockey besides Hershey goes back to 1936. Its history is deep in Hockey. Going to games is very safe. Has nothing to do with the ahl there. Stop knocking the city. If you wont be visiting then don't. And I knew Springfield hockey since 1970. I also do not like how nhl teams rake in plenty of profits and take teams from other locations to move then next door to their arenas. Also some teams had individual identities like the Providence ''Reds.' Now names after nhl team Bruins. They should have their own identity that relates to the history of the ahl there not copy past nhl team. Additionally how Belleville got a team is beyond me. population 55k. an arena that's like college.

[roshangoab]

As a Massachusetts native I was incredibly excited to see how you would mispronounce Worcester and you didn't disappoint