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No More Rats On The Farm?


Devils82

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Blurb in the Post today about Devs being in the final year of an agreement with Albany and the fact that they are not playing a pre-season game there this year, but are in Trenton. Could the Titans soon be the home of our "future-Devils"? I'd like to see it. Could broaden the appeal of the Devils across the Central/southern part of the state.

* The omission of a varsity exhibition in Albany this year, and the inclusion of one in Trenton, raises questions about Albany's future as New Jersey's top affiliate city after this season, the last on their agreement

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Titans would be a good move locally for building the Devils hockey fan base. People would watch at cheaper prices the Titans and if a star is born and goes to the Devils then that fan could start buying seats for Devils games.

However I suspect, with the pending strike for 2004 for the NHL not the AHL and the possibility of the Devils moving elsewhere (new State) or going out of business if no buyers (can't keep losing dollar value of club and operating moneys) they are just cutting their losses.

Albany can't be a money maker or breaking even and they haven't been winning so no or very little platoff activity must be losing money.

It's too bad they can't be combined Rats and Titans and be the Devils farm.

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The Titans are ECHL, so something would have to happen in order for this to go through. The most likely scenario is that the Titans' owners would dissolve or sell the ECHL franchise and acquire an AHL franchise (either the Rats or one of two dormant franchises: the former Louisville Panthers and the former Saint John Flames), much like the owners of the E's Hampton Roads Admirals did when the powers-that-be in Norfolk forced them to "upgrade" to the AHL a few years back as a condition of their lease. The other options are:

  • Walter Robb (Rats owner) would move the team. -- He's a local guy, so I think he'd rather sell and let the new owners do the moving instead of betraying his hometown himself.
  • The Devils could acquire a team and place it in Trenton. -- Considering the Devs' financial situation, I don't know how willing they'd be to take this on.
  • Somebody else entirely could do the dirty work. -- But who?

The one thing wrong with all of those options is that the Titans would still be in the way, so any potential AHL owner would have to force out the Titans or "convince" the Titans' owners to step aside. That's why a scenario involving the current ownership group is the most likely.

Putting all of that aside, though, I don't know that the Rats' relationship with the Devils is really so rocky that they won't renew their agreement.

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I want the Rats in Albany. I'm sorry all you Devils fans but why the hell should they want to move to to NJ? So they can develop a thick skin getting the shaft from Philly in the AHL too? They'd have a far lower ROI in Trenton than they do in ALbany to be perfectly frank (yeah try it and you'll see it IS possible) -- and the cost of living is higher so you're players quality of life sucks more. What's the plus? Devils players as host families? rrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrright. It's just crap -- stay in Albany.

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Well, the ECHL has been too big for its britches for quite a few years now, and they just gobbled up the West Coast Hockey League(!) this past offseason, making the E a coast-to-coast operation. I wouldn't be surprised if that whole league fell apart in a couple years.

The soap opera that is AA hockey really is quite interesting.

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