WeHaveMoreCupsThanYou
I will get banned again soon, worry not.
The days of owners who have one foot on the bench because of a lifelong love of the sport are long over. Hockey at any level where admission is charged to watch the games is corporate now. It's all dollar in, dollar out. The only love involved today is love of money.This is a very cynical view. It's quite possible since of the people involved do it because they love doing it and managed to make money doing what they love.
I'm not saying a deal between the AHL and CHL can't be worked out, just that I'm not holding my breath. The CHL has the same problem that the AHL has: it's a gate driven league that needs bums in seats and they are competing with a whole host of other things that people spend their money on. A junior phenom who generates buzz can sell tickets. I witnessed this first hand with Eric Lindros. The 3000 seat Civic Auditorium in Oshawa, a barn that NEVER sold out except for the odd playoff games, was suddenly sold out for every regular season game once Lindros was traded to Oshawa and every Generals road game that year also sold out. There's no way that the CHL would want a player like that to wind up in the AHL if they could hang on to him for another year. Not unless they were paid a king's ransom to do so.
So again, it comes down to money, as it always inevitably does.