There has been a recent trend in the NHL of teams moving their American Hockey League affiliates closer to the city in which the big club plays.

There are a few reasons to do this. One, the fact it’s easier to call up or send down players at a moment’s notice; and two, especially for rebuilding NHL clubs, that it’s easy to generate passion around the young players that may be part of the big team’s future.

In the last few years, teams like the Columbus Jackets, Arizona Coyotes, Montreal Canadiens and San Jose Sharks have made the move, opting for the closer commute.

But it’s not that simple for some NHL clubs. Take the Vancouver Canucks, for example.

There have been cries recently for the Canucks (who own the Utica Comets) to pack up the AHL team and move them closer to home. Of course, that comes with a few caveats.

There's the question of where would the Comets would be relocated to. Some rumours have the team trying to bring AHL hockey back to the Fraser Valley.

The unfortunate history of the Abbotsford Heat has been well documented. There are a couple theories about the Heat’s failure to generate much of a crowd, principle among them the fact that the Fraser Valley base had no interest in seeing Calgary Flames prospects play hockey.

There’s probably some truth to that. And maybe a similar argument could be made for the troubles the Vancouver Giants have had gathering crowds since they’ve been at the Langley Events Centre. (Which is to ask: Are Lower Mainland hockey fans strictly fans of the Canucks?)

Of course, maybe there’s just not the appetite or the population for professional sports outside of Vancouver proper, given that the National Lacrosse League’s Vancouver Stealth couldn’t make it work either.

Another option is the Giants’ old haunting ground of the Pacific Coliseum. The “Rink on Renfrew” has been hosting the occasional concert and event, but remains criminally underused.

It would make a great spot for an AHL team, to be sure, and the commute question would be effectively ended. And the main reason the Giants left the Coliseum (the cost of playing there, though the club used the willfully ignorant reasoning that its “fan base was in the suburbs”) would be moot as well, as the Canucks would be able to finance the move without much of a problem.

The second question is whether it’s smart to move the franchise away from Utica, which recently generated headlines for breaking the AHL record for consecutive game sellouts. Utica hit 121 during Friday’s game against the Cleveland Monsters.

https://twitter.com/UticaComets/status/1053353534022922245

The record is a tad misleading in the fact that the Adirondack Bank Center at the Utica Memorial Auditorium (that’s a mouthful) seats around 3,860 people. In fact, last season, the Comets posted the fifth-worst average attendance in the 30-team AHL, even with the streak.

The deal between Utica and the Canucks ends this season, though the NHL club has the option of a six-year extension, half of which would be guaranteed.

Canucks’ owner Francesco Aquilini acknowledged the possibility of switching it up, though he noted, “Utica is a good hockey town.”

The Giants were routinely getting more than 5,000 people into the Pacific Coliseum, so a Canucks farm team would surely be able to replicate that and then some.

It’ll be a tough decision for the Canucks, especially given that Utica has served the franchise well as an affiliate. But the return of hockey would surely be welcomed on Vancouver’s east side.

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