League officials originally hoped to hold the expansion draft on Friday, but it will likely be held next week. The hold-up is another potential expansion franchise, though no one will comment officially or answer specific questions about the state of a possible Quad City team.
"We will reconvene our annual meeting in the next 48 hours and finish up the annual meeting and have announcements to make at that point and time for firm dates on the scheduling meeting and some other announcements," Komets President Michael Franke said. "Any of the expansion stuff right now I can't speak to."
The league does have a couple of plans in place for the expansion draft. If it's for one team, the other five teams can protect 15 players and one goaltender; if it's for two teams, they can protect 13 and one. Only the players who were on a team's final roster at the end of the season are eligible for selection, and teams must protect any returning players they already have under contract.
The dispersal draft of Kalamazoo players will likely be held the same day.
Komets General Manager David Franke said he met with Guy Dupuis and Colin Chaulk today to discuss new contracts and will meet with Nick Boucher, Rick Varone and P.C. Drouin later this week. The Komets have already made an offer to Leo Thomas.
Comments
There is one player on that list that they should not bring back. IMO.
Mr. Hodgeman's meeting will obviously be a back-up plan in case he doesn't get picked up in the Blackhawks camp and sign a contract with the AHL. Would there be any chance he plays on a 2-way with us and Rockford?
Wonder why Brad MacMillan's name is not coming up? Any reason or is it nothing? I think he needs signed. Toughest guy in the league and can play a shift as he proved in the playoffs. Without Mac and we lose to K-Zoo. He was huge.
After all my years I have learned that all good things happen in the their time. What will be will be. It really makes no difference who I want on the team. After it is all said and done it is not my team! I know one thing for sure, Al Sims knows who he wants and who he can get. He has never let Komet fans down. I just can not see that happening now. We all must trust him and the Franke family. I do! Don't you?
MacMillen please!!!
I think we can all agree the powers that be don't really listen to who we want, but I don't see much wrong with saying that we want Big Mac back.
Whats funny is they have thier "league meetings" a week ago and they still are not done with them..so much for that vaction
Oh and another thing the may be awaiting final word on Flint and their debacle of an organization. We think it is centered around QC, but all this hold up could be what Flint will or will not do for next season.
They also said a little while back the MacMillans hand may need some additional work so they could be waiting to see how that goes....
RunningKomet--Nothing wrong with tell us all your thoughts. It helps keep the conversation going. Besides you have some good ideas every so often. Best of all it helps our friend Blake buy a DQ once or twice a year.
ToeBlake--Flint, well that is a horse of a different color. Who knows how that mess will turn out. They sure need to re-organize and get rid of some dead meat. While nothing has come out of the League meetings my quess is they spent a good amount of time working on Flint and all of their problems. I am sure the owners do not want anymore bad press like last year. I sure hope they get it all worked out. I really do not want to lose the Generals.
Well there has been nothing mention about Flint and I say this with no proof but rumor is Reynolds is no longer the coach of the Flint Generals. If that is the case and there is no captain of the ship how can they put a productive product on the ice>?
Reynolds is not returniing to the team next year and Flint is just fine. New ownership should be taking over soon and that franchise will be well run for the first time in a long time...
From what I have heard about who is going to run the team, there couldn't be anybody better. If they get the coach they are trying for, it will fire up everyone there. If they don't get this coach, the person running the team will be able to find a very capable replacement.
Shame on you Blake! You gave us just enough to wet the taste buds. But than that is what great reporters do. Film at 11:00!
Once again the promise of the Flint Generals and there resurrection is being spew forth..This is such a circus for that city it is beyond laughable. Here it is mid to late June and there is no closure at all with that situation. Seriously how can anyone expect that city to support a product that has been through the ringers over the last 2 seasons and now the promise of a savior just like last year with this previous ownership group who had such "Deep pockets" that it was going to be the new era of Flint General Hockey. This is exactly what makes the IHL as a whole laughable as it pertains to a league from the outside. We can all call Kzoo crazy for leaving but with the stability of Flint and the uncertainty that has followed this league for 2 years now I can't sit here and cast stones at Kzoo ownership group for making a decision to leave for what they perceive as being greener pastures in the ECHL.
TB, the new ownership GROUP that will be taking over the Flint franchise are rock solid. Flint fans couldnt ask for a better group to take over.... Like Blake referred to there are good things going on up there and they want all the ducks in a row before announcing anything... The weekly promises that never panned out that became such a joke will not happen with this group....
Heard all that before with Perini and his deep pocket group. How rock solid that group was going to be and how this club was going to be run. It is the same old stuff just with a new spin to it. That is how the Flint people will see it no matter how "rock" solid this new ownerships is or isn't. They may be the second coming, but if they average 700 fans the same problems will keep occurring. I think it is a dead market and it appears to me the IHL is trying to force a square peg in a round hole.
Wow, Toe, ever hear of Xanax? Deep breaths. For the first time ever, Flint hockey whomever is actually keeping their mouths shut and getting the work done. It's a novel concept in Flint. They seem to go to the extremes of always talking and never getting anything done or being so far out of the country they are clueless to what is actually going on. Let's hope they can find a happy middle.
Come on Blake even you as an objective reporter has to look at the situation with skepticism with the past track record. Explain to me how you think that organization can be successful in that market. Seriously that is like your stance on how the ECHL would be a bad move for the K's and the cost with..it makes no sense. That is how I view Flint it makes no sense with the track record bad ownership or not it hasn't worked in Flint consistently for a long time. From the outside yes you would think it should work, long history, tradition, etc but for what ever reason it has not and a lot has to do with the automotive industry. There is something there that keeps it from being successful that even the hockey gods can't save.
Ummmm, thanks Dschebig? I'm not the hockey expert you are, but I like talking about hockey with you all and trying to learn everything I can. I don't have my veteran season ticket holders sitting around me right now, so you are all my sources for ideas and information. I'm hooked on the blog and love all the posts and getting fired up about what's going on. Make it a Butterfinger Blizzard, Blake.
I guess I could care less. Why should I care if someone wants to spend more money in Flint? It's not my money.
They probably said the same thing about Fort Wayne in the 1950s or late 80s. You act like it's a personal affront that Flint is still in the league. Hello, it's minor league hockey! There will always be cities that succeed and cities that struggle. It's always been and it's always going to be that way. It's like baseball in Washington, football in Detroit or basketball with the Clippers. College football at Indiana, college basketball at Northwestern, or worse, Oh, Lord, my beloved Cubs who I have sworn off for the 97th time this week.
Every league throughout history has had teams and cities like that. Somebody has to finish last, and the IHL has Flint. LOL. Every hammer needs a nail. The only definite thing I've learned in all the years of covering minor league hockey is that new owners can never learn from the mistakes of former owners. They all have to make the exact same mistakes themselves. They would never make these mistakes in their other businesses, but they all make them in hockey or other minor league sports -- Freedom, anyone? The absolute worst ones lose all their money before they figure it out. The smartest ones finally figure out they don't have a clue what they are doing and use whatever they have left to hire someone who does.
Maybe, just maybe, Flint has gotten to that point. Don't take it personally. If Flint fails, there will be another Flint in the very near future. There always is.
Dubchak, or Chuckitt or Dschebig, am I right or am I right? How many "Flints" have you guys seen over the years? You, too, Toe. I'll bet you've seen dozens.
It could always be worse. We could all be Pittsburgh Pirate fans. Sorry, low blow.
Yes we I have seen many versions of the Flint organization come and go. I just don't buy anymore how people make statements on how "stable' this league is. I think Kzoo was right in questioning the stability of the entire league. I honestly feel that Flint should go "dark" for an entire year to get things right to plan more effectively and take their time in assembling a staff and making the correct agreements with their arena. Yes it could mean a five team league or six team league again if QC joins. Like I have said this is Frankes "baby" and they are in it sink or swim. If this endeavour should fail I hope that the ECHL is an option that the Frankes keep open.
Again, it's minor league hockey, which by its very definition means it's unstable and always will be. Every league out there has major problems right now. Every league. I talk to Ken Ullyot all the time about "stability" and he just laughs and laughs because it's all an illusion. There is absolutely no such thing in minor league sports. Ever. It's never going to happen. The old IHL was never stable, which is why they had to keep adding expansion teams every year to replace the teams that folded. That was true in the 1960s and it was true in the 1990s. It was all an illusion. It's who can shuffle the cards fast enough so your eyes are distracted.
Very true, Blake. It always mystifies me that people think the ECHL is somehow more stable than the IHL just because they have more teams. They are spread out all across the country, so they HAVE to have more teams just to survive. To use a natural history metaphor, when the asteroid streaks across the sky, would you rather be the 100 ton sauropod or the mouse-like mammal?
You know my answer. SQUEAK.
Interesting/Strange story from the QC Times:
http://www.qctimes.com/sports/hockey/professional/minor/article_09a0f36c-6051-11de-817c-001cc4c002e0.html
Anonymity? No announcement? I dunnow, I find this very bizarre...
If ECHL loses 3 teams they still have a league.
You nailed it Blake. Does that make you a hammer? I can never remember a series of years where there were not rumors of teams or teams in trouble. Flint has had more than their share of those. If it were not for one of those times we would most likely not have the Komets of today. The Franke's purchased the Flint "Spirits" and moved them here after Welker, who knew nothing about hockey other than he wanted to be the owner, moved our Komets to Albany, NY. The most successful teams seem to be ones that own their own buildings or have a fantastic lease agreement. They must know how to promote and sell the team to their fans. When it is all said and done they must make a buck or two to do it all again the next year. That is life in the minor leagues. The wheel goes round and round!
Pretty interesting article, Brandan. It looks like we aren't the only ones who don't know anything about what's going on in QC.
i remember when the ft wayne komets were once the "flint" of the ihl. three owners within 4 years i think, plenty of promises, plenty of empty seats and the threat of moving which finally happened before the frankes stepped up and bought the flint franchise and moved it here. it is minor league hockey. i dont understand what toe blake has against the ihl and if he is so against it why is he on here blogging? shoulnt he be blogging somewhere where he likes to be????
Maybe he just likes stirring the pot? Maybe he has lots of spare time? Maybe it's just Blake under a secret user name firing everyone up so he gets more money for posts when we argue about it? Just like minor league hockey, there are just too many "Maybes"...
With the risk of being accused of beating a dead horse. I think while it is fine to discuss the Flint situation, the concern today should revolve around the Quad City announcement. For some reason something just doesn't add up to me. Is the league delaying the expansion draft because the Quad City addition will happen soon and the league wants to hold just one draft, or are they delaying the draft to convince Quad City that it isn't too late to join? Also, I believe the owner of the Chicago franchise is Craig Dektrah. He was the owner of the Rockford franchise that moved to Chicago after the Icehogs went to the AHL. Rockford is in a little trouble, and I wonder if he might be waiting for an opportunity to take his franchise back there next year.