According to Greg Douglas of the Vancouver Sun, Canucks owner Francesco Aquilini is looking to buy the Abbotsford Entertainment and Sports Centre and work out a deal to bring the Canucks farm team closer to home.
The one catch here is that the Calgary Flames affiliate currently calls Abbotsford home but the association hasn’t been peachy as Douglas writes.
Calgary’s American Hockey League affiliate - the Abbotsford Heat - are locked into a 10-year supply fee agreement with the City of Abbotsford and after three years, it’s been a disaster. The Heat played four post-season games this season in their home building that can accommodate 7,046 fans for hockey and drew an average of 2,389.
According to the AHL website, the only team that had a lower average attendance last season were the Albany Devils. That’s... Not good.
If the Canucks were able to move their AHL operations to Abbotsford, the farm team would be only about 45 miles away. That makes for a vastly better set-up for call-up/send-down purposes.
A hockey board meeting is set for September 7 in Abbotsford involving members of the Flames organization.