The Hottest Team in the American Hockey League (AHL)?

by Mlnsports

The Triple-A is just getting under way, and over at SZ, as part of our minor league hockey preview for 2007, we're handicapping which American Hockey League (AHL) clubs and divisions are going to be the hot hands for 2007-2008.  Our hockey expert, Dan Hickling, has provided his picks and pans for the season.  Here's my two shiny ones...

The good news is that, via some expansion into what was part of the now-defunct class-AA UHL, NHL clubs aren't pooling AHL clubs for development. The days of the wandering Oilers are gone.  Omaha went bye-bye, but Quad Cities is a stronger market and well managed. They also added Rockford, which, for those who've never been diverted from O'Hare airport, is a short hop from Chicago.  This sets up the Rockford Ice Hogs, which has taken over as the Chicago Blackhawks affiliate from the Norfolk Admirals, as a very in-your-grill club essentially "across town" from the Yankees of the AHL, the Chicago Wolves.

Given both the quality of the Rockford bench, the always tenacious Atlanta Thrashers affiliated Wolves, and the lack of love lost between Wolves fans and the Blackhawks, I think that the AHL West is going to be by far the toughest division, and probably the most fun to watch, in 2007-2008.

I have to like the IceHogs on paper, but I think that the Hamilton Bulldogs (HABS) and the Grand Rapids Griffins by way of the caviar-quality Russian import Igor Grigorenko (Detroit Red Wings) are both going to be strong clubs this season, if their NHL parent teams don't pluck too many of them early.

We have club by club breakdowns for each AHL burg... Check them out!