Post by capncrunch44 on Apr 2, 2024 17:54:48 GMT -5
Due to an ownership issue, the Growlers has been disbanded and the ECHL has revoked the membership for the team.
Basically the ownership group of Newfoundland and Trois Rivieres was Deacon Sports and Entertainment and unable to make financial obligations to the league. The ownership was able to salvage the Trois-Rivieres team with a sale of the team, but could not do the same with the Growlers.
AHL contracted players will join the Marlies immediately, ECHL contracts will be "signed" by other teams with no team able to sign more than 2 players from the disbanded team.
The Leafs only had a working agreement with the team, as such they didn't have an obligation to assist.
This now leaves MLSE searching for a new ECHL development team.
I may need to be corrected, but I think the NHL club can own an AHL club for farm team purposes, but cannot own a team in a lesser league and must form working partnerships.
Trois-Rivieres was the Montreal Canadians ECHL affiliate.
EDIT:
The Growlers payments were current to St. John's, the Lions payments were 1mil in arrears. As the company owned both teams, tried to sell both teams, only had a purchase agreement for the Trois-Rivieres team, this resulted in the Growlers termination.
Newfoundland Growlers subsidized travel for all their opponents, not likely any other teams had this financial burden on them.