Thread: forgive my noobness but..

Maybe it's because i wasn't even aware that there was one until the reign showed up but, whats the point of ECHL? I used to live across the street from where the reign play and go to games often but always wondered, whats the odds of any of these players actually getting to be on the kings?

If you build it they will come?

It's more for when AHL players get called up, they can go to the ECHL team and bring someone up to fill that void temporarily then anything. For local fans it's nice to have a team closer to home.

Pavol Demitra and the other Russian player (Salei, don't know how to spell it) used to play for the Las Vegas Thunder. Besides, the ECHL (Las Vegas Wranglers) are the only thing that is keeping me sane in this desert of no hockey. Please, I beg of you, don't wish it away or wonder why it is there. Just know that there are a lot of hockey fans here who love going to see our local version of the Chiefs from "Slapshot".

Originally Posted by KopiFan11

Maybe it's because i wasn't even aware that there was one until the reign showed up but, whats the point of ECHL? I used to live across the street from where the reign play and go to games often but always wondered, whats the odds of any of these players actually getting to be on the kings?

They are a bunch of guys who love to play hockey, maybe they have dreams of making it to the NHL. They just love to play. They do not get paid $7 million to play but their heart and soul is in the game even if most of them lack the skill that some $7 million dollar players have, or should have.

Because if you aren't skilled enough to go to the NHL right away, it beats having a real job!

Dwight King made a brief appearance last season with the big club. Teubert had a brief stint with the Reign. Bud Holloway who could really be used in Manchester right now is a former Reign player. It's exciting this year, really reasonably priced and 99% won't make the NHL. I still remember watching some old Ice Dog games on channel 56 I think it was, it does well in a pinch where there may not be any games on.

The league pushes the whole "developmental" angle like crazy, but really most of the guys end up feeding the AHL. The one exception has been goaltending. Teams may keep one of their prospects in the ECHL to get them actual playing time rather than have them sit as back up in the AHL. We got to see Quick in Reading way back when and James Reimer was here as well. Heck, with the Kings goaltending history we got to see quite a few guys move from Reading to LA during a short stint of time. The ECHL likes to brag about how many players have ended up in the NHL but really a lot of those were just short trips and the guys who did actually stick in the NHL usually didn't have a long ECHL run.

Now, the reason I am such a fan? You get to see guys who aren't quite ready to give up that dream and want to work their asses off for that chance. You get to see guys who aren't playing for a fat paycheck, but really just the love of the game. Occasionally you get to see a guy make it all the way and get the thrill of watching that guy play his first NHL game. Yeah, you get guys who think they're "too good" for the league and think they can coast (some of the AHL tweeners are the worst for this), and you have to watch your team get decimated by call ups halfway through the season (especially in Reading) but you learn to deal with that stuff. Bottom line is you get to watch decent hockey at a decent price played by guys who truly love the game.

As far as how the league works, while teams have affiliations, it doesn't mean that all the players from that team will move up to one AHL team. Reading has affiliations with Providence and Toronto but has had players called up to practically every AHL team there is. Players that are under contract to the higher team and are assigned to the ECHL team can only move up to the AHL team that hold their contract. Or they can be reassigned by the NHL team that they are contracted to. Some players are signed to ECHL contracts and those players can be called up by any AHL team. We have had the same player move up for short AHL assignments to multiple teams in the same season. So right now in Reading we have guys on NHL contracts who are assigned to us, we have guys on AHL contracts, we have guys on AHL/ECHL contracts and we have guys on ECHL only contracts. How much of each players salary the team is responsible for is determined by what type of contract the player is under. It's confusing, but you can figure it out if you know what type of contract each player is under.

Go Royals!