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Published Monday, Aug. 10, 2009 | 6:58 p.m.
Updated Monday, Aug. 10, 2009 | 7:01 p.m.
Expanded hockey coverage
The Las Vegas Wranglers are no longer affiliated with the NHL's Calgary Flames.
New Wranglers head coach and general manager Ryan Mougenel confirmed Monday evening that Las Vegas has ended a nearly six-year partnership with the Flames to join the Phoenix Coyotes organization.
"Calgary has been great to work with and I know coach (Glen) Gulutzan always said great things about the Flames when he was here too," Mougenel said. "But both sides felt that it just wasn't financially viable anymore to align us with an American Hockey League team all the way in Vancouver."
This year would have been the inaugural season for the Flames' new AHL squad, the Abbotsford Heat, which moved from Quad Cities, Ill.
The cost of travel between Abbotsford and Las Vegas, as well as immigration issues from Canada, played large roles in the decision to separate.
"It's important to be fiscally responsible in this economy and I think this is the right move," Mougenel said. "As an added bonus, fans now have an NHL team within proximity to Las Vegas so they can really feel a part of the whole organization and watch players develop through the system."
Las Vegas' switch to an affiliation with Phoenix also means that the Wranglers will have close ties with the Coyotes' AHL team, the San Antonio Rampage.
The Rampage finished last in the AHL West Division with a 36-38-6 record, but Mougenel believes that San Antonio general manager Brad Treliving has the team headed in the right direction.
"My goal is to get guys better and develop them to the next level, not just fill my roster," Mougenel said. "Brad and everyone else in the Phoenix organization shares the same philosophy and it's important to align yourself with people like that."
Although the San Antonio franchise is stable, there is an ongoing legal battle over the ownership of the Coyotes and an arena lease in Glendale.
A bankruptcy court judge set an auction date of Sept. 10 for bidders including Chicago White Sox owner Jerry Reinsdorf and controversial Blackberry mogul Jim Balsillie.
"I'm not overly concerned with any of that," Mougenel said. "We'll be dealing mostly with San Antonio and while I certainly hope everything gets settled in Phoenix, whatever happens will not have a major, direct impact on us."
Yesterday I was on the Calgary site and there was no listing of our affiliation, which I thought was strange. This move actually makes sense.
I saw the same thing today Vagman, which is why I called up Mougenel. I think this move will work out well too.
Nice job breaking this story Steve. Good investigative research and reporting. Your article on this is so much better than the stellar article in the RJ. Oh wait a minute, never mind.
Thanks Steve!
I'm all for the change too.
I think we are in for a bit of 'rebuilding' up the ladder, but the close(er) proximity makes sense.
Now now Winthorpe, I'm sure they will get around to it by the end of the season. They haven't had a new Wranglers story since July 1!!!
Just keep spreading the word about the Sun's coverage.
The Sun definately kicks butt on their sports reporting of 'niche' sports. ECHL, NASCAR, MMA and UFL are all covered better in the Sun than the RJ.
I really don't understand though. I've been here 20+ years, so I remember when the Sun really was it's own newspaper, (not published inside the LVRJ). During that time I never like reading the Sun and always had a subscription to the RJ, as I do today.
How can the Sun be classified as it's 'own' paper when it really is only a section of the RJ? I mean, even the regional 'paper' The View is distro'd seperately than the RJ.
Not hating, I enjoy reading the Sun, just curious how it is still classified as it's own paper.
I should clarify my statement.
When the Sun was a stand alone paper, I prefered the RJ. Now that it is not available unless you get the RJ, I prefer the Sun.
Just my luck I guess.
Actually STV, that was all done intentionally in an effort to move all of our content online and drop the cost of printing and delivering newspapers.
If you took everything we produce on lasvegassun.com and formatted it for print, we would have a daily newspaper twice the size as the RJ.
We have six sports writers solely dedicated to the website, including myself, so you will rarely see my work in print.
Also, the reason why you like the Sun more now is because our entire sports team is brand new to Las Vegas. We all came from other major newspapers within the last two years and have gradually built a base of readers to overtake the RJ as the most visited news website in the state.
Our goal is fill the role of the daily metro newspaper, but to do it all online where we can meet "real time" deadlines and have the flexibility for story length, multimedia components, video, etc.
Just a public note of thanks from the Las Vegas Wranglers to the Calgary Flames over the past six seasons. The Flames have been a great affiliate in front of the curtain and behind the scenes. We look forward to our new relationships with Phoenix and San Antonio while being grateful for the past. Best of luck to all in the Flames organization. -- Bj, Las Vegas Wranglers.
BILLY.....NICE TO SEE YOU POST IN HERE.....LOOKING FORWARD TO THE SEASON, WE ARE EXCITED AS IM SURE YOU ARE........TIM
Steve,
Thanks for the info!
I am a die hard capitalist, but greatly commend the effort to become the superior online newspaper in Las Vegas. (most think that only greenies want an online paper)
If the RJ would now step up to act like a 'real' metro paper and offer a Sunday only 'scrip of the print edition, I'd be totally satisfied.
Talk to the editors, get an article to stay resident on the home page of the web site about this business model!