The idea of an independent AHL team

So, the Chicago Wolves had previous troubles with affiliates since the Thrashers left. Now it's pretty much set in stone they'll never join forces with the Chicago Blackhawks, which opens the door for various NHL teams. Except you'd think teams would want to have them as their affiliate with the good fans, competitive nature, and an airport right by their home rink. Well, teams have a system to develop players and the Chicago Wolves are a team to always be competitive more than develop. But prior to the Thrashers, the Blackhawks rivals were the next two teams, which were the Vancouver Canucks and St. Louis Blues. St. Louis decided to join forces with the San Antonio Rampage after Colorado decided to get their own affiliate, where Vegas decided to join forces with the Chicago Wolves.

I personally think present day the Wolves and Golden Knights were the perfect affiliate for one another, except the demand for hockey grew in Las Vegas where the relationship came to an end after Vegas tried to buy the Wolves. And this ultimately resulted in Vegas buying the San Antonio Rampage and moving them to Henderson. The thing here was Chicago was struggling to find an affiliate. An unexpectedly became the Carolina Hurricanes, which to me makes no sense given they're so far apart and maybe a longer flight or two away. When Atlanta and Chicago were affiliates it was easy, similar to Vegas good airports with lots of flights going both ways; in fact I think they'd still be partners present day if Atlanta was still in the league but maybe if they return they reunite. But the reason Carolina doesn't make sense is because Charlotte is close by, in fact I think there's more one-ways from Miami to Chicago than Raleigh to Chicago. But it also bears the question: why not?

So, funny enough the Hurricanes and Wolves were not affiliates as the Hurricanes remained to send players down there before joining forces. I think Carolina and Charlotte need to be affiliates again too, Florida being their rival eliminating them in the conference finals while having a team there just doesn't sit right with me similar to Calgary having their AHL affiliate in Abbotsford. What I believe should be in order is each NHL team being granted an AHL franchise they're allowed to have full control over. But the other thing is there's players who are committed to playing in the minors. This is also because Reno is getting a team and I think them being independently owned would not cause problems between an NHL franchise and AHL affiliate. 

How would this work?

So, two ways. Sheldon Souray was assigned to the Hershey Bears when he was with the Oilers, and Sean Avery to the Hartford Wolfpack when he was with the Stars. So if an NHL team maybe wanted to bury a contract in the minors or not wanted a player in their system they'd be assigned to that AHL affiliate. I personally support this idea because there's more money in this for hockey and would benefit the development of talented players. Another example in this is Mike Keane who was a long-time NHLer who signed with the Manitoba Moose. But some might also wonder how it would be different from the NHL?

So, I think a salary cap is in order, and if a player is sent down it should be used like a draft to take turns receiving players from the NHL where the team pays them to play there. While also having an AHL cap for the teams independent as the AHL affiliates won't get that. That's where it makes a difference which can work. But if an NHL team has a player sent down to that AHL team they cannot be called up without paying the team and player a fee in order to bring them back up unless they're traded to another team.