Canucks’ AHL incursion to Abbotsford ‘healthy competition’ for WHL’s Langley-based Giants
Vancouver Giants majority owner Ron Toigo admits competition for the consumer is about to amp up for his Western Hockey League club.
The Vancouver Canucks announced their intent on Tuesday to base their American Hockey League affiliate out of the Abbotsford Centre for the 2021-22 season. Details of a partnership with the City of Abbotsford are being finalized and the relocation will be subject to AHL Board of Governors approval on Thursday, according to a Canucks statement.
The Utica Comets have been the Canucks’ AHL farm team since the 2013-14 season.
Various reports have the New Jersey Devils moving their farm team to Utica beginning next season
.
Google Maps estimates the Abbotsford Centre as a 25-minute drive from the Langley Events Centre, which has been the Giants’ home since the 2016-17 WHL campaign.
“It’s no different than the restaurant business, where a guy can open another restaurant just down the street,” said Toigo, who is well versed in that industry since his family owns the White Spot chain. “It’s competition and I think that’s a healthy thing. It keeps everyone on their toes. It gets rid of complacency.
“It’s going to be more of a challenge. At end of the day, I think we’ll be fine.
“I don’t think this will affect our season ticket base. I think it may affect our single-game tickets. It will all depend on the entertainment value we’re able to provide. If we aren’t going to be entertaining, people are going to find something else. We’ll have the same obligation that we’ve always had in that regard.”
The Giants’ marketability gets a boost next fall if Swedish forward Fabian Lysell reports to the team. He is projected as an early pick for this year’s NHL Entry Draft.
Elite Prospects has Lysell ranked at No. 10, with TSN’s Bob McKenzie slotting him at No. 12 currently
.
The Giants nabbed Lysell’s Canadian junior rights with their first-round pick in last June’s Canadian Hockey League Import Draft and Toigo says that “if we had a full season this year he would have been here.” Lysell, 18, instead played in the Swedish Hockey League, his county’s pro circuit.
Swedes don’t regularly play junior in North America. The key to the Giants getting him, Toigo admits, will be the NHL team that drafts him steering him their way. Since he’s being picked out of Sweden, he’ll also be eligible to play in the AHL immediately, which, strangely enough, means that the Canucks could put him in Abbotsford if they drafted him and saw fit to do that.
“We’re sure that he could be one of the most dynamic players players in our league if he comes to us,” Toigo said.
The Giants are slated to wrap up a 22-game schedule playing out of empty arenas in Kamloops and Kelowna on Tuesday.
Their announced attendance average for 30 home dates in the COVID-19-curtailed 2019-20 regular season was 3,920. It was 3,826 for the traditional 34 home dates in the 2018-19 regular season and 4,541 for 11 home games in the playoffs, which were a part of the Giants going all the way to the Game 7 of the WHL final.
The LEC lists capacity at 5,276. The capacity of the Abbotsford Centre is 7,000.
The AHL was based out of the rink for five seasons, beginning in 2009-10, when the Calgary Flames had their Abbotsford Heat affiliate there. Their announced attendance average was 3,897 for 40 dates in that first year and 3,007 for 38 dates in their final campaign in 2013-14.
The Giants were still playing out of the Pacific Coliseum on the PNE grounds in East Vancouver at that time.
Toigo said he didn’t have a breakdown of how many Giants season ticket holders came from the Abbotsford area.
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The Canucks haven’t come out with any ticket prices for their prospective AHL team, but the price point for the AHL and the WHL is often similar in that regard.
The Giants’ website lists season tickets “starting at $589.” Based on a traditional 68-game regular season (with 34 homes games), that’s $17.32 per game for an entry-level ticket.
The AHL’s San Diego Gulls list their single-year entry-level season tickets at $666, or $19.59 per game based on the traditional 68 total games and 34 at home. The Gulls go as high as $2,740 for season tickets or $80.59 per game.
The status of COVID-19 could still be a factor in all these numbers come the fall, Toigo admits.
“Are people going to be allowed to come to games? If they are, how many will you be allowed to have in the rink? And, if they are allowed to come, how many are going want to? There are still a lot of question marks,” he said.
The Canucks asked fans to make a
$25 deposit for priority access to tickets for the AHL club on Tuesday
.
The team wouldn’t say Wednesday afternoon how many deposits it had to that point, but a team spokesperson said: “The early feedback from the Abbotsford community has been incredible so far. Fans are really excited about bringing our Canucks prospects to the Fraser Valley. We expect we will have more details to share about the team in the weeks ahead. In the meantime, we encourage fans to sign up at
Canucks.com/AHL
for the latest information and to ensure they have priority access to tickets.”
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