His eyes are planted firmly on the future of the 29 American Hockey League member clubs, individual businesses operating under one league, the lone Triple-A league orbiting around the National Hockey League.
It can all be rather dizzying, and many minor pro sports leagues have gone into tailspins because their pilots were afflicted with vertigo. Flameouts great and small, from the old IHL to last year’s UHL meltdown, and all of the big idea leagues in between, have littered the last decade of the minor league hockey gold rush, a monumental expansion of the sport in cities great and small across North America.
Andrews, who is beginning his 14th season at the AHL helm, has a knack for seeing issues with clarity, and dealing with them with great aplomb.
He pivots between the worlds of hockey entertainment with hockey development, with his attention trained on each equally.
“The two go hand in hand,” he said. “(Having) the best players in the world outside of the NHL, and having that energy and enthusiasm of young players, I think gives us a tremendous product… The game got better, quicker, and more competitive with a lot more enthusiasm and a greater skill level.”
Youth, the AHL’s raison d‘etre, and with it the golden key of sanctioned player development for the NHL propelled the league through Andrews’ early term, when the AHL was still vying with the old International Hockey League for NHL club affiliations.
When the IHL went belly-up six years ago, Andrews saw to it that the AHL was perfectly positioned to be the NHL’s top player development partner. It took in the strongest survivors from the IHL, and became the defacto sanctioned Triple-A league overnight.
The AHL had just enough time to solidify itself as the development keystone of the NHL owners’ plans to remake the league’s player system.
“I think there’s clearly a greater focus by NHL general managers on the American Hockey League, and on player development, than there was prior to the lockout,” Andrews said. “In a ...
Continued ...
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