The Calder Cup Finals next month will look different.
They’ll feel different, too, now that the Coachella Valley Firebirds will not be returning to the Finals for a third consecutive year. Those scorching hot June days and early evenings at Acrisure Arena, the Firebirds nearly brand-new palatial home, have coexisted with Calder Cup Playoff hockey for the past two years.
It is the kind of heat where the mid-day desert sun radiates off surfaces, hot enough to send one back inside to the chill of an arena. Playing just off a major interstate, the state-of-the-art facility also sits just a few hundred yards from mostly untouched desert terrain to the east. Step outside of the building at the first intermission to see unparalleled California sunsets peeking over the San Jacinto mountains to the west. Head into the nearby wealthy community of Palm Desert, where luxury homes and golf courses sit. Twenty minutes to the north is the iconic city of Palm Springs. Snowbirds set up each winter in the various communities in the Coachella Valley.
This year, though, the Firebirds’ season came to an end last Friday night, and it was not the Hershey Bears who sent the Firebirds home. Instead they were far to the north of Palm Desert, falling to the Abbotsford Canucks in a four-game Pacific Division Semifinal match-up. Two years ago came the heartbreaking Game 7 overtime loss in the Calder Cup Finals to the Hershey Bears that returning players and staff acknowledged took quite some time to accept. Eleven months ago they got their rematch with the Bears only to fall again.
So, while the Bears’ bid for a third consecutive Calder Cup, albeit after a very close call against the Lehigh Valley Phantoms, the Firebirds are just going home.
Still, an acknowledgement of the past two years, to say nothing of a very solid third season, is in order for the Firebirds. A Cup finalist in any league tends to be overshadowed, but that can be especially true in the AHL, where offseason turnover makes year-to-year storylines and themes far more difficult to hold. Last season the Firebirds lost Game 6 of the Finals on June 24. A week later, portions of their roster had already started to scatter via free agency. More players followed.
The Firebirds did their job. One the ice winning and developing players, and off the ice building one of the AHL’s strongest operations in a market that had next to no hockey history. For that matter, the Coachella Valley had a very limited history with pro sports in general. The area had not had a high-level pro team to call its own in more than 30 years. The then-California Angels staged spring training in Palm Springs and stationed a well-supported Single-A club there, but that ended in 1993. The Indian Wells Open tennis tournament comes to town each March and draws tennis fans from far and wide, but that is a two-week affair that packs up and leaves.
So when speculation started to bubble that the Seattle Kraken would be establishing their new AHL affiliate in the Coachella Valley, surprise certainly accompanied that talk. Palm Springs? Even in a time when hockey has come to places like Nevada and Arizona, again, Palm Springs?
As it turns out, hockey did not come to Palm Springs. At least not exactly. An original plan to build an arena in downtown Palm Springs fell through. The pandemic’s financial damage put an end to that idea. Instead the Oak View Group and the H.N. and Frances C. Berger Foundation stepped in, moved the arena concept to a plot of land a quick ride down the interstate, and revived the project. They broke ground in June 2021 and had a fully built arena within 18 months, an impressive feat at any time but especially amid shaky economic conditions.
But the Kraken, Oak View, and Berger Foundation were right. Aside from the financial potential of bringing a brand-new building to a prosperous market, the decision also made hockey sense. Several daily flights between Seattle and Palm Springs made player movement logistically simple. Big money – the Oak View Group – is behind the Firebirds, and it shows. Along with the top-of-the-line accommodations, the team hosted the AHL All-Star Classic this past February. NHL legend Grant Fuhr, who settled in the area after his playing days, got back into the game as an analyst on the team’s game broadcasts while also contributing his affable, fan-friendly personality to the team’s efforts to firm up its community foothold. This is no small operation.
And this was a team that started its existence with a head coach who already had his name on the Stanley Cup and the Jack Adams Award, the only club in AHL history to do so. Dan Bylsma came to Coachella Valley, grasped what Seattle and on-the-ground Firebirds management sought to build, and brought the immediate credibility that came with his lengthy NHL resume. As such, these Firebirds have lived a mostly charmed hockey life the past two years. Come each winter morning to an NHL-caliber practice facility attached to Acrisure Arena, skate, and then head out to golf. Come springtime, go on memorable playoff runs. Their fans have been right there alongside them packing the building each night.
Much has been made of the Firebirds transitioning to something much closer to a standard AHL team. With the Kraken only entering the AHL in 2021, it had taken time for draft classes to reach AHL age eligibility. For their first season, 2022-23, the Firebirds had a mostly limited prospect presence. Last season had brought the first significant influx of youth as the Kraken began their shift to the traditional draft-and-develop model.
Just as Hershey and other top affiliates have done, the Firebirds showed that winning and development can not only co-exist but are key for success both on and off the ice. Season-one playoff stalwart Joey Daccord, adored by Firebirds fans, has established himself as Seattle’s future in net. First-round pick Shane Wright got the necessary time and patience with the Firebirds that he needed before finding a full-time role in Seattle. Undrafted forward Tye Kartye won the Dudley “Red” Garrett Memorial Award as the AHL’s top rookie in 2022-23 before advancing to the Kraken. Two standout AHL seasons sent defenseman Ryker Evans to Seattle to stay. Jagger Firkus, Nikke Kokko, Logan Morrison, Ty Nelson, Jani Nyman, Ville Ottavainen, Eduard Šalé, and Ryan Winterton are among the solid prospects who took key steps this season with Coachella Valley.
Since the Firebirds’ beginning, Seattle management has shown a willingness to spend money to put forth a strong AHL operation. They brought in one of the most respected coaches in the game to replace Bylsma. Derek Laxdal, a Memorial Cup champion as well as someone who coached his teams to Kelly Cup and WHL titles came to the Firebirds immediately after having executed a highly impressive turnaround job with the Oshawa Generals. After those offseason departures last July, Seattle worked and spent money to patch those holes in the organizational depth chart.
And the Firebirds did deliver on a lot of hope even if their postseason came up short. They finished a solid 37-25-5-5, taking fourth place in the Pacific Division. At one point they went 11-3-0-0 in the second half. And some things did not change completely. For the third year in a row, they eliminated the rival Calgary Wranglers in the Calder Cup Playoffs.
The right puck bounce here, a different bounce there, and the Firebirds could have lifted two Calder Cup banners. That did not happen, but they surely made it memorable and a lot of fun for themselves and their fans.
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