Now that Murray Craven is on the staff for real we are starting to get a little more clarity on how the minor league system will look for the Las Vegas franchise.

The AHL affiliate will be announced relatively soon.

We’ll know by Christmas where we are going to be. It’s a process, it’s a little bit tricky. The AHL is such a good league now, probably the second best league in the world. It’s such a big part of what teams are now. -Murray Craven

Where? That’s still yet to be seen. The leading candidates are still probably Salt Lake City, Reno, and Fresno.

As for ECHL, Vegas won’t have a full affiliate straight out of the gate.

No, (we won’t have enough players to field a team) not off the bat. That’s why we’ll be in a partnership. -Craven

The team is still in preliminary talks as to where/with whom exactly they will share that team and don’t have an exact timeline on when that process may be completed. Craven did rule out Vancouver, which was a rumored possibility. He also ruled out Las Vegas as a potential minor league city, which would have been a terrible idea.

The good news, Las Vegas will have a fully functional farm system from the moment they are allowed to start selecting players. The bad news, I feel like an 8-year-old again being told I have to wait until Christmas to get what I want.