Vegas to share minor-league affiliate

Bill Foley, owner of the NHL expansion team in Las Vegas, is in no rush to add a minor-league hockey team to his portfolio.

"We're going to probably share with another (NHL) team for a couple of years," Foley told Steve Carp of the Las Vegas Review-Journal.

The expectation is Foley will partner with an existing NHL/AHL affiliate, something that was more common during the late 1990s, when NHL teams affiliated with the AHL and the former International Hockey League.

There are currently 30 AHL clubs, while Las Vegas' addition to the NHL brings it to 31.

"Most of our prospects will still be at the junior and college level, so there's really no need to fill out an entire team," General manager George McPhee told Nicholas Cotsonika of NHL.com.

"We'll have six or eight guys that we can call up if we get banged up. But we'll share for a couple years and then we'll hone in on a place and see if we can have our own club."

The team aims to have its own minor-league club at some point, with possible locations including Reno, Nev., Fresno, Calif., and Salt Lake City, Utah.