There will be five American Hockey League franchises in California for the start of the 2015-16 season to form a new Pacific Division, league president David Andrews announced Thursday.
http://www.nhl.com/ice/news.htm?id=7...d=nhl:topheads

AHL Affiliates' New Locations:

Flames in Stockton, CA
San Jose in San Jose, CA
Edmonton in Bakersfield, CA
LA in Ontario, CA
Ducks in San Diego, CA.

This seems like a good move for the AHL finally getting a coast-to-coast presence. Also, this is great news for the 5 NHL teams who will now have their top-prospects far closer to home (especially the California teams). I always thought it was amazing how teams would call a guy-up the morning of a game, have him travel for 5-6 hours and then wonder why he looked sluggish in the game. Also, so much easier to drive an hour or less and watch your prospects then fly across the country.