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Message: [QUOTE="kingdobbs, post: 4029293, member: 1655"] The AHL team switched when Howard Baldwin, former founder/owner of the Whalers from the beginning until 1988, made a deal with the Rangers (whose parent MSG owns the team officially) to take over the operations of the team. Obviously it did not end successfully since the team is the Wolf Pack again. Baldwin thought it might boost attendance and buzz to make the change, and had some serious ambition (organizing stuff like the Whale Bowl) to promote hockey throughout the state in the hopes of drawing attention to the city and state for a potential expansion or relocation to bring back the Old Whalers, but no amount of branding was really going to change the overall second tier product on the ice. It seemed clear by the end he’d over extended the operation and was in a ton of debt, and the Rangers pulled the plug on the deal. [/QUOTE]