Who’s Your Daddy? Kalamazoo Wings Have New Parent Team. Columbus

It's the nature of the beast (or the monster. More on that later this paragraph.) when you are a minor league affiliate in any sport. The big club, the parent club decides to make a change, sometimes it has nothing to do with what you're doing; more than likely it's just business. This is a clunky way of saying the Kalamazoo Wings have a new parent club, the Columbus Blue Jackets (of the NHL) and more directly, the Cleveland Monsters (of the AHL). Here's some trivia, the Monsters are owned by Detroit billionaire Dan Gilbert.

And this is a bit of deja vu all over again. The K-Wings and Columbus were partners about seven years ago, from 2014 to 2016, with, first Springfield, and the Lake Erie incarnation of the Monsters being the immediate parent club. One of the players from that time, goalie Oskar Dansk made it to "the show, the NHL and played for Las Vegas. Later, in 2018, Columbus sent goalie Matiss Kivlenieks to Kalamazoo. Tragically, Kivlenieks died in a fireworks accident over the 4th of July holiday.

For longtime K-Wings fans, in the release announcing the affiliation with Columbus, the team listed its affiliation history:

"Throughout the K-Wings 47-year history, the team has been affiliated with the Detroit Red Wings (1974-1987), Philadelphia Flyers (1984-1987; 2009-2010), Vancouver Canucks (1984-1987; 2011-2015; 2017-2021), Minnesota North Stars (1987-1993), Dallas Stars (1993-2000), San Jose Sharks (2009-2010), New York Islanders (2010-2011), New Jersey Devils (2011-2012), St. Louis Blues (2013-2014), Columbus Blue Jackets (2014-2016; 2021-Present), and Tampa Bay Lightning (2016-2017)." - Kalamazoo Wings PR.

The K-Wings missed the entire 2020-21 season, electing not to play through the pandemic. They return to Wings Events Center in October.

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