Wranglers will return to Las Vegas

The future of professional hockey in Las Vegas has been uncertain since the start of the year, when the Wranglers restructured their ownership agreement.

But fans of the ECHL franchise need not fret. An agreement in principle has been reached to transfer ownership of the team from Jonathan Fleisig to an unidentified buyer who plans to keep the Wranglers in Las Vegas.

The team has one year left on its lease at the Orleans Arena, where it averaged 4,350 fans per game this season, and an option to renew it for three years after that.

"The team is definitely coming back," Wranglers president Billy Johnson said Thursday. "We have reached a deal in principle, terms have been agreed upon, and it's going to be a pretty good thing for Las Vegas hockey."

Johnson said the team hopes to make a formal announcement by the end of April or the first week of May, once all the proper paperwork has been completed. But he declined further comment about the proposed deal.

ECHL commissioner Brian McKenna also confirmed the Wranglers will return for their eighth season in Las Vegas but said he couldn't comment further until the transfer of ownership is completed, a process that takes several weeks.

"We're of the understanding that things are moving along," he said.

Ryan Mougenel, who replaced Glen Gulutzan as Wranglers coach and general manager this season, said he's had lunch with the incoming owners of the team several times and is eager to start working for them.

"They're great people," he said. "They're real committed to the team."

Charles Davenport, the Wranglers' principal owner since their inception in Las Vegas in 2003, sold his share of the team early in 2010 to co-owner Fleisig, who also owns the ECHL's Bakersfield Condors.

Under Fleisig, a frustrated Mougenel said, the team operated with the league's lowest payroll this season, at $10,300 per week, a figure that fell well short of the ECHL's weekly salary cap of $11,800.

Las Vegas still managed to make the playoffs for the sixth time in seven seasons.

"(Mougenel) did a remarkable job, considering our organization was unable to give him the resources that our (coach) in the past had," Johnson said.

The Wranglers (34-30-8) were eliminated by the Utah Grizzlies on Tuesday in a 5-1 loss in Game 5 of their best-of-5 first-round series at the E-Center in West Valley City, Utah.

After advancing to the National Conference finals the previous two years, Las Vegas languished near the bottom of the league early this season. But it bounced back down the stretch, going 28-18-7, after a 6-12-1 start.

"After the All-Star break, I thought we were the best team in the conference," Wranglers center Adam Miller said. "We thought we were the better team in the playoffs, but we didn't come out with the win."

Miller set a Wranglers record for points in a season with 86 en route to second-team All-ECHL honors. He also won the league's fastest skater competition and scored four points in the ECHL All-Star Game.

But Miller dislocated his shoulder, which will require surgery, in the regular-season finale against Ontario and struggled in the playoffs, recording just three points in five games.

"To play in the playoffs hurt is a testament to how tough he is," Mougenel said. "A lot of guys were banged up the last two weeks of the season, but they toughed it out. I'm proud of what the guys endured. We played short-handed for most of the season, but it never really fazed us."

Contact reporter Todd Dewey at tdewey@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0354.