Is St. John's NFLD an ideal city for an AHL franchise...?

As per MLSE the St. John's Leafs became the Marlies not because of any attendance issues at Mile One, but because they wanted their AHL team nearby. Given that the attendance at Ricoh isn't very good, I will take their word for that. As the Moose are presently affiliated with the Canucks, it obviously isn't a necessity that a AHL affiliate be located nearby. Besides, any team is on the road half the time so who knows where in North America the big club and the farm club could be when any given call-up comes. Aside from that the Mile One Centre is a nice building, and the oil industry is bringing a lot of wealth into Saint John's these days. Therefore it should be all good.