Having an AHL affiliate just a short drive away will certainly have a positive impact on the NHL franchise.
Throughout Minor League Baseball, you'll find MLB's Triple-A affiliates are relatively nearby to the parent club. This is also largely true in the NBA's Development League.
The NHL has lagged a bit behind, thanks in part to hockey's concentrated footprint in the Northeast as well as the American Hockey League's lengthy history (the AHL was founded in 1936 compared to the NBA D-League's inaugural season in 2001). But the last couple of years, that has changed thanks to the addition of the AHL Pacific Division, which will now boast eight teams with the addition of Arizona's Tucson AHL franchise.