ECHL


The ECHL is a minor professional ice hockey league based in Shrewsbury, New Jersey, with teams across the United States and Canada. Competitively, it is a tier below the American Hockey League. The league serves as a farm system to the AHL and National Hockey League.
The ECHL and the AHL are the only minor leagues recognized by the collective bargaining agreement between the NHL and the National Hockey League Players' Association, meaning any player signed to an entry-level NHL contract and designated for assignment must report to a club in either the ECHL or the AHL. Additionally, the league's players are represented by the Professional Hockey Players' Association in negotiations with the ECHL itself. At least 739 players have played at least one game in the NHL after appearing in the ECHL.
As of the 2025–26 season, 30 of the 32 NHL teams held affiliations with an ECHL team, with only the Columbus Blue Jackets and Utah Mammoth having no such franchise affiliation. NHL teams sometimes lend contracted players to ECHL teams with which they have no affiliation agreements for development and increased playing time.
The league's regular season typically begins in October and ends in April, followed by the Kelly Cup playoffs. The most recent playoff champions are the Trois-Rivières Lions in 2025.
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History

The league, formed by Vinton, Virginia oil man Henry Brabham, and for whom the regular season championship trophy, the Brabham Cup, was named, combined teams from the defunct Atlantic Coast Hockey League and All-American Hockey League, began to play as the East Coast Hockey League in 1988 with five teams – the Carolina Thunderbirds ; the Erie Panthers ; the Johnstown Chiefs ; the Knoxville Cherokees ; and the Virginia Lancers.
In 2003, the West Coast Hockey League ceased operations, and the ECHL board of governors approved membership applications from the Anchorage/Alaska Aces, the Bakersfield Condors, the Fresno Falcons, the Idaho Steelheads, the Las Vegas Wranglers, the Long Beach Ice Dogs and the San Diego Gulls as well as from potential teams in Ontario, California, and Reno, Nevada. Alaska, Bakersfield, Fresno, Idaho, Las Vegas, Long Beach and San Diego began play in the 2003–04 season as expansion teams. In a change reflective of the league's now-nationwide presence, the East Coast Hockey League shortened its name to the orphan initialism ECHL on May 19, 2003. The ECHL reached its largest size to date that season before being reduced to 28 teams for the 2004-05 season.
The ECHL has attempted to be more tech-friendly to its fans. Some improvements on the league's website have included a new schedule and statistics engine powered by League Stat, Inc., internet radio coverage for most teams, and pay-per-view broadcasting of ECHL games through B2 Networks. In 2008, the league introduced the ECHL toolbar for web browsers which gave users short cut access to statistics, scores, transactions, and news updates.
At the annual ECHL Board of Governors meeting on June 15, 2010, in Henderson, Nevada, the Board of Governors approved changes to the names of the conferences and divisions. The former American Conference was renamed the Eastern Conference, while the National Conference was re-designated the Western Conference. Within the Eastern Conference, the East Division was renamed the Atlantic Division, and the Western Conference's former West Division was dubbed the Mountain Division.
The league lost its only Canadian team with the folding of the Victoria Salmon Kings subsequent to the 2010–11 season, but increased to 20 teams for the 2011–12 season with the addition of the expansion franchise Chicago Express and the Colorado Eagles who previously played in the Central Hockey League.
With the folding of the Chicago Express at the conclusion of the 2011–12 season and the announcement of expansion franchises the Orlando Solar Bears, San Francisco Bulls, Evansville IceMen, and Fort Wayne Komets the league played the 2012–13 season with 23 teams. That number dropped to 22 for the 2013–14 season with the folding of the Trenton Titans and subsequently fell to 21 with the mid-season folding of the San Francisco Bulls on January 27, 2014.
On October 7, 2014, the ECHL announced that the seven remaining active members of the CHL would be admitted as new members for the 2014–15 season. The addition of the former CHL teams plus the expansion Indy Fuel raised the number of teams to 28 and placed a team in Canada for the first time since 2011.
Before the 2015–16 season, the American Hockey League created a Pacific Division, which led the three California ECHL teams to relocate to former AHL cities with the Bakersfield Condors, Ontario Reign, and Stockton Thunder relocating to become the Norfolk Admirals, Manchester Monarchs, and Adirondack Thunder, respectively. By the 2018–19 season, the ECHL lost both the Quad City Mallards and Manchester Monarchs to folding, and the ECHL kept the Quad City Mallards name as a trademark. But the ECHL expanded into other markets recently vacated by the AHL with the Maine Mariners, Newfoundland Growlers, and Worcester Railers.
There were two expansion teams added in 2021–22, the Iowa Heartlanders and the Trois-Rivières Lions, with Iowa going into the Central Division and Trois-Rivières going into the North. This brought the league up to 27 teams. The league added the Savannah Ghost Pirates, bringing the league to 28 teams, and balancing the divisions for the 2022–23 season.
Two expansion teams were added for the 2024–25 season; the Tahoe Knight Monsters, and the Bloomington Bison. The Knight Monsters were placed in the Mountain division, with the Bison placed in the Central division. These additions were intended to bring the ECHL to 30 teams before the Newfoundland Growlers folded late in the 2023–24 ECHL season, but the league plans to expand 32 in the future to match the number of teams in the NHL and the AHL. On April 2, 2024, the league announced that following the termination of the Growlers' membership for failing to fulfill its obligations under league bylaws, the Wheeling Nailers would move to the North Division.
On October 18, 2024, the league announced a new expansion team for Greensboro, North Carolina set to begin play for the 2025–26 ECHL season, which became the Greensboro Gargoyles.
Two expansion teams were announced in 2025: the New Mexico Goatheads will begin play in Rio Rancho, New Mexico, for the 2026–27 ECHL season, and an unnamed team in Augusta, Georgia, will begin play in the 2027–28 ECHL season.
On September 9, 2025, the Utah Grizzlies announced that they will relocate to Trenton, New Jersey, for the 2026–27 season and will be known as the Trenton Ironhawks.
On December 26, 2025, a lockout began due to a players strike from the Professional Hockey Players' Association, postponing all scheduled games until a deal was reached on December 27.

Teams

Alignment, affiliations, and locations for the 2025–26 season.

Future teams

Representatives from all potential expansion franchises, markets that have been granted expansion franchises and franchises that have suspended operations must attend the league's annual Board of Governors Meeting between seasons and provide progress reports on their situations in order to keep their ECHL franchise rights. For dormant and existing franchises, the Board of Governors votes whether or not to extend a franchise's league license until the next Board of Governors Meeting.
At the 2012 Board of Governors meeting, the Board elected to limit the league to 26 teams, with an emphasis on adding teams to the Western Conference. However, it was decided at the 2015 Board of Governors meeting that the cap should be expanded to 30 teams, hoping to eventually match the NHL and AHL's 30-team totals. In 2023, ECHL commissioner Ryan Crelin commented that the eventual goal was to match the AHL and NHL expansion to 32 teams.

Defunct and relocated teams

Since starting with five franchises in its inaugural season, the ECHL has had dozens of franchises join and leave the league. Typically, these teams fold or relocate due to operation issues or financial losses. The Johnstown Chiefs became the last remaining founding franchise of the East Coast Hockey League to remain in its original city until it relocated to Greenville, South Carolina, following the completion of the 2009–10 season.
While the ECHL has stated in recent years they would not grant voluntary suspensions of franchises for more than one year, both the Toledo Storm and Mississippi Sea Wolves were granted two-year suspensions—the Sea Wolves because of Hurricane Katrina and the Storm in order to demolish their present arena and construct a new one in downtown Toledo. The Mississippi Sea Wolves resumed play for the 2007–08 season, while the Toledo Walleye resumed play in their new arena for the 2009–10 season.
Seven former ECHL franchises have been directly replaced in their respective markets by American Hockey League franchises. The Greensboro Monarchs were the first, being replaced by the Carolina Monarchs in 1995. The Hampton Roads Admirals were the second, giving way to the Norfolk Admirals in 2000. The Peoria Rivermen were the third. In their case, the replacement franchise retained the Worcester IceCats history but assumed the Rivermen identity for their first AHL season of 2005–06. The Charlotte Checkers were the fourth, yielding to a franchise that retained the Albany River Rats history following the club's move to Charlotte following the 2009–10 season and assumed the Checkers identity. In each of these cases, the ECHL franchise was relinquished to the league by its respective ownership group. In 2015, the three California franchises were displaced by the formation of an AHL Pacific Division. Each ECHL franchise involved in the territorial shift was either owned or purchased by their NHL affiliate prior to being relocated.

Timeline


DateFormat = mm/dd/yyyy
ImageSize = width:1100 height:auto barincrement:20
Period = from:01/01/1988 till:01/01/2028
TimeAxis = orientation:horizontal
PlotArea = right:5 left:5 bottom:50 top:5
Colors =
id:line value:black
id:Now value:rgb # current member
id:Past value:rgb # former member
id:Future value:rgb # future member
id:Suspended value:rgb # suspended member
PlotData =
width:15 textcolor:black shift: anchor:from fontsize:s
bar:1 color:Past from:09/01/1988 till:06/01/1992 text:Carolina/Winston-Salem Thunderbirds
bar:1 shift: color:Now from:09/01/1992 till:end text:Wheeling Thunderbirds/Nailers
bar:2 color:Past from:09/01/1988 till:06/01/1996 text:Erie Panthers
bar:2 color:Past from:09/01/1996 till:06/01/2003 text:Baton Rouge Kingfish
bar:2 color:Past from:09/01/2004 till:06/01/2011 text:Victoria Salmon Kings
bar:3 color:Past from:09/01/1988 till:06/01/2010 text:Johnstown Chiefs
bar:3 color:Now from:09/01/2010 till:end text:Greenville Road Warriors/Swamp Rabbits
bar:4 color:Past from:09/01/1988 till:06/01/1997 text:Knoxville Cherokees
bar:4 color:Past from:09/01/1997 till:06/01/2005 text:Pee Dee Pride
bar:6 color:Past from:09/01/1988 till:06/01/1993 text:Virginia
bar:6 color:Past from:09/01/1993 till:06/01/1994 shift:-40 text:Huntsville
bar:6 color:Past from:09/01/1994 till:06/01/2001 shift:15 text:Tallahassee
bar:6 color:Past from:09/01/2001 till:06/01/2002 shift:-40 text:Macon
bar:6 color:Past from:09/01/2002 till:06/01/2003 text:Lex.
bar:6 color:Now from:09/01/2005 till:06/01/2026 text:Utah Grizzlies
bar:6 color:Future from:06/01/2026 till:end shift: text:Trenton
bar:10 color:Past from:09/01/1989 till:06/01/1995 text:Greensboro Monarchs
bar:11 color:Past from:09/01/1989 till:06/01/2000 text:Hampton Roads Admirals
bar:11 color:Past from:09/01/2001 till:06/01/2004 text:Columbus Cottonmouths
bar:12 color:Past from:09/01/1989 till:06/01/1996 text:Nashville Knights
bar:12 color:Past from:09/01/1996 till:06/01/2008 text:Pensacola Ice Pilots
bar:14 color:Past from:09/01/1990 till:06/01/1992 shift:-20 text:Cincinnati
bar:14 color:Past from:09/01/1992 till:06/01/2001 text:Birmingham Bulls
bar:14 color:Past from:09/01/2001 till:06/01/2005 text:Atlantic City
bar:14 color:Past from:09/01/2005 till:06/01/2015 text:Stockton Thunder
bar:14 color:Now from:09/01/2015 till:09/01/2020 text:Adirondack Thunder
bar:14 color:Suspended from:09/01/2020 till:07/01/2021
bar:14 color:Now from:07/01/2021 till:end
bar:17 color:Past from:09/01/1990 till:06/01/1994 text:Louisville IceHawks
bar:17 color:Past from:09/01/1995 till:06/01/2000 text:Jacksonville Lizard Kings
bar:18 color:Past from:09/01/1990 till:06/01/2003 text:Richmond Renegades
bar:19 color:Past from:09/01/1991 till:06/01/1999 text:Columbus Chill
bar:19 color:Now from:09/01/2001 till:09/01/2020 text:Reading Royals
bar:19 color:Suspended from:09/01/2020 till:07/01/2021
bar:19 color:Now from:07/01/2021 till:end
bar:20 color:Past from:09/01/1991 till:06/01/2009 text:Dayton Bombers
bar:21 color:Past from:09/01/1991 till:06/01/1998 text:Raleigh IceCaps
bar:21 color:Past from:09/01/1998 till:12/02/2008 text:Augusta Lynx
bar:22 color:Past from:09/01/1991 till:06/01/2007 text:Toledo Storm
bar:22 color:Now from:09/01/2009 till:09/01/2020 text:Toledo Walleye
bar:22 color:Suspended from:09/01/2020 till:07/01/2021
bar:22 color:Now from:07/01/2021 till:end
bar:23 color:Past from:09/01/1993 till:06/01/2010 text:Charlotte Checkers
bar:24 color:Past from:09/01/1993 till:06/01/2000 text:Huntington Blizzard
bar:24 color:Past from:09/01/2003 till:06/01/2005 text:Texas Wildcatters
bar:24 color:Suspended from:06/01/2005 till:09/01/2006
bar:24 color:Past from:09/01/2006 till:06/01/2008
bar:24 color:Past from:09/01/2008 till:06/01/2015 text:Ontario Reign
bar:24 color:Past from:09/01/2015 till:06/01/2019 shift:0 text:Manchester Monarchs
bar:25 color:Past from:09/01/1993 till:06/01/2004 text:Roanoke Express
bar:26 color:Now from:09/01/1993 till:end text:South Carolina Stingrays
bar:27 color:Past from:09/01/1995 till:06/01/2005 text:Louisiana IceGators
bar:28 shift: color:Past from:09/01/1995 till:06/01/1998 text:Louisville RiverFrogs
bar:28 color:Past from:09/01/1998 till:06/01/1999 text:Miami Matadors
bar:28 shift: color:Now from:09/01/2001 till:06/01/2004 text:Cincinnati Cyclones
bar:28 color:Now from:09/01/2006 till:09/01/2020
bar:28 color:Suspended from:09/01/2020 till:07/01/2021
bar:28 color:Now from:07/01/2021 till:end
bar:29 color:Past from:09/01/1995 till:06/01/2002 text:Mobile Mysticks
bar:29 color:Now from:09/01/2003 till:09/01/2020 text:Gwinnett/Atlanta Gladiators
bar:29 color:Suspended from:09/01/2020 till:07/01/2021
bar:29 color:Now from:07/01/2021 till:end
bar:30 color:Past from:09/01/1996 till:06/01/2009 text:Mississippi Sea Wolves
bar:31 color:Past from:09/01/1996 till:06/01/2005 text:Peoria Rivermen
bar:32 shift: color:Past from:09/01/1997 till:06/01/1999 text:Chesapeake Icebreakers
bar:32 color:Past from:09/01/1999 till:06/01/2003 text:Jackson Bandits
bar:33 color:Past from:09/01/1997 till:06/01/2002 text:New Orleans Brass
bar:34 color:Now from:09/01/1998 till:end text:Florida Everblades
bar:35 color:Past from:09/01/1998 till:06/01/2006 text:Greenville Grrrowl
bar:36 color:Past from:09/01/1999 till:06/01/2003 text:Arkansas RiverBlades
bar:37 color:Past from:09/01/1999 till:06/01/2004 text:Greensboro Generals
bar:38 color:Past from:09/01/1999 till:06/01/2013 text:Trenton Titans/Devils
bar:39 color:Past from:09/01/2001 till:06/01/2008 text:Columbia Inferno
bar:41 color:Past from:09/01/2003 till:06/01/2017 text:Alaska Aces
bar:41 color:Now from:09/01/2018 till:09/01/2020 text:Maine Mariners
bar:41 color:Suspended from:09/01/2020 till:07/01/2021
bar:41 color:Now from:07/01/2021 till:end
bar:42 color:Past from:09/01/2003 till:06/01/2015 text:Bakersfield Condors
bar:42 color:Now from:09/01/2015 till:09/01/2020 text:Norfolk Admirals
bar:42 color:Suspended from:09/01/2020 till:07/01/2021
bar:42 color:Now from:07/01/2021 till:end
bar:43 color:Past from:09/01/2003 till:12/22/2008 text:Fresno Falcons
bar:44 color:Now from:09/01/2003 till:09/01/2020 text:Idaho Steelheads
bar:44 color:Suspended from:09/01/2020 till:07/01/2021
bar:44 color:Now from:07/01/2021 till:end
bar:45 color:Past from:09/01/2003 till:06/01/2014 text:Las Vegas Wranglers
bar:46 color:Past from:09/01/2003 till:06/01/2007 text:Long Beach Ice Dogs
bar:47 color:Past from:09/01/2003 till:06/01/2006 text:San Diego Gulls
bar:48 color:Past from:09/01/2005 till:06/01/2009 text:Phoenix RoadRunners
bar:49 color:Past from:09/01/2007 till:06/01/2017 text:Elmira Jackals
bar:50 color:Now from: 09/01/2009 till:09/01/2020 text:Kalamazoo Wings
bar:50 color:Suspended from:09/01/2020 till:07/01/2021
bar:50 color:Now from:07/01/2021 till:end
bar:51 color:Past from:09/01/2011 till:06/01/2012 text:Chicago Express
bar:52 color:Past from:09/01/2011 till:06/01/2018 text:Colorado Eagles
bar:53 color:Past from:09/01/2012 till:06/01/2016 text:Evansville IceMen
bar:53 color:Now from:09/01/2017 till:end text:Jacksonville Icemen
bar:54 color:Now from:09/01/2012 till:end text:Fort Wayne Komets
bar:55 color:Now from:09/01/2012 till:end text:Orlando Solar Bears
bar:56 color:Past from:09/01/2012 till:01/27/2014 text:San Francisco Bulls
bar:57 color:Now from:09/01/2014 till:end text:Allen Americans
bar:58 color:Past from:09/01/2014 till:09/01/2020 text:Brampton Beast
bar:59 color:Now from:09/01/2014 till:end text:Indy Fuel
bar:60 color:Now from:09/01/2014 till:end text:Missouri/Kansas City Mavericks
bar:61 color:Past from:09/01/2014 till:06/30/2018 text:Quad City Mallards
bar:62 color:Now from:09/01/2014 till:end text:Rapid City Rush
bar:63 color:Now from:09/01/2014 till:end text:Tulsa Oilers
bar:64 color:Now from:09/01/2014 till:end text:Wichita Thunder
bar:65 color:Now from:09/01/2017 till:09/01/2020 text:Worcester Railers
bar:65 color:Suspended from:09/01/2020 till:07/01/2021
bar:65 color:Now from:07/01/2021 till:end
bar:66 color:Past from:09/01/2018 till:04/02/2024 text:Newfoundland Growlers
bar:66 color:Suspended from:09/01/2020 till:07/01/2021
bar:66 color:Past from:07/01/2021 till:04/02/2024
bar:67 color:Now from:09/01/2021 till:end shift: text:Iowa Heartlanders
bar:68 color:Now from:09/01/2021 till:end shift: text:Trois-Rivières Lions
bar:69 color:Now from:09/01/2022 till:end shift: text:Savannah Ghost Pirates
bar:70 color:Now from:09/01/2024 till:end shift: text:Bloomington Bison
bar:71 color:Now from:09/01/2024 till:end shift: text:Tahoe Knight Monsters
bar:72 color:Now from:09/01/2025 till:end shift: text:Greensboro Gargoyles
bar:73 color:Future from:09/01/2026 till:end shift: text:New Mexico Goatheads
bar:74 color:Future from:09/01/2027 till:end shift: text:Augusta
ScaleMajor = gridcolor:line unit:year increment:5 start:1990

Kelly Cup playoff format

For the 2012–13 season, eight teams still qualify in the Eastern Conference: the three division winners plus the next five teams in the conference. With the addition of the expansion franchise in San Francisco, the Board of Governors changed the Western Conference seeding such that eight teams qualify: two division winners and the next six teams in the conference. This eliminated the Western Conference first-round bye.
Similar to the National Hockey League at the time, the division winners were seeded as the top three seeds in the Eastern Conference and the top two seeds in the Western Conference; the conference winner faced the eighth seed, second faces seventh, third faces sixth and fourth faces fifth in the conference quarterfinal round. The winner of the 1st/8th series played the winner of the 4th/5th series while the 2nd/7th winner played against the 3rd/6th winner in the conference semifinal series. The Board of Governors also elected to change the playoff format such that all rounds of the playoffs are now best of seven series. For 2012–13, the Conference Finals and Kelly Cup Finals used a two-referee system.
Because of the late addition of the CHL teams for the 2014–15 season and its subsequent conference alignment, the top four teams in each division qualified for the playoffs and the first two playoff rounds were played within the divisions.
For the realignment prior to the 2015–16 season, the playoffs changed once again to a six-division format. At the end of the regular season, the top team in each division qualified for the playoffs and be seeded either 1, 2, or 3 based on the highest point total earned in the season. Then the five non-division winning teams with the highest point totals in each conference qualified for the playoffs and be seeded 4 through 8. All four rounds will be a best-of-seven format.
The alignment changed back to four divisions for the 2016–17 season, but the playoffs kept the divisional format. The top four teams in each division qualify for the playoffs and play in the division for the first two rounds. After the division finals, the winners then play the conference finals, which are followed by the Kelly Cup finals.

ECHL Hall of Fame

In celebration of the league's 20th year of play, the ECHL Board of Governors created the ECHL Hall of Fame in 2008, to recognize the achievements of players, coaches, and personnel who dedicated their careers to the league.