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.

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.
File:Third period opening face off.jpg|right|thumb|300px|An ECHL game between the Bakersfield Condors and Alaska Aces in 2008
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.
  • Alaska Aces
  • Arkansas RiverBlades
  • Atlantic City Boardwalk Bullies
  • Augusta Lynx
  • Bakersfield Condors
  • Baton Rouge Kingfish
  • Birmingham Bulls
  • Brampton Beast
  • Carolina/Winston-Salem Thunderbirds
  • Charlotte Checkers
  • Chesapeake Icebreakers
  • Chicago Express
  • Colorado Eagles
  • Columbia Inferno
  • Columbus Chill
  • Columbus Cottonmouths
  • Dayton Bombers
  • Elmira Jackals
  • Erie Panthers
  • Evansville IceMen
  • Fresno Falcons
  • Greensboro Generals
  • Greensboro Monarchs
  • Greenville Grrrowl
  • Hampton Roads Admirals
  • Huntington Blizzard
  • Huntsville Blast
  • Jackson Bandits
  • Jacksonville Lizard Kings
  • Johnstown Chiefs
  • Knoxville Cherokees
  • Las Vegas Wranglers
  • Lexington Men O' War
  • Long Beach Ice Dogs
  • Louisiana IceGators
  • Louisville IceHawks
  • Louisville RiverFrogs
  • Macon Whoopee
  • Manchester Monarchs
  • Miami Matadors
  • Mississippi Sea Wolves
  • Mobile Mysticks
  • Nashville Knights
  • Newfoundland Growlers
  • New Orleans Brass
  • Ontario Reign
  • Pee Dee Pride
  • Pensacola Ice Pilots
  • Peoria Rivermen
  • Phoenix RoadRunners
  • Quad City Mallards
  • Raleigh IceCaps
  • Richmond Renegades
  • Roanoke Express
  • San Diego Gulls
  • San Francisco Bulls
  • Stockton Thunder
  • Tallahassee Tiger Sharks
  • Texas Wildcatters
  • Trenton Titans/Devils
  • Victoria Salmon Kings
  • Virginia Lancers/Roanoke Valley Rebels/Rampage