Come Together, Right Now

We already looked at the partnerships between teams of the American and National hockey leagues; now, let’s mix it up and make things a bit more complicated by throwing in the ECHL. Note that while not all teams have an ECHL affiliation, many do (26, in fact) – so let’s proceed.

Allow me to begin by first stating the few independent ECHL teams: the Fort Wayne Komets, Alaska Aces, Bakersfield Condors and Las Vegas Wranglers do not have affiliates in either the National or American hockey leagues. In addition, the South Carolina Stingrays do not have an official AHL affiliate.

While some teams have no affiliates, others have many.

A good example of this is the ECHL’s Wheeling Nailers, housed in West Virginia. The team is affiliated with both the Montreal Canadiens and Pittsburgh Penguins, as well as both teams’ AHL affiliates.

The Cincinnati Cyclones also fit this category, partnered up with both the Florida Panthers and Nashville Predators, as well as both AHL affiliates (San Antonio and Milwaukee).

The Kalamazoo Wings, Toledo Walleye and Florida Everblades each have tw0 NHL affiliates as well. Of those teams, each is also affiliated with two AHL teams, with Kalamazoo the sole exception.

Finally, the Gwinnett Gladiators have a dual-affiliation in the NHL and AHL, partnered with Buffalo/Rochester and Phoenix/Portland.

San Francisco, Orlando, Evansville and Fort Wayne are all the new teams for this upcoming season and all have NHL and AHL affiliates already, except for Fort Wayne who remains independent.