Rumour: ECHL and CHL Set to Merge

The East Coast Hockey League had at one time become a forgotten league, where players who couldn’t make it in the NHL or AHL wound up to play out the rest of their careers on semi-professional teams. However, today the ECHL is back in the loop of respectable hockey leagues and it might be taking one might step forward by combining with the Central Hockey League.

The latest rumours swirling around the hockey league have the ECHL and CHL merging leagues to become one destination for hockey outside of the NHL and AHL. The CHL already holds designations with teams such as the Allen Americans, Missouri Mavericks and Brampton Beast.

Adding the ECHL to the mix would only help widen the validity of the CHL and perhaps convince players to stay in the CHL and further pursue a hockey career. There is such a wide gap or leagues for players who aren’t ready for the AHL or NHL as of yet and this will certainly open more doors for more ECHL players to get call-up’s.

The rumour stems from hockey/player agent Darryl Wolski who tweeted out the news earlier tonight.

If the ECHL and CHL do indeed merge into one, it will have a ripple effect throughout the semi-professional leagues and the AHL. With the AHL talking about moving teams in the West, the ECHL could easily become a top-notch league.

The merge would mean a whopping 30 team league filled with both young players, around the age of 24 and older players over the age of 30.

At the end of the day, any league shy of the AHL is about developing top-notch talent for the pro leagues. Combining the two leagues should pump out some amazing players from the semi-professional ranks into the NHL.