Tuesday, May 31, 2011

The ECHL Expands Again

Only a matter of minutes ago (right after I pushed publish on the last post in fact), the Colorado Eagle announced they were leaving the CHL to join the ECHL. Obviously, this is great news for the league. The Eagles have, over the course of 8 seasons won the CHL's President's Cup twice, three regular season titles, five conference titles and six division titles. Frankly, they were one of the best teams in CHL and having them decide to jump on board with the ECHL is a huge vote of confidence.

The Eagles will basically be replacing the the now defunct Victoria Salmon Kings. You may remember they called it quits at the end of their season because their ownership decided to field a team in the WHL. Of course the Western Conference will continue to be unbalanced compared to the East (especially when you remember Chicago will be playing their first ECHL season in 11-12). It is a step in the right direction. The rumors that the Rapid City Rush are planning to join the ECHL would be an even better step.

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Overall, I can't think of this as anything but really great news. It says great things about the league to have teams willing to leave their league to join us. I do worry a bit for the fans though. It will be hard for them to see some of their favorites leave, and some players will have to leave. Whether because of the ECHLs tighter roster restrictions or because former players might not be up to keep up with the playing style. Obviously, that part will suck, but seeing prospects from their NHL and AHL affiliates will be more than worth it.

Of course that will lead to the bane of every ECHL fans existence: constant, poorly timed, call-ups (good lord I hate those).
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2 comments:

  1. MattJune 3, 2011 at 6:18 PM

    Gwinnett Fan here. Loved the last comment. We had our entire team(it seemed) called up to The Wolves this past year. Are the restricted players not allowed to be called up? How does that work?

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  2. LadyByngsLoveChildJune 3, 2011 at 7:05 PM

    It's a little complicated but from what I understand the CBA the ECHL signed with the Players association forces the team to allow a player to leave if they're offered a contract or try-out agreement by an AHL or NHL club.

    If the player has a contract with the NHL or AHL affiliate and is assigned to the ECHL team nothing can be done either.

    It sucks that you lose guys, but the league is a developmental league, the players are supposed to move up. That's a big reason teams are limited to only a few veteran players. They're supposed to fill the roster with young guys ready to move up.

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