ECHL begin split season 12/11 w/13 teams; others start January. Atlanta, Norfolk vol. suspensions

[LadyStanley]

ECHL confirms start date for 2020-21 Season

13 teams to begin mid December. The rest mid January.

Atlanta taking season off due to COVID. Any signed players become free agents.

Click to read more...

 

[LadyStanley]

ECHL announces initial schedule for 2020-21 Season

ECHL announces initial schedule (for the early season, i.e., mid-December to mid-January).

 

[Fenway]

Norfolk has suspended operations

Norfolk enacts COVID voluntary suspension of season | Pro Hockey News

 

[LadyStanley]

Sigh

 

[tarheelhockey]

Sigh

Presumably we're hitting a breaking point with respect to arena contracts and the like. Would expect to see more of this as dominoes fall.

 

[Fenway]

ECHL press release

PRINCETON, NJ – In light of COVID-19’s continued impact across the Northeast region, the ECHL announced Wednesday that each of the six teams in the North Division – Adirondack Thunder, Brampton Beast, Maine Mariners, Newfoundland Growlers, Reading Royals and Worcester Railers – will be suspending play for the 2020-21 ECHL season under the League’s policy for COVID-19. All teams are set to return in the 2021-22 ECHL season.

“As we continue to navigate the continually changing regulations across North America, we recognize the difficult nature of this decision,” ECHL Commissioner Ryan Crelin said. “While some of our teams’ host cities have allowed upcoming plans to include fans inside arenas, we unfortunately do not see the same path for these highly-affected areas in the Northeast.”

Under the terms of the ECHL/PHPA Collective Bargaining Agreement, all players from the Adirondack Thunder, Brampton Beast, Maine Mariners, Newfoundland Growlers, Reading Royals and Worcester Railers are free agents for the 2020-21 season immediately.

 

[Fatass]

ECHL press release

PRINCETON, NJ – In light of COVID-19’s continued impact across the Northeast region, the ECHL announced Wednesday that each of the six teams in the North Division – Adirondack Thunder, Brampton Beast, Maine Mariners, Newfoundland Growlers, Reading Royals and Worcester Railers – will be suspending play for the 2020-21 ECHL season under the League’s policy for COVID-19. All teams are set to return in the 2021-22 ECHL season.

“As we continue to navigate the continually changing regulations across North America, we recognize the difficult nature of this decision,” ECHL Commissioner Ryan Crelin said. “While some of our teams’ host cities have allowed upcoming plans to include fans inside arenas, we unfortunately do not see the same path for these highly-affected areas in the Northeast.”

Under the terms of the ECHL/PHPA Collective Bargaining Agreement, all players from the Adirondack Thunder, Brampton Beast, Maine Mariners, Newfoundland Growlers, Reading Royals and Worcester Railers are free agents for the 2020-21 season immediately.

Is that two Canadian teams? With the border closed there was no chance for them.

 

[royals119]

Presumably we're hitting a breaking point with respect to arena contracts and the like. Would expect to see more of this as dominoes fall.

yes, with training camp set to open on Dec 31 for those teams, and the team required to provide housing for players, they would have had to put deposits on apartments this week and also start setting up hotels, bus schedules, etc in the next week.

 

[LadyStanley]

Looks like there might be a Sharks semiofficial ECHL affiliate.

 

[golfortennis]

Are any players in the ECHL under contract with NHL teams? If they are on one of the suspended teams, are they free agents in the sense that they can choose which team to play, or will the NHL team decide where they will play?

 

[LadyStanley]

Are any players in the ECHL under contract with NHL teams? If they are on one of the suspended teams, are they free agents in the sense that they can choose which team to play, or will the NHL team decide where they will play?

ECHL teams have affiliation agreements with NHL/AHL teams for X players. Now, those players will have to have their NHL/AHL team find other places to play them (or sit them on AHL roster).

Only players signed to ECHL SPCs on those dormant teams become free agents. (There's a thread in the ECHL forum that tracks contracts signed.)


(Thinking back to when the Sharks had to scramble to find roster spots when the ECHL SF Bulls ended play in the middle of a season and the organization was scrambling to find spots.)

 

[voyageur]

I notice some teams like Wichita are starting to add players. Any sense of what a season could look like? Maybe a South (short 2 teams), Central, and Mountain division? If there is an NHL season, conceivably with expanded rosters, some of the AHL players who are closer to ECHL than the NHL, and who can't go to Europe might end up there. A lot of hockey players are going to be out of work, like the rest of us.

 

[LadyStanley]

More dormancies

 

[CHRDANHUTCH]

Presumably we're hitting a breaking point with respect to arena contracts and the like. Would expect to see more of this as dominoes fall.

Worcester's arena(DCU Center) was a field hospital in the Spring and just was retrofitted again as a field hospital, Maine has considered such a setup with both Cross Center and Cross Arena but has not been implemented but that plan is ready if warranted....

it is doubtful the arena contracts and the tenant teams are even considering that aspect, much like how the the NHL paused and then went to hub cities to complete the past season...

some ECHL Teams also own the team that plays in a given arena as well as operate the arena itself.... Maine is one of those that's unique in that aspect and why it convinced Comcast to pursue the Aces franchise when it acquired the rights to return pro hockey to Portland....

Newfoundland is another example of where MacDonald won the right to operate his initial entry out of Mile One before taking on Trois-Rivieres, and Coralville, IA, which are now delayed to 2022-23, at minimum.

 

[LadyStanley]

And another team opts out

 

[CHRDANHUTCH]

And another team opts out

Fort Wayne is a go for the balance of 2020