He was also COO of the St. John’s Ice Caps when they were the Habs’ American Hockey League affiliate.MacDonald says the thought behind it is quite simple. You can argue that Newfoundland is not in our footprint, but with the connection out of Toronto, it works. Currently the ECHL uses “Premier AA Hockey League” as the byline on certain media releases and merchandise, but for better or worse they remain known as the ECHL for now.“For us to strategically rush to 32 doesn’t make a whole lot of sense; there are a lot of factors that come to play. In the US you’ve got a conference known as the ‘Big Ten,’ which actually has fourteen teams, and the reason is that the Big Ten carries weight and has brand equity and history, and we feel similar.“We’ve been trying to get the ECHL moniker into people’s vernacular for a long time, but ‘East Coast’ still sticks around, but to say we will just scrap it and go in a different direction would not be correct. But other than that we believe in the ECHL as a brand, and as who we are. It’s been a focus of mine to get our business operations in a good spot, but also looking at the fact that we are not the only minor pro league out there.“Not everyone is going to make it, but if you can nurture three to four players in the ECHL level who eventually make the NHL team, you’ve been able to grow their culture and cultivate them the way you want them, and in the NHL salary-cap world, you save a few bucks as you develop your roster.”“A lot of factors, certainly market size. I even flew to Montreal and spent some time with those guys, just to make sure they are aware of our parameters and how we operate.
This decade we witnessed the ECHL absorb the old Central Hockey League, creating a monopoly of AA-pro hockey in North America. The Stingrays team owner Todd Halloran told NBC Sports Washington that he expects that they will get a deal done in the coming weeks. They presented to city council again last week.He indicates that it also makes sense for the Canadiens as their AHL affiliate is in Laval, Quebec and Trois-Rivières is only an hour and a half away.He says if it reached a point where it looked like things were coming together, they would be looking for local ownership to come on board to be the face, heart and soul of the team.MacDonald says the project is contingent on the affiliation with the Canadiens.
It’s a tough business, and until there is more stability, that’s how we are going to grow. Down the road, I want to grow the league to that utopia where we serve as the premier AA affiliate league for the NHL and AHL, but we are not there yet.“Maybe a little. The shorter that timeline is, the more difficult it becomes. We do struggle with it, and we frequently have the conversation. But they do still have a few months left to turn that around. Fifteen years ago, several southern teams branched out into the new realm of Single-A level pro hockey, while teams in the midwest competed with the ECHL for AA-level supremacy. MacDonald says market studies on fan support and corporate sponsorship support are currently underway. It has to fit in our geographic footprint and have appropriate geographic travel. Once you get to late fall, you start putting yourself up against the clock.”Ryan Crelin stepped into the role of ECHL Commissioner last season, the fourth person to hold the title in the league’s 31-year history. Leave a Comment on Future ECHL Expansion? With Thursday’s Trois-Rivieres announcement of a 5 year lease agreement with an arena now they need to find a league. But there are 31 years of brand equity there, and for us to just scrap it without a greater purpose doesn’t make a whole lot of sense.”The ECHL has been trying to trademark the name “Premier Hockey League” for a while now, but failing in their bid in filings with the USPTO on several occasions.
BOISE, Idaho – In 2014, the ECHL had seven teams in its Pacific Division: the Alaska Aces, Bakersfield Condors, Colorado Eagles, Idaho Steelheads, Ontario Reign, Stockton Thunder, and Utah Grizzlies. We changed our player playoff eligibility rules to help encourage further growth from NHL/AHL teams in the ECHL.