How to Find ECHL Teams and Their NHL/AHL Affiliates on echl.com

Updated

Go to echl.com and use the Teams section in the main navigation. It contains four relevant entries: NHL/AHL Affiliates, Team Directory, Team Map, and Future Markets. The Affiliates page is the fastest way to see which NHL and AHL clubs each ECHL team is tied to; the Directory and Map are better for browsing the full league by name or location.

Where each Teams entry takes you

Entry What it gives you Best used for
NHL/AHL Affiliates Affiliation relationships between ECHL clubs and their NHL/AHL parents Confirming which NHL organization a player is developing under
Team Directory A list-based index of league teams Jumping to a specific team's page
Team Map A geographic view of team locations Seeing the league's footprint at a glance
Future Markets Markets the league has flagged for future expansion Checking where the ECHL may add teams

Step-by-step: finding a team's affiliate

  1. Open echl.com and locate the Teams menu in the top navigation.
  2. Select NHL/AHL Affiliates to see affiliation pairings across the league.
  3. If you already know the team name, use Team Directory instead and open that team's page.
  4. From a team page, look for links to Tickets and Scores & Schedule to move from affiliation information to attending or following games.

Expected result: you can identify a team's NHL parent club and, from the same site, reach its schedule and ticket information.

What the site also confirms about the NHL pipeline

The ECHL describes itself as a "AA" developmental hockey league, and the site's own news coverage backs up how direct that pipeline is. A featured story notes the ECHL has 64 former players and 58 coaches with league ties on NHL season-opening rosters, plus 40 former on-ice officials scheduled to work NHL games. A separate item reports that four former ECHL officials — referees Nick Isaacson, Austin Rook, and Hayden Verbeek, and linesman Anthony Lapointe — were hired by the NHL for the 2026-27 season.

That context matters when you read the Affiliates page: affiliations are not just administrative labels, they are the formal link in a development chain that has repeatedly moved people from the ECHL to the NHL.

Common snags

  • Affiliation pages list relationships, not rosters. To see who is actually on a team, use Player Stats or the team's own page rather than the Affiliates view.
  • Future Markets is forward-looking. Treat it as a signal of possible expansion, not a confirmed team list.
  • Team pages are the hub. Tickets, schedule, and stats all branch from there, so start with the Directory or Map if you are unsure of the exact team name.

Related pages worth knowing

Once you have the team, the site's Scores & Schedule and Standings sections (including the 2025-26 standings and 2026 playoff series) let you follow results, while Watch/Listen covers live viewing and listening options.