It's Link Day - ECHL Rule Changes, NHL Rule Changes, ECHL Expansion, Affiliations and More

I don't have anything new this morning but am attending the Allen practice today and will provide an update tomorrow.


- I am going to call today "link day."  Here is some reading material for those of you that are not active on social media or don't follow all of the goings on. Hope you can find something of interest among these links.   



- Board of Governors (BOG) - At the All-Star game the BOG voted to make two changes that impact this season. First, they added a ninth situation subject to video review by the referee. The eight situations currently contained in 88.3, "Situations Subject to Video Review" all relate to the puck and goal/no goal decisions. The ninth situation added, which will start with games on Monday, February 10, is video replay review for goalie interference.

The second change relates to the playoffs as the BOG voted to increase the playoff roster by one, from 23 to 24. Teams can have 20 on the active roster and four on reserve.

Here is the ECHL press release on the BOG meeting: https://www.echl.com/en/news/2020/1/board-of-governors-concludes-mid-season-meeting

 


- NHL Rule Changes - In his recent state of the union address, NHL Commissioner, Gary Bettman, covered several topics including puck and player tracking, the Olympics, and potential rules changes. If the NHL changes rules they usually get changed in the AHL and ECHL. One change being talked about is the offside rule that will see the plane of the blueline extended, which will allow for players with their skate in the air above the blueline to be considered onside.

The second rule or enforcement of a rule the NHL is looking at is a crackdown on crosschecking. With the crackdown on slashing, hooking and holding the last couple of years, crosschecking has become more prevalent.

Here is a story from the Hockey News that discusses these rule changes in detail along with many other topics. They cover how NHL rule changes are made and it is not a quick process: https://thehockeynews.com/news/article/can-we-look-forward-to-a-change-in-the-offside-rule-and-a-crackdown-on-crosschecking-looks-like-it



- ECHL Expansion - You may have read stories in the past year about one of the owners of the Newfoundland Growlers (Dean McDonald) trying to secure another ECHL team in Quebec (Trois-Rivieres). Here is a story written by Andrew Zadarnowski about the trials and tribulations of obtaining this ECHL franchise:  https://www.habseyesontheprize.com/2020/1/25/21079076/we-lost-the-ability-to-ice-a-team-next-year-the-status-of-the-bid-for-an-echl-team-in-trois-rivieres

Another possibility for ECHL expansion is a new arena being built in Coralville, Iowa which is a suburb of Iowa City. In past press releases it has been an expressed goal to attract an ECHL franchise. Iowa City is 111 miles from Des Moines where the Iowa Wild (AHL) play. This could be a nice fit with the Minnesota Wild organization. Here is the latest on this new arena from the Iowa City Press-Citizen:  https://www.press-citizen.com/story/news/2020/01/24/xtream-arena-coralville-construction-progress-hawkeye-athletics/4565134002/




- AHL Affiliations - Here is a story about the Vegas Golden Knights purchasing a current AHL franchise and moving them to Las Vegas. AHL President, David Andrews has confirmed the Golden Knights are in talks to buy an AHL franchise. https://sinbin.vegas/orleans-arena-expects-to-become-home-to-golden-knights-ahl-affiliate-next-season/



- Mountain Division Weekly - Here is a snippet about all seven teams in the division with their schedule this week: https://www.echl.com/en/news/2020/1/mountain-division-weekly-jan-27



DID YOU KNOW: The ECHL website has a page with all of the NHL/AHL/ ECHL affiliations. Here is the link: https://www.echl.com/en/pages/nhl-ahl-affiliations