Tampa Bay Lightning Forced To End Affiliation With Florida Everblades

An ECHL vote has forced the Tampa Bay Lightning to end their affiliation with the Florida Everblades as part of a new policy.

When we are children we come accustomed to hearing the same old anecdotes from our parents about the rules. Some of those anecdotes follow us into our adult lives and even become part of the things we tell our own children. Unfortunately, in the world of hockey old sayings like “rules are rules” comes back to bite us in the behind on occasion.

Florida Everblades President and General Manager Craig Bush told the News Press that the league’s owners have voted on a new rule that would afford each team in the ECHL only one affiliation to a professional hockey club.

As some of you may know by now, the Tampa Bay Lightning has shared their affiliation with the Florida Everblades with their Eastern Conference rivals the Carolina Hurricanes. Considering that the Florida Everblades are owned by Peter Karmanos Jr., the owner of the Carolina Hurricanes, the team is going to continue their affiliation with the Hurricanes.

The move will eventually turn out to be a good thing for the ECHL, but could be a very bad thing for the Tampa Bay Lightning and their American Hockey League affiliate, the Syracuse Crunch. As most of you are more than well aware by now, the Tampa Bay Lightning’s strong development system has been the driving force in transforming the team into the formidable opponents they are now.

Where as the Tampa Bay Lightning are very dependent on calling up young players from the Syracuse Crunch for the sake of injuries or in the name of development, the Syracuse Crunch is dependent on their affiliate for the very same reasons. Without an affiliation, this cuts off one of the major pipelines the Tampa Bay Lightning has to developing their young talent.

According to the News Press article, Brush is quoted as stating that the league made this move in order to allow the opportunity for all 28 teams in the ECHL to have an affiliation with a professional club. Unfortunately, this leaves 2 NHL teams without an affiliation unless the ECHL also votes on some sort of expansion.

As we mentioned before, this could be a very good thing for the ECHL as affiliations with all the teams in the NHL would afford the league the opportunity to filter more of their players up the chain and into the NHL, but it could (at least for the time being) be a bad thing for the Tampa Bay Lightning.

Players like Syracuse Crunch captain Mike Angelidis, goaltender Kristers Gudlevskis, and many more started out playing for the Florida Everblades.

On the bright side, Tampa Bay Lightning Vice President and General Manager Steve Yzerman has become well-known here in Tampa Bay as the “Master of the Impossible” when developing our young core. If there is anyone who can find a way to keep progress rolling in the right direction, it is Yzerman.

What do you think a move like this means for the Tampa Bay Lightning? Do you think their loss of affiliation with the Florida Everblades will throw a wrench into the team’s developmental organization? Let us know what you think in the comments below.

Next: Tampa Bay Lightning: Who Will Lead The Charge Next Season?

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