Breaking News
Local Sports

Nailers in jeopardy of losing longtime affiliation with the Penguins

By From staff reports 3 min read
Zack Rawson END OF AN ERA? — Wheeling Nailers forward Matty De St. Phalle looks to get his stick on the puck in front of Flordia Everblades goaltender Cam Johnson during Game 3 of the ECHL playoffs East Conference Finals last month at WesBanco Arena. The Nailers' longtime affiliation agreement with the Pittsburgh Penguins could be coming to an end with the Hoffman Group, which owns Florida, purchasing the Penguins and indicating they intend to make the Everblades the Penguins' new affiliate.

The Wheeling Nailers may be losing their nearly three-decade long affiliation with the Pittsburgh Penguins.

On Thursday, David Hoffman, founder and chairman of the Hoffman Family of Companies, the new principal owner of the Pittsburgh Penguins and also the owner of the ECHL's Florida Everblades, announced his intentions to have the Everblades be the Penguins' ECHL partner, according to reporting from the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.

The news came during Hoffman's first press conference since receiving approval by the NHL's Board of Governors to purchase the Penguins, a reported $1.7 billion sale according to multiple outlets like USA Today and ESPN.

"I think they would run me out of Naples if they're not," Hoffmann said on Thursday, according to the Post-Gazette. "We already have people wearing Penguins jerseys at our games, so I think the high expectation level is that's going to happen. And we want to do that."

Geoff Hoffmann, David's son, said the organization plans to keep the Everblades, and they would have more clarity on their ECHL plans “in the next couple of weeks."

It's not immediately clear what that would mean for the Wheeling Nailers, which has a 29-year affiliation with the Penguins, beginning in February 1998.

"We have not received any direct correspondence from the Pittsburgh Penguins in regards to our affiliation agreement," Brian Komorowski, President/Governor of the Wheeling Nailers, said in a release to the media Thursday.

The Everblades defeated the Nailers in the Eastern Conference championship last month. Wheeling compiled a record of 46 wins and 20 losses in this past regular season.

The close proximity between Wheeling and Pittsburgh had proved useful for the Penguins, as the Nailers’ Taylor Gauthier, the ECHL Goaltender of the Year, was called up and activated on the same day this last year for a game on Easter Sunday after goalie Stuart Skinner was deemed unable to play. Wheeling is a less-than 60-mile drive from Pittsburgh; Estero, Florida, the Everblades’ home town, situated between Naples and Fort Myers, is nearly 1,200 miles away.

Gauthier also served as the third goalie during the Penguins playoff series against Philadelphia.

There are three NHL teams that currently do not have an ECHL affiliate -- the Columbus Blue Jackets, the Buffalo Sabres and the Utah Mammoth.

The Penguins also directly own their AHL affiliate, the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins. A change in ECHL affiliation to the Everblades would mean all levels of the Penguins' system would be under Hoffmann's ownership.

Starting at /week.