Before Wheeling became the ECHL affiliate of the Pittsburgh Penguins it was the Johnstown Chiefs. The partnership between the Nailers and Penguins after 29 years (1998) has officially come to a close and a new era has begun with the Florida Everblades as the organizations ECHL affiliate.
The longtime partnership between the Penguins and Nailers is so rare in professional hockey due to the fact that affiliation agreements between sides change fairly often. To see this come to an end is of course sad but was inevitable with the Hoffman family being owners of the Florida Everblades and was openly stated that this would more than likely be a result of them being ushered in.
Their Everblades were last in affiliation with the St. Louis Blues organization from 2024-2026 as the Blues entered into a new affiliation. This will be the sixth team that the Everblades have been partnered with since 2001.
Pittsburgh did just inherit the reigning Kelly Cup Champions led by head coach Brad Ralph and the leadership of Craig Bush who just won their fourth Kelly Cup in the last five years. They took down the Kansas City Mavericks (Seattle Kraken) in six games with an OT winner to secure the Kelly Cup.
The travel for same day call-ups will be very tricky as Florida and Pittsburgh aren't particularly close which will make those call-ups hard but it will be coordinated with the organizations.
Former Penguins Tom Kunhnhackl and Eric Tangradi are notable names who come to mind who started their journeys with Wheeling and worked all the way up to the Pittsburgh Penguins organizations throughout the affiliation. Avery Hayes and Sergei Murashov are the young players of the future who benefited with their time in Wheeling.
It is a new era with the Hoffman family and Florida Everblades and this will be the first of many impacting moves they will make in their tenure as owners of the Pittsburgh Penguins.
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