Photo by Joe Lovell The Wheeling Nailers' Taylor Gauthier defends the net Wednesday during the Nailers' Eastern Conference Finals game against the Florida Everblades inside WesBanco Arena.

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.

“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.”

It’s not immediately clear what that would mean for the Wheeling Nailers, which has a 29-year affiliation with the Penguins. Calls to Nailers officials were not immediately returned Thursday afternoon.

The Everblades defeated the Nailers in the Eastern Conference championship last month.

According to the Post-Gazette, there are three NHL teams that don’t have a current ECHL affiliate including Columbus and Buffalo.