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The Wheeling Nailers weren’t NHL orphans for very long.
Less than a month after the Pittsburgh Penguins ended their affiliation with the ECHL franchise, the Nailers announced Thursday morning that it has agreed to a new partnership with the Columbus Blue Jackets and the AHL Cleveland Monsters.
“We are excited to begin our new partnership with the Columbus Blue Jackets and Cleveland Monsters,” said Nailers President and Governor Brian Komorowski. “Geographically, this makes all of the sense in the world for us. When transactions occur, the travel for the players will be extremely convenient.
“This also gives us an excellent opportunity to expand our growing fanbase deeper into Ohio, as we look forward to welcoming fans from Columbus and Cleveland to WesBanco Arena,” he added. “We had amazing conversations with Blue Jackets President of Hockey Operations and General Manager Don Waddell and Assistant General Manager Chris Clark, which makes us that much more eager to officially get things started.”
The Blue Jackets began play in the NHL in 2000 as an expansion team and is part of the Metropolitan Division, which includes the Penguins. The team has made six playoff appearances, the last in 2020. Columbus finished
“We are excited to partner with the Wheeling Nailers as our new ECHL affiliate,” said Blue Jackets Assistant General Manager Chris Clark, who oversees hockey operations for the organization's professional affiliates. "Wheeling has a long tradition of both player development and organizational success, and its proximity to both Cleveland and Columbus will be advantageous on the hockey side, while providing a great opportunity to promote our organization and the game throughout the region.”
With the affiliation with the Blue Jackets comes a connection with the Monsters. Originally known as the Lake Erie Monsters when they moved from Utah and started playing in 2007, the team changed its named to the Cleveland Monsters in 2016.
The Nailers had to start shopping for a new NHL affiliate after the Penguins officially announced July 16 that it was switching its ECHL affiliation from the Nailers to the Florida Everblades, the team that bounced Wheeling from the ECHL playoffs this past season. That ended an affiliation between the two franchises that lasted 29 years.
The change had been rumored for weeks before that, as the new Penguins owners, the Hoffman Family of Companies, also own the Everblades. David Hoffman, chairman of the Hoffman Family of Companies, told Pittsburgh media he would be “run out of Naples” if the Penguins and Everblades didn’t become affiliates.
Columbus will be the fifth NHL affiliate for Wheeling, who had previously worked with Edmonton (1992-1997), Montreal (1992-1997 & 2010-2015), Philadelphia (2007-2009), and Pittsburgh (1998-2026).
Return to theintelligencer.net later for more on this developing story.