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For the first time in decades, the city of Wheeling had to deal with the perils of professional sports.
The Hoffman Family of Companies, the new owners of the Pittsburgh Penguins, formally announced Thursday that its ECHL affiliation would switch from the Wheeling Nailers to the Florida Everblades, a team the group already owns. This came as no surprise. Company president David Hoffman said weeks ago that he would be "run out of Naples" -- the home region of the Everblades -- if he didn't make the change.
If you look at it from a strict business angle, it makes sense. The Hoffmans already own an ECHL team. It's logical they would want to use that team as their NHL affiliate now that they're NHL owners.
It still stings, though. Having such a close connection to the NHL franchise has been a fun aspect of the Nailers' existence. Plenty of Nailers fans became Penguins fans, and vice versa. And it's tough to watch it happen after such a successful season where the Nailers reached the ECHL Eastern Division Finals (where they got eliminated, interestingly enough, by the Everblades).
Yet these things happen in pro sports. Affiliations come and go.
It's happened in Wheeling.
Before the Penguins linked up with the Nailers, when the team arrived from Winston-Salem, North Carolina as the Thunderbirds, they were affiliated with the Montreal Canadiens.
When you're not the biggest fish in the pond, you don't always get to choose where you swim. The owners of the NHL parent company made the call. The ECHL franchise has to live with it.
But there will be Nailers hockey in WesBanco Arena next season. Some of the names and faces may change, but the franchise will remain. That's the beauty of having true local ownership of the team. The Nailers are owned by the Hockey Club of the Ohio Valley LLC., an entity managed by the Regional Economic Development Partnership, which is based just up Main Street in Wheeling.
RED absolutely understands the importance of the Nailers to the Ohio Valley and Wheeling especially. The organization will work as hard as it can to secure another NHL affiliation as quickly as it can.
And, as luck would have it, there are three NHL teams currently without an NHL affiliation -- the Columbus Blue Jackets, the Buffalo Sabres and the Utah Mammoth. Any of the three would make a fine partner.
You could have the proximity that comes with the Blue Jackets' Ohio home and the Blue Jackets could really build a fan base in the Ohio Valley with an affiliation. Or you could have a connection to a longtime NHL franchise in the Sabres with a history of players like Dominik Hasek and Pat LaFontaine. Or you could get the new car smell of the Mammoth, which first started playing in 2024. Or there could be an answer that no one has yet thought of.
It may take a little time, but there are plenty of people in the Friendly City working to keep the Nailers on solid ground.
However you look at it, hockey is alive and well in Wheeling, and it will continue to be.