The road to becoming a member of the NHL's Florida Panthers will now start around 110 miles away in southwest Florida.
Wednesday, the Panthers announced a multi-year partnership with the Florida Everblades of the East Coast Hockey League to serve as one of the team's minor league affiliates.
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The Everblades, based out of Estero and play home games at Hertz Arena, will join the Charlotte Checkers of the American Hockey League as affiliates for the Panthers.
"We are pleased to announce a new affiliation with the Florida Everblades," said Brett Peterson, Assistant General Manager of the Florida Panthers. "We look forward to the development of our young players in Florida and many opportunities together with this new pipeline plan.”
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The Everblades will replace the Greenville Swamp Rabbits, who spent the last two seasons as the Panthers' ECHL affiliate. Founded in 1998, the Everblades have been to the playoffs all but one season and have twice won the Kelly Cup as ECHL Champions, including winning the title last season.
“We are thrilled to have the Florida Panthers as our new NHL affiliate,” said Craig Brush, General Manager of the Florida Everblades. “Florida’s General Manager Bill Zito and Assistant General Manager Brett Peterson have done an outstanding job and we are looking forward to becoming an integral part of the development of players for the Panthers and Charlotte Checkers.”
