Ottawa’s ECHL Situation: A Quick Refresher


For the first time in years Ottawa’s ECHL situation is confusing–there’s no official affiliate, so what are the Sens doing with players demoted down to the E? It’s certainly not a situation unique to them, but it is highly unusual (all 27 ECHL teams have affiliates, a change since I last looked in July). So what arrangements have the Sens made?

Part of the problem is the org has made no official announcements–all we know are through comments from elsewhere. The answer has two parts:
-since the off-season the Wichita website has referred to Ottawa as a partner; comments from the coach in July indicated that the commitment consisted of providing one goaltender to the Edmonton affiliate
-less than a week ago Belleville began to send players to Brampton (Montreal’s affiliate), with it reported that Ottawa will share the affiliation with the team

The only question remaining is: do the Sens still owe Wichita a goaltender? I think they do and, given the relative status of the netminders between the Thunder and the Beast, it’s far better to maintain that arrangement. That said, there’s no confirmation–it’s possible this shared affiliation with Brampton means the Wichita relationship is over–we simply won’t know until the org says something officially. For now all demotions have been to Brampton and we’ll have to wait and see what happens with the extra goalies.

This article is written by Peter Levi (@eyeonthesens)