The 2023–24 ECHL season was the 36th season of the

ECHL The ECHL (formerly the East Coast Hockey League) is a minor professional ice hockey league based in Shrewsbury, New Jersey, with teams across the United States and Canada. Competitively, it is a tier below the American Hockey League (AHL). The ...

. The regular season began on October 19, 2023, and ended on April 14, 2024, with the 2024 Kelly Cup playoffs to follow. Twenty-eight teams, all of which are affiliated with an NHL team, in 20 states and two Canadian provinces are scheduled to play 72 games. The league terminated the

Newfoundland Growlers The Newfoundland Growlers were a professional minor league ice hockey team in the East Coast Hockey League, ECHL based in St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador. The team began play in the 2018–19 ECHL season, 2018–19 season with home games ...

franchise by league bylaws on April 2, 2024, after the St. John's-based team's owners could not finalize the sale of the team (the

Trois-Rivières Lions The Trois-Rivières Lions ( French: ''Lions de Trois-Rivières'') are a professional minor league ice hockey team in the ECHL based in Trois-Rivières, Quebec. The team began play in the 2021–22 season, with home games held at Colisée Vid� ...

were sold, however, and they also owned the Lions). With this termination and following cancellation of their remaining games (3 v. Trois-Rivières and 3 v. Norfolk), the ECHL announced that the North Division standings would be decided by point percentage to make up for the missing games for Trois-Rivières and the

Norfolk Admirals Norfolk Admirals has been the name of two professional ice hockey franchises: *Norfolk Admirals (AHL), a team which played in the American Hockey League from 2000 to 2015 *Norfolk Admirals (ECHL) The Norfolk Admirals are a professional ice hockey ...

. On June 8, the

Florida Everblades The Florida Everblades are a professional minor league ice hockey team based in Estero, Florida, in the Cape Coral-Fort Myers, Florida Metropolitan Statistical Area, Cape Coral-Fort Myers metropolitan area. They play in the ECHL and are affiliat ...

won their third consecutive and fourth overall Kelly Cup championship over the

Kansas City Mavericks The Kansas City Mavericks are an ice hockey team in the ECHL. Founded in 2009 as the Missouri Mavericks of the CHL, the team plays in Independence, Missouri, a suburb of Kansas City, Missouri, at the Cable Dahmer Arena. History On April 16, ...

in five games, becoming the first team in ECHL history to

three-peat In sports (especially in North America), a three-peat is winning three consecutive championships or tournaments. The term, a portmanteau of the words ''three'' and ''repeat'', originated with the Los Angeles Lakers of the National Basketball Ass ...

League changes

On April 2, 2024, the

terminated the membership of the

for failure to fulfill league bylaws. Both the

and the

were owned by Deacon Sports and Entertainment and had been experiencing financial difficulties. On April 8, 2024, the league approved the sale of the

to Spire Sports + Entertainment. Former

signed to a standard player contract were released as

unrestricted free agents In professional sports, a free agent is a player or manager who is eligible to sign with other clubs or franchises; i.e., not under contract to any specific team. The term is also used in reference to a player who is under a contract at present ...

, allowing them to sign with another team for the remainder of the season. However, former

under an AHL or

NHL The National Hockey League (NHL; , ''LNH'') is a professional ice hockey league in North America composed of 32 teams25 in the United States and 7 in Canada. The NHL is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United States and Cana ...

structured contract were ineligible to play the six remaining games.

Coaching changes

Affiliation changes

All-star game

The 2024 All Star Game was held in January 2024, at Enmarket Arena, home arena of the Savannah Ghost Pirates.

Standings

Eastern Conference

– clinched playoff spot, – clinched regular season division title, –

Brabham Cup The Henry Brabham Cup is the trophy awarded annually by the ECHL to the team that finishes with the most points in the league during the regular season. The Brabham Cup has been awarded 34 times to 16 different franchises since its debut in 1989. ...

(regular season) champion
''– indicates team has been eliminated from playoff contention'', ''– ceased operations immediately'' †

Western Conference

Postseason

The top four teams in each division at the end of the regular season advanced to the 2024 Kelly Cup playoffs and were seeded one through four based on their end-of-season division ranking. Each round was a best-of-7 series with the winner advancing to the next round. The first two rounds were played between teams in their same the division, with the first seed facing the fourth seed and the second seed facing the third seed. The winners of each division then played off to determine winners of each conference. In the final, the from the Eastern Conference defeated the Western Conference

in five games. It was the third consecutive championship for the

Bracket

References

External links

ECHL website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Echl Season 2023-24 2023-24