{"id":246984,"date":"2026-07-19T02:25:34","date_gmt":"2026-07-19T02:25:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/246984\/"},"modified":"2026-07-19T02:25:34","modified_gmt":"2026-07-19T02:25:34","slug":"florida-everblades-become-pittsburgh-penguins-echl-affiliate-gulfshore-business","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/246984\/","title":{"rendered":"Florida Everblades become Pittsburgh Penguins\u2019 ECHL affiliate | Gulfshore Business"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>SOUTHWEST FLORIDA, (WINK) \u2014 The Florida Everblades will become the Pittsburgh Penguins\u2019 ECHL affiliate next season, strengthening ties between two hockey organizations now owned by the Naples-based Hoffmann Family of Companies.<\/p>\n<p>Beginning with the 2026-27 season, the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.winknews.com\/sports\/pittsburgh-penguins-name-florida-everblades-as-new-echl-affiliate\/article_1c126e84-de0e-48ed-adf9-5dbf9e98bbcd.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Everblades will serve as Pittsburgh\u2019s ECHL affiliate<\/a>, joining a player-development pipeline that also includes the Wilkes-Barre\/Scranton Penguins of the American Hockey League.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe Penguins are excited to partner with the Florida Everblades, who are one of the premier organizations in the ECHL,\u201d Penguins Assistant General Manager Jason Spezza said. He pointed to the Everblades\u2019 \u201cchampionship pedigree and winning environment\u201d as key factors in helping develop prospects.<\/p>\n<p>The affiliation comes weeks after the <a href=\"https:\/\/gulfshorebusiness.com\/tncms\/asset\/editorial\/e5e335c0-53ba-4006-9d11-73ef4c53516f\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Hoffmann family completed its purchase of the Penguins<\/a> from Fenway Sports Group. Financial terms were not disclosed, though Forbes and CNBC valued the NHL franchise at roughly $1.75 billion. The deal also included the Wilkes-Barre\/Scranton Penguins and other business interests tied to the organization.<\/p>\n<p>Fans welcome home Everblades after historic 5th Kelly Cup win<\/p>\n<p>Fans welcomed home the Florida Everblades after a historic fifth Kelly Cup win. The Everblades will become the Pittsburgh Penguins\u2019 ECHL affiliate after the Hoffmann family\u2019s approximately $1.75 billion purchase of the NHL franchise.<\/p>\n<p>When the acquisition closed in June, Hoffmann Family of Companies Chairman David Hoffmann said the family intended to build on the winning culture it established in Southwest Florida.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe plan on putting together a winning franchise, the same as the Everblades,\u201d Hoffmann said. \u201cWe\u2019re going to invest whatever it takes.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>That culture is well established. The Everblades have won an ECHL-record five Kelly Cups, including four of the past five championships, since the Hoffmann Family of Companies acquired the franchise and Hertz Arena in 2019.<\/p>\n<p>Spezza said the Penguins expect the partnership to provide Everblades coach Brad Ralph with players who can develop in a competitive environment while contributing to another championship pursuit in Southwest Florida.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"SOUTHWEST FLORIDA, (WINK) \u2014 The Florida Everblades will become the Pittsburgh Penguins\u2019 ECHL affiliate next season, strengthening ties&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":246985,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[36466,73,75,74,1067,105658],"class_list":["post-246984","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-pittsburgh","tag-echl","tag-pittsburgh","tag-pittsburgh-headlines","tag-pittsburgh-news","tag-pittsburgh-penguins","tag-southwest-florida"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/246984","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=246984"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/246984\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/246985"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=246984"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=246984"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=246984"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}