How does the minor league hockey system work?

Joez2103: How does the minor league hockey system work?
Players get called up from the minor leagues and sent back down just like in baseball. However, some of the minor leagues in hockey are actually considered semi-professional leagues. Were leagues such as the AHL and ECHL established independently of the NHL and they have some sort of transfer agreement for players? How exactly does it work?

Answers and Views:

Answer by Like I’m Telling You Who I A
The ECHL, CHL, and AHL are all full professional leagues.

The AHL and NHL were at one time both partners, and adversaries. I played in the AHL because I was the property of the Chicago Black Hawks, but many others played because they were professionals. Teams like the Hershey Bears, Rochester Americans, and the Cleveland Barons, all had NHL size payrolls and went after players as free agents.

In the mid to late 60s, with NHL expansion (especially into CHL and AHL markets), the WHL imploded (another professional league pre-1970) and the AHL and CHL stepped in line as full NHL affiliates due to the loss of the bigger markets (Pittsburgh, Philadelphia, Buffalo).

Currently, there are 30 NHL teams, and 30 AHL teams. Every AHL team has an agreement with an NHL team to supply at least 86% of their roster (each AHL team is free to sign up to 4 non-NHL affiliated players). The IHL and ECHL have similar, less-binding player agreements.

The NHL has it’s own collective bargaining agreement (CBA) which covers all players who have an NHL contract, regardless of which league they are playing in. The AHL has it’s own CBA which governs all players in the AHL, that aren’t under NHL contracts, and has an AHL/NHL section that governs those players under 2 way contracts (or in the case of Marc Denis, NHL players who suck too much to be in the NHL).

There are currently several cases (Toronto, Chicago, Philadelphia, Detroit) where the owner of the NHL team has an ownership stake in the AHL team.

Usually, the owners of the AHL team will sign a financial agreement with the NHL team that permits and encourages the AHL team to develop players for the NHL teams.

I guess the answer to your question is that the NHL has NEVER created it’s own full-fledged development league. Prior to the 1967 expansion, the NHL competed with several other professional leagues (although the NHL was still regarded as the top dog) and through the last 40 years, these other leagues have consolidated to be the NHL’s minor league system