The 2025 Kelly Cup Playoffs field is getting closer to being set as we enter the final weeks of the regular season.

Michal Stinil leads the ECHL in scoring three weeks into the season – he leads all skaters in goals (eight) and points (14) through eight games – and it’s kind of cool to see.

The ECHL has two expansion teams this season – the Bloomington Bison and Tahoe Knight Monsters – with another on the way in Greensboro, North Carolina.

The last few seasons in the ECHL has brought a lot of intrigue. There have been new teams, plenty of new exciting players and prospects, and there’s been a three-peat champion bringing a little consistency to the mix.

The ECHL season is almost upon us. When the puck drops Friday, it will mark another exciting chapter for the premier ‘AA’ hockey league. For ECHL fans, we’ve got one more piece of news to get you even more excited for Friday nights throughout the season.

For the vast majority of players in the NHL, they're going to need a stop playing within the farm system of the club that either drafted or signed them. Some will get their start in the ECHL, the premier "AA" hockey circuit, while many will spends some time in the American Hockey League, the last step for most players before they realize their NHL dreams.

For the second time this week, there was a big prospect trade in the NHL. This time it involved one of the best young goaltenders in hockey as Yaroslav Askarov was the centerpiece of a deal that sent him from the Nashville Predators to the San Jose Sharks.

So what happens after an NHL team drafts a player?

We’re in the stretch run of this ECHL regular season – every team has between 10 and 14 remaining games – and only the Kansas City Mavericks and Idaho Steelheads have locked up playoff spots so far. In other words, so incredibly much has yet to be decided.

Playing in the ECHL can be a grueling endeavor.

We all give a lot of love to the big scorers in the ECHL, the Brandon Hawkins and Wade Murphys of this world. And, of course, we love those big-shooting defensemen like Matt Register and Jalen Smereck. And the highlight-making goaltenders, such as Cam Johnson.

When Peter Bates was leaving the junior hockey ranks at age 20, he didn’t think professional hockey was something that would be in his future.

We’re coming up on the ECHL’s Christmas break, which is something players love, of course, but not all coaches do.

I’m based in Fort Wayne, Indiana, and whenever I watch the ECHL’s Komets play these days, I find myself pondering this question: What the heck is Jack Dugan doing at this level?

Unless it’s, oh, Dec. 15, it’s too early to panic about any ECHL team. That’s what I always tell people, anyway.