2023-24 ECHL Power Rankings

1. Kansas City Mavericks/Last Ranking: 2

Record: 35-8-3

There was a playoff feel to the Mavericks’ game Wednesday at Cable Dahmer Arena, when the Fort Wayne Komets rolled into Independence, Missouri. 

It was only the fourth game for the Mavericks this season against a team outside of the Mountain Division, and they certainly answered any questions regarding scheduling by winning 3-2 against a quality opponent, even if there was a late goal by Fort Wayne’s Matthew Wedman disallowed because the referees determined – quite questionably – that he’d kicked it in.

It’s hard to find any holes with the Mavericks: They’ve got great forward lines, paced by Patrick Curry and Max Andreev; decent offense from the blue line, such as Ryan Jones; good shutdown defensemen, such as Marc-Olivier Duquette; good goaltending from Jack LaFontaine, Dillon Kelley and Cale Morris; and plenty of help from the NHL’s Seattle Kraken and American Hockey League’s Coachella Valley Firebirds.

The Mavericks also do a good job of staying out of the penalty box; they average 9.39 penalty minutes, second fewest in the league.

I suppose I could pick some holes in the special teams – the power play ranks 11th (21.4%) and the penalty kill 10th (81.1%) – but that’s quibbling about a team that’s on a 7-0-1 run, has the best record in the league (by points or winning percentage) and has gained 10 points of separation in the Mountain Division from the Idaho Steelheads.

Big night last night but we’re not done yet!@ECHL pic.twitter.com/1tBeN1YU3H

— Kansas City Mavericks (@kc_mavericks) January 31, 2024

2. Wheeling Nailers/Last Ranking: 9

Record: 28-16-2

The Nailers are a great reminder that – and pardon the oft-used cliché coming – it’s not how you start, but how you finish. 

Wheeling dropped as low as 18th in my rankings back on Dec. 5 and, if you just took a gander at the overall standings, the Nailers might not immediately jump out at you with their 58 points (eighth best in the league) and .630 winning percentage (also eighth).

Heck, the Nailers aren’t even in first place in their own division; the Toledo Walleye are five points up in the Central and not exactly playing poorly.

But the Nailers are looking very much like a championship contender. No one in the ECHL is playing better hockey right now. The Nailers have won 12 straight games, and only one other team this entire season – the Idaho Steelheads – has done that.  

Now, I’m not going to tell you the Nailers have been doing all this winning against top-flight competition – six of the wins during this streak came against the Reading Royals, who fired head coach James Henry (and replaced him with Jason Binkley) along the way; while the Nailers also beat Orlando three times, Iowa twice and Cincinnati once – but at some point, that just doesn’t matter.

I’ve long thought Derek Army is one of the league’s best coaches, he just lacked the talent. This year, there are no excuses. He has one of the league’s best goaltenders, Taylor Gauthier, some scary forwards, such as Justin Addamo and Lukas Svejkovsky (though Cédric Desruisseaux left the team Monday for Europe), and solid defensemen.

Forward Jordan Martel has 18 goals and 26 points in 24 games since being acquired from the Utah Grizzlies for Quinn Wichers and future considerations on Dec. 13, when Wheeling was 10-10-2, and that has proven to be a huge move for Nail City. 

The upcoming three-game set at Utah will tell us more – about that trade and if the Nailers can sustain what they’ve been doing.

3. Jacksonville Icemen/Last Ranking: 7

Record: 28-15-4

Like the Nailers, the Icemen aren’t atop their division’s standings, but they’re playing the best hockey of late. 

Jacksonville is on a 7-0-1 run and is just six points back of the Greenville Swamp Rabbits in what has become a pressure cooker of a South Division.

Coming into the season, Jacksonville was my pick to win the Kelly Cup. I was getting nervous around Nov. 21, when the Icemen were 4-5-2, and I dropped them to 18th in the rankings. (I guess if you hit No. 18, you’ve got potential, so good for you, Utah Grizzlies).

What I felt about the Icemen coming into the season finally is proving true: There’s a ton of depth among the forwards – from top-tier guys (Brenden Harris and Christopher Brown), to the opportunistic scorers (Matheson Iacopelli) and the role players (Garrett Van Wyhe) – and the defense will punish you, ranking first with only 2.53 goals against per game.

I always was confident in rookie goalie Matt Vernon, but he doesn’t need to be great if Michael Houser is down from the AHL.

I don’t love the 13-8-3 record at home, but that’s also the division. What I do love is that the Icemen take an ECHL-low 8.09 penalty minutes per game.

4. Idaho Steelheads/Last Ranking: 6

Record: 30-13-3

The Idaho Steelheads had a bit of a drought from Dec. 29 to Jan. 13, going 2-6-1, but they’ve returned to form and have gone 7-2-1 since.

Bryan Thomson certainly deserves some credit for that. In his last eight games, he’s allowed more than two goals only twice, bringing his season marks to 16-7-2 with a 2.88 GAA, a .908 SP and one shutout – strong numbers for the rookie out of the Western Hockey League.

Getting forward Mark Rassell back from the AHL helped, too – he has three goals and four points in five games since returning – as the Steelheads are looking more like that top-to-bottom juggernaut they were last season.

There’s still work to do, though, as they’re coming off a 6-5 overtime home loss to Utah – and the Steelheads went 2-3-1 against the Mavericks, who, sort of crazily, they don’t face again in the regular season.

5. Toledo Walleye/Last Ranking: 5

Record: 27-9-9

ECHL scheduling is an inexact science, but how in the world have the Toledo Walleye not faced the Wheeling Nailers since Dec. 1? Hang on, and they don’t play again until March 29? And they only meet five times? These are division rivals separated by only 254 miles! It’s like this Idaho-Kansas City thing all over again.

I guess that’s a discussion for another day, but it definitely has robbed us of help determining the Central Division power structure, especially since Toledo is an uninformative 1-1-1 against Wheeling.

When Toledo got off to a 23-4-5 start, it seemed no one was capable of catching the Walleye. Now, Toledo’s lead is down to five points over Wheeling and, frankly, five teams still are in reasonable range of catching them.

I don’t expect anyone to do it, unless it’s Wheeling. 

The Walleye still have all the things that made them so hot at the start – a multifaceted offense, deep defense, solid goalies – but some holes have been exposed, namely how things hold up against physical play and defenders who don’t give up any space. You know, things teams will stress in the postseason.

Only one team really has figured out Toledo, though, and that’s Kalamazoo, with a 7-2-1 record against the Walleye. They meet only three more times among Toledo’s 27 remaining games. The Walleye just better hope they doesn’t draw Kalamazoo in the playoffs.

Conlan Keenan went top shelf for his game-winner on Friday night 🔥 pic.twitter.com/4a19XqdMer

— Toledo Walleye (@ToledoWalleye) February 13, 2024

6. Adirondack Thunder/Last Ranking: 1

Record: 30-11-6

I feel as if the Adirondack Thunder may get toward the playoffs and look back at what transpired last week and find it a valuable lesson. 

The Thunder were riding high with a 14-0-3 run, and were atop the FloHockey rankings upon arriving in Estero, Florida. Then, the two-time defending-champion Florida Everblades showed the Thunder they have a way to go, winning 6-3, 4-1 and 3-1.

Florida is doing what it does, trending at the right time, and Adirondack found it’s going to have to clean up details at both ends of the ice. 

The Thunder squandered early leads in two of the games, got into penalty trouble in one of them and struggled to get production from the top-line players.

Offense is what worries me a smidge about Adirondack, which ranks eighth with 3.43 goals per game. If Shane Harper, Ryan Smith and Patrick Grasso are shut down, others are going to have to step up.

Honestly, though, those games in Estero were quality losses for the Thunder, who have the biggest lead – 12 points – of any division leader and needed to find out exactly where there are at this point in the season.

7. Greenville Swamp Rabbits/Last Ranking: 3

Record: 32-14-2

The Swamp Rabbits still lead the South Division with 66 points, but Jacksonville, South Carolina and Florida are putting on the pressure.

Going 0-2-1 on the road against the Newfoundland Growlers last week certainly didn’t help matters for the Swamp Rabbits, who have seen some inconsistent goaltending this season from Jacob Ingham and Ryan Bednard. 

Their upside is unquestioned, but they also have to be reliable if they get into a best-of-7 series with an offense such as Newfoundland’s.

And that’s the thing with Greenville – consistency. 

The lineup is wildly talented – from top-line talents, such as Carter Souch and Nikita Pavlychev, to role players, such as Anthony Beauchamp and Lordanthony Grissom. But sometimes, they just get away from themselves. It doesn’t happen often, but the Swamp Rabbits still can clean up some stuff, because some of their division opponents certainly have.

8. Norfolk Admirals/Last Ranking: 11

Record: 25-18-4

The Admirals were worrying me for a bit – they went 1-8-2 between Dec. 20 and Jan. 13, dipping them from sixth to 17th in the FloHockey rankings – but they’ve returned to form by winning 10 of 13 games since then.

This is a team that hasn’t made the playoffs since its inception in 2015 and is used to occupying the cellar, so it was fair to expect some growing pains, but the Admirals seem to have gotten through them.

Winning two of their three games at the Huntington Center in Toledo, Ohio, was a decent sign, even if the Admirals got the two victories in overtime shootouts and were walloped 9-1 in the finale against the Walleye. 

Following with two victories over the Trois-Rivières Lions last week in Norfolk, 6-3 and 4-3 in overtime, should be confidence builders.

The goaltending of Yaniv Perets and Kristian Stead has been good lately. Well, except that one game at Toledo. And forward Danny Katic is one of the best players in the ECHL no one seems to talk about; he’s got 14 goals, 30 points and a plus-13 rating in 45 games.

9. South Carolina Stingrays/Last Ranking: 4

Record: 28-15-3

The South Carolina Stingrays are on a 4-0-1 run, during which goaltenders Garin Bjorklund and Mitchell Gibson have allowed only seven goals.

In their last 11 games, the Stingrays are 9-1-1.

It’s hard to know what to make of the Stingrays against the division’s top teams – they’re 2-5-0 against Greenville, 5-2-0 against Jacksonville, 2-1-0 against Florida – but they have all the pieces for a successful run. 

The offense ranks fifth (3.7 goals per game), the defense seventh (2.98 goals against per game), the power play seventh (22.8%) and the penalty kill fifth (83.9%).

We just need to see if the big rookies – forwards Austin Magera and Jack Adams, defenseman Nick Leivermann and Bjorklund, and Gibson – hold up over the long ECHL season.

10. Florida Everblades/Last Ranking: 12

Record: 23-14-7

Bad news for everyone outside of Estero, Florida: Cam Johnson still is really good.

The two-time defending Kelly Cups Playoffs MVP led the two-time defending-champion Everblades to a three-game sweep of North Division-leading Adirondack by stopping 77 of 82 shots last week.

There was a playoff feel to the series, and the Everblades did what they’ve done for years: they limited quality scoring opportunities, rode good goaltending, got opportunistic offense and embraced the physicality of it all.

One of the best forward lines in the league – Oliver Chau, Joe Pendenza and Bobo Carpenter – is backed by much depth and a great coach, Brad Ralph.

All Florida needs is to get into the playoffs – it proved that as a fourth seed last year – and the Everblades are building for a strong finish to the regular season.

Cam Johnson is the @DunkinsDiamonds Diamond In The Rough Player Of The Game 💎 pic.twitter.com/Zu0k6FvuOY

— Florida Everblades (@FL_Everblades) January 28, 2024

The Rest Of The ECHL

11. Newfoundland Growlers/Last Ranking: 18

Record: 22-19-8

12. Indy Fuel/Last Ranking: 15

Record: 25-17-4

13. Tulsa Oilers/Last Ranking: 14

Record: 22-19-5

14. Kalamazoo Wings/Last Ranking: 10

Record: 23-19-3

15. Fort Wayne Komets/Last Ranking: 8

Record: 24-20-4

16. Worcester Railers/Last Ranking: 20

Record: 21-18-6

17. Orlando Solar Bears/Last Ranking: 13

Record: 21-16-8

18. Utah Grizzlies/Last Ranking: 21

Record: 21-24-1

19. Allen Americans/Last Ranking: 17

Record: 20-24-3

20. Iowa Heartlanders/Last Ranking: 24

Record: 19-20-7

21. Maine Mariners/Last Ranking: 22

Record: 19-20-5

22. Trois-Rivières Lions/Last Ranking: 16

Record: 19-23-5

23. Cincinnati Cyclones/Last Ranking: 19

Record: 21-21-4

24. Wichita Thunder/Last Ranking: 28

Record: 14-24-7

25. Rapid City Rush/Last Ranking: 23

Record: 19-25-2

26. Savannah Ghost Pirates/Last Ranking: 27

Record: 17-25-5

27. Reading Royals/Last Ranking: 26

Record: 17-21-7

28. Atlanta Gladiators/Last Ranking: 25

Record: 16-28-3