Following split with Penguins, Wheeling Nailers announce affiliation agreement with Columbus

Last month, the Pittsburgh Penguins and Wheeling Nailers ended an affiliation agreement that lasted for more than 25 years. The reason was that the Penguins' new ownership group, the Hoffmann Family of Companies, also owns the ECHL's Florida Everblades. 

Not long after the Penguins and Nailers announced their affiliation agreement was ending, the Penguins announced a new agreement to take on the Everblades as their new ECHL affiliate. 

This decision briefly left the West Virginia hockey team without an NHL organization. 

On Thursday, that was no longer the case as the team announced a new agreement with the Columbus Blue Jackets. This will make the Blue Jackets the Nailers' NHL affiliate and the Cleveland Monsters the AHL affiliate. 

"We are excited to begin our new partnership with the Columbus Blue Jackets and Cleveland Monsters," said Nailers President & Governor Brian Komorowski in a statement. "Geographically, this makes all of the sense in the world for us. When transactions occur, the travel for the players will be extremely convenient. This also gives us an excellent opportunity to expand our growing fanbase deeper into Ohio, as we look forward to welcoming fans from Columbus and Cleveland to WesBanco Arena." 

The affiliation works well for the Nailers as Cleveland is just 166 miles from Wheeling, and Columbus is just 128 miles away. It makes the affiliation the sixth shortest distance between current AHL and ECHL affiliates. 

Columbus now becomes the fifth NHL affiliate for the Nailers, who have had previous agreements with the Edmonton Oilers, Montreal Canadiens, Philadelphia Flyers, and the Penguins. 

The agreement between Columbus and Wheeling is a two-year deal.