Report: Colorado team could join ECHL, part II.

As promised, a follow-up to the recent report that the CHL’s Colorado Eagles could be joining the ECHL:

A league spokesperson declined to address the addition or subtraction of specific teams, which is to be expected since the schedule is still a work in progress. Reign president Justin Kemp has seen a draft of the schedule, but declined to go into details about whether Colorado or Victoria were on it. “I’m not given the opportunity to comment on the league, or other teams,” he said.

That said, here’s what we can report:

• The door hasn’t been officially shut on the Salmon Kings franchise by the ECHL. We don’t know whether the team would have to relocate, but with the Save-On-Foods Memorial Center already supporting a WHL and BCHL team next season, it would be hard to imagine trying to sell an ECHL team there, too.

• The expansion Chicago Express are definitely playing in the Eastern Conference. If the league wants to bring an additional team into the Western Conference to offset losing Victoria (and keep it an eight-team conference), Chicago isn’t a candidate – at least not right now.

• A finalized schedule should be released by the end of May or early June.

• That doesn’t necessarily mean the rumors will go away soon. An ECHL spokesperson said that in the past, teams have been added to the league even after the schedule was released to the public.

We’ll post more here when we know it.

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About J.P. Hoornstra

J.P. Hoornstra covers the Dodgers, Angels and Major League Baseball for the Orange County Register, Los Angeles Daily News, Long Beach Press-Telegram, Torrance Daily Breeze, San Gabriel Valley Tribune, Pasadena Star-News, San Bernardino Sun, Inland Valley Daily Bulletin, Whittier Daily News and Redlands Daily Facts. Before taking the beat in 2012, J.P. covered the NHL for four years. UCLA gave him a degree once upon a time; when he graduated on schedule, he missed getting Arnold Schwarzenegger's autograph on his diploma by five months.