READING, Pa – On Wednesday, the Philadelphia Flyers announced that they have reached an affiliation agreement with the Mississippi Sea Wolves to become the team's ECHL affiliate. The Sea Wolves will be replacing the Wheeling Nailers. Prior to last season, the Trenton Titans, now known as the Trenton Devils, were the Flyers "AA" affiliate. The Titans came into the ECHL back in 1999, and were the Flyers' ECHL affiliate ever since.

As someone who also covers minor league hockey, I figured it might be time to update everyone at INSIDE HOCKEY on NHL affiliations throughout minor league hockey.

In the ECHL, only the Dayton Bombers are currently without an NHL affiliate. Three teams have more than one affiliate, such as the reigning ECHL champion Cincinnati Cyclones (Nashville and Montreal), the Florida Everblades (Florida and Carolina), and the Johnstown Chiefs (Colorado and Columbus).

The Columbus Blue Jackets replace the Boston Bruins as the Johnstown’s secondary affiliate this season; the Bruins will not have an ECHL affiliate this season. In fact, last season was the only season that Boston had an affiliation in the ECHL. The Buffalo Sabres have never had an ECHL affiliate in the team's history and will not have one yet again this season.

The Bakersfield Condors will go into this season with their first ever NHL affiliation, with the Anaheim Ducks. In fact, the Ducks will also have a new AHL affiliate as well, with the Iowa Chops (formerly known as the Iowa Stars).

The Detroit Red Wings will not have an ECHL affiliation, but chose to renew their affiliation with the IHL’s Flint Generals for the second season in a row. The Wings were affiliated with the Toledo Storm but the team took a two year hiatus for the construction of a new arena. When Toledo returns next season they will be known as the Toledo Walleye.

The Columbia Inferno will not be back in the ECHL this season, as they are also awaiting a new arena. The Inferno anticipates being back in the ECHL in time for the 2009-10 season.

The Toronto Maple Leafs, previously affiliated with Columbia, will now link up with the Reading Royals. The Royals, who are owned by the Los Angeles Kings ownership group, will continue to also be affiliated with the Kings. However, the Texas Wildcatters have moved to Ontario, California and will also be affiliated with the Kings as well.

The new team in Ontario will be known as the Ontario Reign. The affiliation also means that the Kings are the only NHL franchise with more than one ECHL affiliate.

The Elmira Jackals enter their second season with the ECHL and have also changed their affiliation from the Columbus Blue Jackets to the Ottawa Senators. With Ottawa already having an AHL affiliation with the Binghamton Senators in the AHL, and because Elmira and Binghamton are a 1 hour drive away from one another, the partnership made a ton of sense for everyone involved.

Another change is the Fresno Falcons being affiliated this season with the Chicago Blackhawks. The Hawks did not have an ECHL affiliation last season due to the Greenville Grrrowl folding two seasons ago. Logistically, the San Jose Sharks would have made sense, but the Sharks will instead be affiliated with the Phoenix RoadRunners this season. I know what you're thinking: so why aren't the Roadrunners affiliated with the Phoenix Coyotes? I will explain later.

While the ECHL has taken a small step back in terms of the number of teams it will have this season, the return of Columbia and Toledo to the league, as well as the potential additions of Myrtle Beach, South Carolina; as well as in Reno, Nevada will give the league more teams than ever before.

In the AHL, very little has changed in terms of affiliations. The AHL will have affiliates with every team in the NHL this season with the exception of the Dallas Stars. A new arena is being built in Austin, Texas for the Stars new affiliate.

Also the Buffalo Sabres ended their long time affiliation with the Rochester Americans and headed east with the Portland Pirates. The Florida Panthers are n ow the full time affiliate of Rochester.

In the CHL (Central Hockey League), two NHL teams will have affiliates in the league. The Arizona Sundogs are affiliated with the Phoenix Coyotes, while the Tampa Bay Lighting will be affiliated with the Mississippi Riverkings. That means the Lighting is the only NHL franchise with three affiliations: Norfolk (AHL), Augusta (ECHL), and Mississippi (CHL).

Below is a look at each NHL' teams minor league affiliations...

ANAHEIM
AHL: IOWA
ECHL: BAKERSFIELD

ATLANTA
AHL: CHICAGO
ECHL: GWINNETT

BOSTON
AHL: PROVIDENCE
ECHL: None

BUFFALO
AHL: PORTLAND
ECHL: None

CALGARY
AHL: QUAD CITY
ECHL: LAS VEGAS

CAROLINA
AHL: ALBANY
ECHL: FLORIDA

CHICAGO
AHL: ROCKFORD
ECHL: FRESNO

COLUMBUS
AHL: SYRACUSE
ECHL: JOHNSTOWN

COLORADO
AHL: LAKE ERIE
ECHL: JOHNSTOWN

DALLAS
AHL: None
ECHL: IDAHO

DETROIT
AHL: GRAND RAPIDS
IHL: FLINT

EDMONTON
AHL: SPRINGFIELD
ECHL: STOCKTON

FLORIDA
AHL: ROCHESTER
ECHL: FLORIDA

LOS ANGELES
AHL: MANCHESTER
ECHL: READING/ONTARIO

MINNESOTA
AHL: HOUSTON
ECHL: MISSISSIPPI

MONTREAL
AHL: HAMILTON
ECHL: CINCINNATI

NASHVILLE
AHL: MILWAUKEE
ECHL: CINCINNATI

NEW JERSEY
AHL: LOWELL
ECHL: TRENTON

NY ISLANDERS
AHL: BRIDGEPORT
ECHL: UTAH

NY RANGERS
AHL: HARTFORD
ECHL: CHARLOTTE

OTTAWA
AHL: BINGHAMTON
ECHL: ELMIRA

PHOENIX
AHL: SAN ANTONIO
CHL: ARIZONA

PHILADELPHIA
AHL: PHILADELPHIA
ECHL: MISSISSIPPI

PITTSBURGH
AHL: WILKES-BARRE/SCRANTON
ECHL: WHEELING

SAN JOSE
AHL: WORCESTER
ECHL: PHOENIX

ST LOUIS
AHL: PEORIA
ECHL: ALASKA

TAMPA BAY
AHL: NORFOLK
ECHL: AUGUSTA
CHL: MISSISSIPPI

TORONTO
AHL: TORONTO
ECHL: READING

VANCOUVER
AHL: MANITOBA
ECHL: VICTORIA

WASHINGTON
AHL: HERSHEY
ECHL: SOUTH CAROLINA

Contact the author at BJennings@insidehockey.com