BINGHAMTON (WSKG) - Professional hockey in Binghamton will have a new look next year.
“The New Jersey Devils will be bringing their American Hockey League development team to Binghamton and the Floyd L. Veterans Maines Veterans Memorial Arena will be their home," said part-owner Tom Mitchell.
New Jersey replaces Ottawa as the team’s NHL affiliate.
Last year, Ottawa announced it would move its American Hockey League affiliate to Belleville, Ontario. At the time, Mitchell said the AHL guaranteed Binghamton would get a replacement team.
The Binghamton Devils start play this fall. The agreement with New Jersey is for five years and coincides with an extension to play hockey at the Veterans Memorial Arena for the same amount of time.
Last week, the Albany Times-Union reported the Albany Devils would relocate to the Southern Tier.
That report turned out to be true, but not all the details. The team will not have to pay New Jersey two-million dollars as part of the move.
"That was totally erroneous," Mitchell said. "We wouldn't be here if they were doing that."
Mitchell wouldn’t say what kind of financial agreement was made between the two groups. The team will remain the Binghamton Senators until the end of this season.