2021-22 ECHL season

The 2021–22 ECHL season is the 34th season of the ECHL. The regular season is scheduled to run from October 21, 2021, to April 17, 2022, with the Kelly Cup playoffs to follow. Twenty-seven teams in 20 states and two Canadian provinces each play a 72-game schedule.

League changes
Following the delayed and COVID-19 pandemic affected season that led to 12 teams going on hiatus before starting the season, the league plans to return its typical season start date in October with 27 teams participating. The league will also return to a two-conference, four-division alignment.

Team changes

 * Eleven of the twelve teams that opted out of participating in the previous season returned: the Adirondack Thunder, Atlanta Gladiators, Cincinnati Cyclones, Idaho Steelheads, Kalamazoo Wings, Maine Mariners, Newfoundland Growlers, Norfolk Admirals, Reading Royals, Toledo Walleye, and Worcester Railers.
 * The Brampton Beast announced the team had suspended operations entirely on February 18, 2021, after originally opting out of the season.
 * The league added two expansion teams: the Iowa Heartlanders in Coralville, Iowa, and the Trois-Rivières Lions in Trois-Rivières, Quebec.
 * On October 28, 2021 the Savannah ECHL team was announced as being named the Savannah Ghost Pirates.

Newfoundland Growlers become homeless
On October 27, 2021 just nine days before the Newfoundland Growlers were to play their home opener, the City of St. John’s announced an investigation centred on allegations of “disrespectful workplace conduct” brought by staff of St. John’s Sports and Entertainment (SJSE), which runs Mary Brown’s Centre, against employees of the Growlers. The team was originally planning on playing out of the Coca-Cola Coliseum in Toronto which is home to the Toronto Marlies the American Hockey League affiliate of the Growlers. The team would move its practices to the Glacier Arena in Mount Pearl, NL. The team was forced practice in borrowed jerseys from the Pinnacle Growlers U18 AAA team as an agreement to access the teams equipment in the Mary Brown's Centre had not be finalized. On October 30th the team would announce that the team's first six home games would instead be played at the Conception Bay South Arena in Conception Bay South, Newfoundland and Labrador.

Alignment and affiliations as of October 1, 2021. Not all affiliations for the 2021–22 season have been announced or extended.
 * Notes


 * 1) An asterisk (*) denotes a franchise move. See the respective team articles for more information.

All-star game
During the 2019–20 season, the league had awarded the Jacksonville Icemen the 2021 All-Star Game, but the Jacksonville-hosted event was deferred to 2022.

Standings
To be added upon completion of the regular season



Playoffs format
At the end of the regular season the top four teams in each division qualifies for the 2022 Kelly Cup playoffs and be seeded one through four based on highest point total earned in the season. Then the first two rounds of the playoffs are held within the division with the first seed facing the fourth seed and the second seed facing the third. The division champions then play each other in a conference championship. The Kelly Cup finals pits the Eastern Conference champion against the Western Conference champion. All four rounds are a best-of-seven format. -->