Team changes

• The Manchester Monarchs ceased operations after four seasons in the league following the 2015 AHL/ECHL franchise swap that was part of the creation of the AHL's Pacific Division.^[4] The Monarchs' owners had put the team up for sale during their final season, but failed to find new owners and the franchise was terminated by the league.^[5]

Affiliation changes

Annual Board of Governors meeting

The annual ECHL Board of Governors meeting was held at the New York-New York Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas from June 17 to 21, 2019.^[7] The Board approved of a rule change extending overtime from five minutes to seven minutes in the same three-on-three sudden death format used since the 2015–16 season. In addition, the Board approved a rule change for the 2020 Kelly Cup Playoffs regarding players on NHL or AHL contracts. Should such player have played 260 or more regular season games, they must have played a minimum of five games in the AHL that season in order to be eligible for the ECHL Kelly Cup Playoffs. The rule does not apply for players on ECHL contracts.^[8]

The league also added the AHL's fighting major counter rule, where a player is suspended one game for the 10th to 13th fighting major, and two games for the 14th and subsequent fighting majors (excluding when the opposing fighter is charged with an instigator penalty).

All-star game

The 2020 ECHL All-Star Game was held on January 22, 2020, at the Intrust Bank Arena in Wichita, Kansas.^[9] The All-Star Classic retained the four team, 3-on-3 player tournament style used the previous season, including two teams made from the Wichita Thunder (named Team Bolts and Team Hammers) and one team for each conference's All-Star players.^[10] In addition to the ECHL All-Star players, each team also had a player from the Professional Women's Hockey Players Association with Dani Cameranesi, Kali Flanagan, Gigi Marvin, and Annie Pankowski taking part in the festivities.^[11]

In the round-robin, the Team Bolts went 2–0–1, Team Hammers went 1–1–1, and both conferences went 1–2–0. The skills competition took place in between rounds of the tournament. The Tulsa Oilers' J.J. Piccinich won the fastest skater event, the Idaho Steelheads' Brady Norrish won the hardest shot event, and the Atlanta Gladiators' Tommy Marchin won the accuracy shooting event.^[12] The results of the skills competition re-seeded the teams for the semifinal round where the Eastern Conference tied Team Bolts 4–4 and the Western Conference defeated the Team Hammers 4–1. The Eastern Conference All-Star team then defeated the Western Conference 4–2. The Florida Everblades' Logan Roe was named the tournament's Most Valuable Player.^[12]

All-ECHL teams

First Team^[22]

• Tomas Sholl (G) – Idaho Steelheads
• Alex Breton (D) – Allen Americans
• Logan Roe (D) – Florida Everblades
• Josh Kestner (F) – Toledo Walleye
• Tyler Sheehy (F) – Allen Americans
• David Vallorini (F) – Brampton Beast

Second Team^[22]

• Parker Milner (G) – South Carolina Stingrays
• Eric Knodel (D) – Reading Royals
• Miles Liberati (D) – Tulsa Oilers
• Brady Ferguson (F) – Newfoundland Growlers
• Tim McGauley (F) – Utah Grizzlies
• Jesse Schultz (F) – Cincinnati Cylones

Rookie Team^[23]

• Billy Christopoulos (G) – Toledo Walleye
• Justin Baudry (D) – Cincinnati Cyclones
• Joseph Duszak (D) – Newfoundland Growlers
• Samuel Asselin (F) – Atlanta Gladiators
• Justin Brazeau (F) – Newfoundland Growlers
• Tyler Sheehy (F) – Allen Americans