It wasn't much of a secret, and now it's official: the Colorado Eagles will serve as the Avalanche's American Hockey League affiliate beginning with the 2018-19 season.
The Eagles, the defending ECHL champions, will replace the San Antonio Rampage, who will remain the Avalanche's AHL affiliate for the remainder of this season and work solely with the St. Louis Blues starting next year.
The AHL Board of Governors formally approved league expansion in July, but the official announcement came Tuesday at the Eagles home, the Budweiser Events Center in Loveland, Colo., about an hour's drive north of Denver.
Founded by former NHL player Ralph Backstrom, the Eagles began play in 2003 and won Central Hockey League championships in 2004-05 and 2006-07.
They moved to the ECHL in 2011 and have qualified for the playoffs in each of their six seasons.
The Eagles are in their second season as a second tier affiliate of the Avalanche. They previously served in the same capacity with the Winnipeg Jets (2012-13) and Calgary Flames (2014-15).
"We are thrilled to begin this partnership with the Eagles franchise," Avalanche general manager Joe Sakic said. "We are excited that Avalanche fans can now see our top prospects competing and developing in an outstanding environment just up the road.
"We would like to thank the San Antonio Rampage and San Antonio Spurs for all their help and support over the last few years. We look forward to working together this upcoming season."
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It sounds like Matt Duchene is enjoying himself so far, judging from his comments to NHL.com.
"We've got a lot of young guys, a lot of guys that are experiencing a lot of this for the first time and it's fun to be an older guy that's done this for nine years now, watching the excitement," Duchene said.
"It brings you back and it puts you in that place that you were at when you were that young. It's fun. It's fun to see those guys enjoying themselves and having these first-time experiences. It definitely makes you appreciate playing the game even more."
Duchene and his linemates, Nail Yakupov and rookie Alexander Kerfoot, are off to strong starts for the Avalanche, who went 2-1-0 on their season-opening road trip. They play Boston at the Pepsi Center on Wednesday.
Duchene has three points (one goal, two assists), six shots and a plus-3 rating in the Avalanche's first three games, while Yakupov has 2-1-3, nine shots, plus-3, and Kerfoot one assist, two shots, plus-2.
"I'm just trying to enjoy playing hockey," Duchene said. "Every day I come to the rink and try and be the best I can be. I'm really pleased with where my game's at right now. Our line's been dangerous every night. My wingers are playing really well and we could even have a few more (points) than we do right now."