The Florida Everblades are a minor league ice hockey team based in Estero, Florida; near Fort Myers. They play in the ECHL and are affiliated with the Nashville Predators of the National Hockey League (NHL) and the Milwaukee Admirals of the American Hockey League (AHL) as of the 2019–20 season. Their home games are played at Hertz Arena.

The Everblades were founded in 1998. They play in the South Division of the Eastern Conference in the ECHL. They have only missed the playoffs once in team history (2013–14), and have made four appearances in the Kelly Cup finals, winning in 2012.^[1]

The team was founded in 1998 by Craig Brush, Peter Karmanos Jr., and Thomas Thewes and was named based on the Florida Everglades. The Everblades' logo features a gator-head design fused in the form of an ice skate. Barnstorm Creative Group, a Vancouver graphic design company, designed the logo. Barnstorm was contacted by Carolina Hurricanes owner Peter Karmanos Jr., who came up with the idea of choosing the Everblades' colors as blue and green, in tribute to the Hartford Whalers team that Karmanos moved to Raleigh, North Carolina. The Everblades' inaugural home opener featured a pre-game ceremony in which a large alligator was brought onto the ice to pay tribute to the team's name and logo, as well as Florida's vast population of reptile species. The Everblades won their first Kelly Cup on May 23, 2012, against the Las Vegas Wranglers.^[2] Brandon MacLean scored the championship-winning-goal in overtime during game five.^[3] Everblades goaltender, John Muse, was named the most valuable player of the 2012 Kelly Cup playoffs.^[4]

In game five of the 2004 American Conference finals, the Everblades faced the Reading Royals in the final game of an epic series. Florida won the first two games at home, but Reading evened the series at home, the next two of the best-of-five series. In game five, the score was tied at the end of regulation, 2–2, so the game was sent to overtime. John McNabb of the Everblades scored on a breakaway to defeat the Royals in front of a record crowd of 7,080 fans at Hertz Arena.

One famous event that stands out among Blades' fans was during the 2005 ECHL playoffs. With the Everblades hosting the Greenville Grrrowl on April 22, 2005, for the first game of the American Conference semifinals, the teams engaged in a third-period line brawl that would see both teams combine for 197 minutes in penalties.

The brawl stemmed from previous incidents throughout the game. Prior to the brawl, Everblades forward Greg Hornby checked Greenville's Vladimir Gusev hard into the boards behind the net, causing Gusev to leave the game injured. As a result, the pace of the game, as well as checking, would pick up.

With the Blades up 4-1 with under six minutes to play in the third period, Greenville pest Krys Barch screened the net during a Greenville shooting attempt. Everblades defenceman Tim O'Connell checked Barch from behind numerous times, hoping to clear him from in front of the net. Barch, having been fed up with being pressured, turned around, attempting to sucker-punch O'Connell. Instead, O'Connell quickly skated away from the crease before Barch turned around. Barch ended up punching Everblades goalie Tyler MacKay. O'Connell then jumped on top of Barch, and all the players on the ice dropped the gloves for a wild line brawl that saw Florida goalie MacKay and others getting ejected for fighting.

After the mayhem, Craig Kowalski took MacKay's place as netminder. Shortly thereafter, the Everblades' Simon Tremblay fought Greenville's Adam Nightingale as the last fight of the evening. The Everblades went on to win the game, 4-1, and eventually to sweep the series, three games to none. Barch was assessed a one-game suspension for his role in the brawl.^[5]

Game two featured no fights and the Everblades won in overtime, 3-2.

Florida won the 2012 Kelly Cup playoffs with a 3-2 overtime victory at home in front of a standing-room-only crowd of 7,290.^[6] The first period saw Las Vegas Wranglers goalie Joe Fallon beaten by Justin Shugg and Mike Ratchuk, but Las Vegas edged back to even the score by the third, with Ash Goldie and Peter MacArthur beating John Muse to force the overtime.^[7] At 4:54 into the overtime, after Ryan Donald passed to Matt Beca, who in turn sent the puck to Brandon MacLean, who beat Fallon and secured the victory.^[8]

The win earned Florida the Kelly Cup, and secured a perfect home record of 11-0 in the postseason (two victories over Greenville and three each over Elmira, Kalamazoo, and Las Vegas). Additionally, John Muse earned the Kelly Cup finals MVP award.

In April 2013, owner Peter Karmanos, Jr. announced he would be selling the team along with Germain Arena to "simplify things" in his life, as he had just retired from the company he founded, Compuware.^[9] The team was made for sale and was being shopped by Park Lane, a sports investment-banking firm that specializes in the sale of sports teams.^[10] Since that time, no formal announcements have taken place on the progression of the sale. In 2018, Karmanos gave up majority control of the Hurricanes to new majority owner Thomas Dundon. After the 2018–19 season, the Everblades dropped the Hurricanes affiliation for the first time and partnered with the Nashville Predators.^[11] It was then announced on August 5, 2019, that Karmanos had sold both the team and arena to David Hoffmann, a Naples, Florida, resident and real estate investor.^[12]

Through the Everblades' history, they have had four anniversary logos: the fifth anniversary logo in 2002–03, the 10th anniversary logo in 2007–08, the 15th anniversary logo in 2012–13, and the 20th anniversary logo in the 2017–18 season.

Berg and Buckley's numbers were retired during a pre-game ceremony on October 19, 2007, as the Everblades hosted the Mississippi Sea Wolves, in what would be the Sea Wolves' first official regular season game after being placed on a two-year hiatus due to the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. Banners made with their jersey numbers were hung to the rafters of Germain Arena.

Hartlieb's number was retired in a ceremony before a game against the Orlando Solar Bears on October 19, 2012. Hartlieb was presented with an ECHL Championship ring (he filled in on with the team in the 2011-12 regular season, but did not appear in the playoffs), and hoisted the Kelly Cup. A banner made with his number was hung to the rafters of Germain Arena next to Berg and Buckley's.^[29]

There are 31 Florida Everblades' alumni that have advanced to play in the NHL after playing for the team:

Florida Everblades that played in the NHL before playing with the team:

Individual records

Individual streaks

In December 2012, the ECHL announced that former Everblades' goalie Marc Magliarditi would be inducted into the ECHL's Hall of Fame on January 23, 2013.^[32] Magliarditi played for the Everblades from 1998 through 2001.^[33]

In December 2015, the ECHL announced that Everblades' President and General Manager Craig Brush would be inducted into the ECHL Hall of Fame on February 5, 2016. Brush has served as the team’s President and General Manager since the team's inception in 1998 and he oversees all aspects of both the hockey club and the sports complex. Brush also served as the Chairman of the ECHL Board of Governors for three seasons from 2003 through 2006.

The Everblades have won the E.A. Gingher Memorial Trophy four times, in 2004, 2005, 2012, and 2018. In 2004, the trophy was given to the champion of the Eastern Conference; the Everblades beat the Reading Royals 3–2 to win the conference but lost the Kelly Cup to the Idaho Steelheads. In 2005, the Gingher trophy was given to the American Conference champion. The Everblades beat the Charlotte Checkers 4–2 to win the conference before losing to the Trenton Titans in the Cup finals. In 2012, the Everblades won the Gingher Memorial Trophy by defeating the Kalamazoo Wings 4–1 in the Eastern Conference finals and went on to win the Kelly Cup over the Las Vegas Wranglers. In 2018, the Everblades went 12–2 through three rounds of conference playoffs and won the Gingher Memorial Trophy before losing the Kelly Cup in seven games to the Colorado Eagles.

In the 1999–00, 2008–09, and 2017–18 seasons, the Everblades won the Brabham Cup, a trophy given to the team that has the most points in the entire league. The Everblades took the trophy with 108 points in 1999–2000, 103 points in 2008–09, and 112 points in 2017–18.^[34]

The Florida Everblades won the Kelly Cup in 2012 four-games-to-one over the Las Vegas Wranglers.^[35]