Mississauga Steelheads expected to relocate to Brampton for 2024-25 OHL season

On Wednesday, the Mississauga Steelheads announced that the team is doing its due diligence to relocate the club to Brampton for the 2024-25 OHL season.

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This move marks a strategic decision aimed at enhancing our team’s growth and expanding our fan base,” a team statement said. “Brampton’s vibrant diverse community and its growing hockey fan base present a thrilling new chapter for the Steelheads, offering our players, staff, and fans a fresh and dynamic environment.

If the move goes through, it’ll be the first time the OHL has been back in Brampton since the Battalion relocated to North Bay in 2013. The 5,000-seat CAA Centre recently hosted the IIHF Women’s World Hockey Championship last spring, sparking rumors of a team moving there full-time after the ECHL’s Brampton Beast shut down operations in 2021.

The Paramount Fine Foods Centre in Mississauga and the CAA Centre in Brampton are 10 minutes apart by train.

Earlier this month, trademarks for the name “Brampton Steelheads” and a logo trademark were filed with the Canadian Intellectual Property Office. The only real change was the text “Mississauga” being replaced by “Brampton.”

The idea of relocation has been floated for years, with Mississauga struggling to bring in fan support. According to HockeyDB.com, the Steelheads have the lowest average attendance of any OHL team at 2,252 fans per game.

OHL hockey in Mississauga started with the IceDogs in 1998 before the team was relocated to Niagara in 2007. Former Ottawa Senators owner Eugene Melnyk then moved the Toronto St. Michael’s Majors to the team from 2007-12 before a new owner took over and rebranded the team to the Steelheads.

The club hasn’t won an OHL championship but did qualify for the 2017 championship series, falling 4-1 to Erie. The team has plenty of notable alumni, including Thomas Harley, Nicolas Hague, Owen Tippett, Nathan Bastian, Mason Marchment, Spencer Martin and Ryan McLeod, among others.

The Steelheads are third in the Central Division with a 23-18-4 record with 50 points – five behind the first-place Sudbury Wolves. The club has a handful of 2024 NHL Draft prospects, including Ryerson Leenders, Luke Misa, Jakub Fibigr Parker Von Richter and Jack Van Volsen, among others. Forward Angus MacDonnell is the loen NHL-drafted prospect, going 189th overall to the Dallas Stars in 2023.