GLENS FALLS — The ECHL is a step down from the American Hockey League, that’s for sure, but Dustin Stevenson doesn’t think the difference is “anything crazy.”  The 25-year-old defenseman played four years in the lower league before landing with the Adirondack Flames this season.

“Up here, you have four lines of players one step away from the NHL, so they’re all good,” he said. “The ECHL is good hockey too. I know there’s a lot of good hockey players down there and there are a lot of guys just getting the chance to play at this level.”

Stevenson pointed out there are drafted players in the ECHL. John Ramage, for example, was a fourth-round pick in 2010 and won a Kelly Cup (ECHL championship) with Alaska last year.

Ramage suggested the biggest difference between the two leagues is the team structure. “It’s a little bit more ‘run and gun,’ which makes for some higher-scoring games at times,” he said.

AHL teams have no roster limit — the Flames have 25 players. ECHL teams carry 20 players and can have two players on active reserve and an unlimited number on the 21-day injured reserve. Only 18 players, including goalies, dress for each game and two have to be goalies (the AHL is 20). That only leaves 16 skaters: three lines and three defensive pairings.

Turner Elson, also on last year’s Kelly Cup-winning team, sees pros and cons to the ‘run and gun’ style. On one hand, it means a lot of ice time for players who are still developing. On the other hand, players can get run down and the third period can get sloppier.  He called the AHL the most defensive league in hockey, whereas there is a lot of scoring in the ECHL.

“It’s still guys battling to get to the next step,” he said. “ECHL is going to the AHL and AHL is going to the NHL.”

The Flames have put together strong ECHL teams the past two years. Alaska won the Kelly Cup as Calgary’s affiliate last season and Colorado is second in the Western Conference this season.

Next year’s Adirondack team will be playing a different group, though. The ECHL announced its divisional alignment and Adirondack’s placement makes more sense than the current team’s. The new team will be in the East Division of the Eastern Conference along with Elmira, Manchester, Norfolk and Reading (Pa.).

The rest of the conference will be the North Division of Brampton (Ontario), Kalamazoo (Mich.), Toledo (Ohio) and Wheeling (W.V.) and the South Division of Florida, Greenville (S.C.), Gwinnett (Duluth, Ga.), Orlando and South Carolina.

The Western Conference will be the Midwest Division (Cincinnati, Evansville (Ill.), Fort Wayne (Ohio), Indy (Indianapolis) and Quad City (Moline, Ill.)), Central Division (Allen (Texas), Missouri, Tulsa and Wichita) and West Division (Alaska, Colorado, Idaho, Rapid City (S.D.) and Utah).

The top team from each division will be seeded one through three in each conference and the remaining five playoff spots will go to the teams with the most points.