The American Hockey League (AHL) is a 29-team professional ice hockey league based primarily in the United States that serves as the primary developmental circuit for the National Hockey League (NHL).
The 30 NHL teams have primary affiliation agreements with one of the AHL's active member clubs of which 25 are located in the United States and the remaining four are in Canada.
Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Hockey_League
The above answer is correct but incomplete. Most NHL teams also have an ECHL affiliate in addition to the AHL (some have CHL affiliates). With the advent of the salary cap the nhlfarmteams have become even more relevant than before. Simply put NHL teams can no longer spend infinite money to create a winning franchise. Now it is more important to have a farm "system".
While the AHL is predominant venue for the NHL "feeder" league. The ECHL has placed over 400 players in the NHL including Vezina trophy winner like Tim Thomas of Boston! Hockey fans need to watch this league.
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the whole d-leggue (nba-development league) is a farm league owned by the nba. some nba-francises have their own farm others share one:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NBA_Development_League#Teams