For more than eight years, the San Jose Sharks have been shuttling young players to and from Worcester, Massachusetts, for depth on their NHL roster or development at the AHL level.

Soon the Sharks will be able to shed the cross-country flights from their budget and make those moves within their own building.

The NHL’s feeder league will undergo a sizable westward shift, designed to bring five farm teams closer to their parent clubs in a long-anticipated change finalized Thursday by the American Hockey League. The 30-team AHL will create a Pacific Division next season, the product of nearly three years of discussions with the NHL.

“This will make the franchise even more competitive on the ice,” Sharks chief operating officer John Tortora said at a news conference at the SAP Center, which also will be home for their yet-to-be-named AHL affiliate. The team won’t be called the Sharks, for obvious reasons, as it was in Worcester.

The Toronto Maple Leafs already have a same-city AHL affiliate, the Marlies, but they play in a different arena.

All of the new sites will be in California, home to three of the NHL’s 30 teams. Here are the other farm club shifts: Anaheim Ducks, Norfolk, Virginia, to San Diego; Calgary Flames, Glens Falls, New York to Stockton; Edmonton Oilers, Oklahoma City to Bakersfield; Los Angeles Kings, Manchester, New Hampshire to Ontario.

The Sharks, Flames, Oilers and Kings already owned their AHL franchises. The Ducks will purchase the Norfolk Admirals before the relocation.

Oilers president of hockey operations Kevin Lowe estimated that the relocation will lead to an extra 25 to 30 days of practice for the Bakersfield team, with four division foes now within driving distance.

The realignment won’t eliminate every team’s logistical challenge. The Arizona Coyotes are affiliated with the Portland Pirates and the Vancouver Canucks have their affiliate in Utica, New York.