The Battalion relocated to North Bay, Ontario, in the 2013 off-season after several years of low attendance and financial struggles.

[6] DeSantis named former Brampton Battalion player and former teammate, Brent Hughes, as Beast assistant coach.

In June 2013, the Beast announced its first player signed was Brett Smith, the former assistant captain of the Fort Wayne Komets and member of the CHL Championship team in 2011.

On August 30, 2013, the Beast added two forwards, former New York Islander Rob Collins and defending SPHL League MVP Josh McQuade.

The 2013–14 schedule was released on July 26, 2013 and featured the Beast playing the first CHL game on Canadian soil against the Arizona Sundogs on October 18, 2013.

Key signings included former Toronto Maple Leaf, Phil Oreskovic, former ECHL MVP and OHL scoring leader Tyler Donati, 2013 Beast scoring leader Jason Pitton, perennial point a game player Chad Painchaud, former Battalion players Stephon Thorne and Jason Dale, former Kalamazoo Wings captain Elgin Reid, Florida Everblades goaltender Trevor Cann.

On October 7, 2014, not long before the 2014–15 season was set to begin, it was announced that the Central Hockey League had ceased operations.

Back with the team were captain Cal Wild (until he retired), the league's top rookie scoring defenceman Matthew Maione, and the return of the Beast first season's points per game leader, Scott Howes.

Montreal Canadiens provided several players to the Beast team in 2015 during the season, notably veteran standout AHL goalie Eddie Pasquale, and Travis Brown, as well as draft picks Tim Bozon, Dalton Thrower, Josiah Didier, and Stefan Fournier.

[16] On March 9, 2016, the city council agreed in an 8-2 vote to a three-year sponsorship agreement of $1.5 million to help mitigate the predicted financial losses.

[17] The 2016–17 season had the most returning players in Beast history, led by captain Brandon Marino, Jordan Henry, Luke Pither, Luc Blain, Chris Auger and Tim Billingsley.

They were joined by several top Montreal Canadiens draft picks, namely Zachary Fucale, Connor Crisp, and Dalton Thrower for much of the season.

[citation needed] The 2017–18 has a league high 17 returning players and is the oldest team in the ECHL with an average age exceeding 27.

In January 2021, the team announced a partnership with the National Women's Hockey League's Toronto Six with the expectation of holding joint camps, practices, fan events, and double headers together, with Beast general manager Cary Kaplan stating that "We feel that we have a lot in common, as many people have still not appreciated or experienced both the exceptional level of hockey in the ECHL, or the equally strong fan experience that the Beast provide.