The original Mallards franchise played in the Quad Cities from the 1995–96 season through the 2006–07 season. Their first two seasons were played in the Colonial Hockey League, which was renamed the United Hockey League in 1997. The Mallards were an overwhelming success in their first few years, with attendance figures that regularly topped 6,000 per game. Attendance peaked in the 1997–98 season at over 8,500 fans per game, and while it declined, average attendance remained over 6,000 fans per game through the 2001–02 season. It continued to drop until it reached a low of 3,120 fans per game in the Mallards' final UHL season in 2006–07. In 2009, a new ownership group, headed by Eric Karls, brought hockey back after two seasons and named the new team in honor of the former team. On May 11, 2011, the Mallards originally ceased operations due to a lack of funding, but almost a month later, Club 9 Sports, a consortium between Chicago-based investment bank Prometheus Capital Partners, LLC, management and consulting firm Tobacco Road Capitalists and sports management and marketing firm ScheerSports, Inc. bought the team from former owner Eric Karls and announced the team would return for the 2011-12 Central Hockey League season. The franchise, as well as the entire CHL, ran into financial difficulties during the 2012–13 season. The entire league was then operated by the T&M Group of Companies, the company that owns Boston Pizza. The Mallards' ownership group, T&M Management Services, was headed by Jordan Melville, son of Boston Pizza founder George Melville. At the end of the season, Melville's organization obtained the Mallards' franchise in June 2013. On August 27, 2013, a new affiliation agreement was announced between the National Hockey LeagueMinnesota Wild, its American Hockey League affiliate Iowa Wild, and the Mallards. On October 7, 2014, soon before the 2014–15 Central Hockey League season was set to begin, it was announced that the Central Hockey League ceased operations and the Mallards, along with the Allen Americans, Brampton Beast, Missouri Mavericks, Rapid City Rush, Tulsa Oilers and Wichita Thunder, were all approved the expansion membership application into the ECHL for the 2014–15 season. In 2017, the Mallards signed a multi-year affiliation with the NHL expansion team, the Vegas Golden Knights, and their AHL affiliate, the Chicago Wolves, for the 2017–18 season ending their four-year affiliation with the Wild. However, the Mallards would only play one season with the Golden Knights' affiliation as the team would cease operations. Owner Jordan Melville stated he was folding the team due to losing the passion for operating the team and losing about US$4 million since he became the sole owner in 2013. A new ownership group obtained a team in the Southern Professional Hockey League called the Quad City Storm to replace the Mallards at the TaxSlayer Center for the 2018–19 season.
