Increases in efficiency of storage device operation may be realized if the limited number of available high-priority communication channels are better optimized and assigned among hosts that may best utilize them. This assignment can occur in response to an evaluation of the overall zone usage or by received metadata and/or indicia from the host. The storage device may periodically, or in response to a command, reevaluate the assigned priority status of each communication channel and associated host/zone pair. For example, the storage device may demote or remove a communication channel from high-priority to low-priority. This process can be continued during a preconfigured time window which can be adjusted before, during, or after priority evaluation. The continuous operation of this process can allow for adjustments being made to priority levels within the storage device that may further increase total operational efficiency.