Excitement is in the air as the ECHL returns to action for the 2024-25 regular season next month. The Wheeling Nailers open their season on the road when they take on the Maine Mariners Oct. 18 and 19 at Cross Insurance Arena. This will mark Wheeling’s 32nd season in the ECHL. Off the back of making the 2024 Kelly Cup Playoffs, the Nailers will be looking to build off that and get back into the postseason.
New Conference and Division
The Nailers will be joining a new division this season. In past seasons, they were in the Central division of the Western Conference. Now, they will have new opponents to face as they have officially been moved to the North division with the Adirondack Thunder, Trois-Rivieres Lions, Norfolk Admirals, Reading Royals, Worcester Railers, and the Mariners. A couple factors played into this. The first being that the Newfoundland Growlers folded towards the end of last season. This left the North division with only six teams. The second factor was the expansion of the ECHL to Bloomington, Illinois with the Bison being one of the two newest teams, and being placed in the Central division.
Players to Watch
Jordan Martel – Martel was an exciting player for Wheeling last season when they acquired him from the Utah Grizzlies. He led the team in points (58) and goals (35). Martel was an absolute threat all around the ice last season. His 5-on-5 play was just as good as it was on the power play. If he sees action in every game this season with Wheeling, he can easily hit the 60, maybe 70 point mark with the team they have.
Matthew Quercia – Quercia will enter his fourth season with the Nailers, but has only seen action in three seasons as he did not play a single game during the 2022-23 season. He was a big factor on special teams as he scored three shorthanded goals, which was tied for third on the team, and collected six points (1g-5a) on the powerplay. During the Nailers’ 12-game win streak that stretched from Jan. 19th to Feb. 10th, Quercia recorded a six-game point streak, notching two goals and seven assists for nine points from Jan. 27th to Feb. 6th against the Cincinnati Cyclones, Orlando Solar Bears and Reading Royals. He is coming off a career high 33-point season, and showed a ton of signs that he is ready to up his game even more, and I believe he will do so.
Jaxon Castor – Castor was a huge story for the Nailers last season with the absence of Taylor Gauthier to the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins. In just his second season in the ECHL, the 27-year-old played 16 games, holding a 10-4-1-0 record. Through those 16 games, he held a 2.71 goals against average (GAA) and a .899 save percentage (SV%). He played a key part in the Nailers making the 2024 Kelly Cup playoffs as he drew between the pipes for six of the final 11 games down the stretch of the season. Finally finding a permanent home, expectations for Castor are going to be high, especially after what he showcased at the end of the season and into the Kelly Cup playoffs.
Expectations
The expectations for the Nailers this season will be the same as last; get into the playoffs and make a run at capturing the Kelly Cup. They have the team to do is as they are bringing back a good number of players from last seasons’ team, along with some new, young faces. The only thing that can stop them from achieving that is the new division they are in. The race for the final two spots in the North last season was tight as there was a four-point gap between third and sixth. If they can get those all-important in-division points, the Nailers should see themselves easily get into the postseason.
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