ECHL: Adirondack Thunder Roster Begins to Dwindle Down

The Adirondack Thunder protected 26 players on June 8th when the ECHL protected lists were due, and with only 20 allowed on the season-ending rosters, which are due on Thursday at 3 pm EST, the Thunder are now down to 23 players (11F, 9D, 3G), needing to cut three more before Thursday afternoon. Kyle Hallbauer is the only Adirondack Thunder, as of the time of the article, to take the overseas route, as he’s headed over to Denmark next season. Hallbauer had one goal and two assists for three points in 17 games. However, his one goal was the 1500th goal in Adirondack Thunder history. The New Jersey Native spent his collegiate career at nearby RPI, where he had 36 points in 137 games, and spent his senior year as the Captain of the Engineers.

On Tuesday, the Adirondack Thunder had two future consideration trades to complete, one with the Idaho Steelheads, which brought Matt Steif to the Thunder, and one with the Tulsa Oilers that was originally made last July in which the Thunder got Ryan DaSilva for future considerations. Adirondack was Da Silva’s first of three ECHL teams he would make an appearance with last season as he played in 40 games for the Thunder, putting up five goals and 13 assists for 18 points before being traded to the Wheeling Nailers for the ECHL rights to Nick Hutchison. Adirondack completed that trade with Tulsa by trading away Wayne Letourneau, who Tulsa then flipped to the Rapid City Rush. Letourneau had three goals and 18 assists for 21 points in 55 games; he put up a goal and an assist in four Kelly Cup Playoffs games. In the trade with Idaho, Adirondack gave up Matt Jennings. The Georgia native joined the Thunder after finishing two years at the University of St. Thomas after he spent his first three collegiate years at Ohio State. Jennings quickly made an impact with the Thunder putting up three points in his first five games; he finished the year with six points in 18 games, and he would add two goals in five Kelly Cup Playoff games.