Greenville, S.C. — It’s that time of the year again as the ECHL rolls out its offseason break for all teams after the conclusion of the Kelly Cup Finals. Today, June 10, all 27 teams (currently operated teams for the 2023-24 season) released their list of protected players for next season, which includes goalies, d-men, and forwards. The list holds power for who enters contested free agency and who doesn’t, essentially being an RFA (Restricted Free Agency) like in the NHL. However, the teams in the ECHL can pretty much protect any player that played the season before or had played prior to the upcoming season.
Players who played overseas last season*
GOALTENDERS (1): Luke Richardson
DEFENSEMEN (14): Logan Britt, JD Greenway, Joe Leahy, Jake Flynn, Mark Louis, Sam Jardine, Bobby Russell, Max Coyle, Jacob Modry, Ethan Cap, and Joshua Karlsson (1GP).
*Miles Gendron, Evan Wardley, Bryce Reddick*
FORWARDS (14): Tanner Eberle, Anthony Beauchamp, Nick Prkusic, Carter Souch, Ethan Somoza, Zach Tupker (3GP), Josh McKechney, Colton Young, Brannon McManus, Ben Freeman, Brett Kemp, Austin Saint (8GP), and Quinn Olson.
*Dallas Gerads*
Important notes: goalies Ryan Bednard and Jacob Ingham are not on the list, so their playing occupation is unknown. But judging by the 2023-24 performance, Ingham is likely to resign with the LA Kings. Bednard did not perform poorly, as his stats would say (20W and 2.91GAA), but he also didn’t perform great toward the end of the regular season. Nick Prkusic is on the list despite signing an EIHL contract for next season. But Max Martin is not on here, as he’s going to play in Sweden for the Mora IK. Nikita Pavlychev is also not present, as he played for the Ontario Reign during the 2024 Calder Cup Playoffs and only played 32 games for the Rabbits during the 2023-24 season.
