It was a rough off-season for the Maine Mariners after they were knocked out in the opening round of the Kelly Cup Playoffs for the third straight season. During the 2024 off-season, a record number of ECHLers took the overseas route for the next season, including five players from the Mariners: Fedor Gordeev, Chase Zieky, Andrew Peski, Gabriel Chicoine, and Kyle Keyser. Maine also lost Alex Kile and Connor Doherty, who both signed with the Florida Everblades for next season. Tyler Drevitch, who played in 70 games with Maine last season, has also left the Mariners as he got traded to the Atlanta Gladiators. The players weren’t the only losses for Maine as Johnny McInnis stepped down from his role as assistant coach. He would be replaced by Zach Tolkinen, and Cam Briere was promoted from video coach to Director of Hockey Operations. The Mariners would also name Brad Staubitz as the Director of Hockey Development. With all these losses this off-season, let’s take at the three most significant losses that will certainly be felt by the Mariners next season.
The Three Biggest Losses For the Mariners During the 2024 Off-Season
Alex Kile—There’s no doubt that the Mariners’ loss of Alex Kile was the most significant loss. He’s spent five of his eight ECHL seasons in Portland and has scored 90 goals and 119 assists for 209 points in 193 games. The 30-year-old forward is coming off a career year where he would put up 37 goals and 46 assists for 83 points in 67 games. Kile currently holds the franchise record in most categories, including games played (193), goals (90), assists (119), and games played (193), as most of the records will likely stay put for the foreseeable future. In the ECHL, it’s always difficult for teams to keep their leading scorers from the previous seasons as a lot of them head over to Europe to play for more money, but in the case of Kile, the Mariners would lose him to another ECHL team which has to sting even more. It’s highly unlikely that the Mariners will be able to find someone who’s going to light up the scoreboard the way Kile has, but they did add Patrick Guay from Savannah, who has put up over a point per game in his first two seasons as he has 27 goals and 54 assists for 81 points in 74 games.
Gabriel Chicoine- There’s no question that the Mariner’s blueline is going to look very different next season, as they lost both Connor Doherty and Gabriel Chicoine. Still, Chicoine is the bigger loss for the Mariners. In two-plus seasons with the Mariners, the Canadian defenseman put up 21 goals and 76 assists for 97 points in 139 games with Maine, including leading all Maine defensemen in points the last two seasons and finishing second on the team in points last season only behind Alex Kile. He was also a massive part of the PP for the Mariners, with 27 of his 61 points coming with the man advantage last season as Maine finished 12th in the league in the category (20.4%). Chicoine would also be named the Mariners representative last season at the 2024 ECHL All-Star Classic in Savannah.
Connor Doherty- The Maine Mariners will need a new captain next season as Connor Doherty signed a deal with the Everblades for next season. Doherty, 31, has spent the past three years in Maine as the team’s captain as he’s put up seven goals and 39 assists for 46 points, along with 349 minutes in penalties in 162 games with the Mariners. The Holden, Massachusetts native is coming off an injury-shortened season where he played in just 36 games last season, putting up one goal and seven assists for eight points along with 113 PIMS. There’s no question that the Mariners are going to miss their former captain next season, but Maine had plenty of guys who weren’t afraid to be physical as they finished fourth in the ECHL in PIMs (1,154) as Cameron Askew and Tyler Drevitch each had 100+ Pims last season, Drevitch has since been traded to the Gladiators, and Askew announced his retirement. Despite losing two of their top three leaders in PIMs, the Mariners shouldn’t have a problem finding players who aren’t going to be afraid to throw around their body or drop the gloves when needed, especially seeing that four of the top ten teams in penalty minutes last season came from the North Division.
Chicoine is Canadian not Russian.