Over the last couple days the folks that follow me on Twitter have seen me posting when a former Worcester AHL player appears on an ECHL’s team “Protected List”. Since I’ve gotten a few questions on what that means, and I’m up far too early for a Saturday morning, I thought a quick blog post might be in order.
Essentially, it means very little. It’s simply a list of players the team wants to retain player rights to for next season.
What that list really does is set up the next step, which is when ECHL teams have to announce their season ending rosters. While the protected list can contain any number of players the team wishes to add, their season ending roster is limited to 20 players. Only players included on the protected list can be on the season ending roster, and only players who signed ECHL contracts for the 2016-17 season can be included.
Players assigned to ECHL teams by AHL or NHL teams are not included in this process.
The rest is from the ECHL, with dates edited to reflect the current and upcoming season:
Each team is entitled to reserve rights to a maximum of eight players from the list of 20 by extending a qualifying offer no later than July 1. Of the eight qualified players, no more than four can be veterans (260 regular season professional hockey games played as of the start of the 2017-18 season).
Players on open qualifying offers cannot be traded. Teams are not required to extend a qualifying offer to players who sign a contract prior to July 1. The qualifying offer must remain open for acceptance until Aug. 1 at which time the qualifying offer becomes null and void and the team may sign the qualified player to any salary or may elect to take no further action. Teams that extend a valid qualifying offer to a non-veteran player shall retain the rights to that qualified player for one playing season.
A team that extends a valid qualifying offer to a veteran player, or to a goaltender who has played more than 180 regular-season games, will retain the rights to that player until Aug. 1. After Aug. 1, if the veteran player or goaltender is not signed to a contract by the team, the veteran or goaltender shall be deemed a restricted free agent and shall be entitled to seek and secure offers of employment from other ECHL teams.
Restricted free agents may not be traded. When a restricted free agent receives a contract offer from a team other than the team with the player’s rights and the restricted free agent wishes to accept the contract offer, the restricted free agent and the offering member must, within 24 hours, notify the ECHL, the team with the player’s rights and the Professional Hockey Players’ Association. The member with the player’s rights shall have seven days after the date it is notified to exercise its right to match the contract offer.
If a restricted free agent is not signed to either an offer sheet or a contract by an ECHL team by Aug. 31, the player shall be deemed an unrestricted free agent.
Below is the list of former Worcester AHLers in ECHL Protected Lists.
Adirondack: J.P. Anderson
Allen: Spencer Asuchak, Chad Costello, Riley Gill, Greger Hanson
Atlanta: Brock Higgs
Cincinnati: Andrew Blazek
Florida: Curt Gogol
Greenville: Scott Fleming
Idaho: Kyle Bigos
Kalamazoo: Sacha Guimond, Lane Scheidl
Manchester: Daniel Doremus, Ashton Rome
Norfolk: Kevin Henderson
Orlando: Chris Crane, Taylor Doherty
Reading: Mike Pereira
South Carolina: Derek DeBlois, Trevor Gilles
Toledo: Dane Walters
Utah: Mike Banwell, Michael Pelech
Wheeling: Riley Brace
Wichita: Vincent Arseneau
The entire list can be found here.
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