On July 9th, ECHL teams were required to announce their season ending roster. Unlike the protected list, the season ending roster only allows teams to list 20 players, rather than as many as they so choose. They also cannot include players who did not sign an ECHL contract for the 2020-21 season. 

For Wichita, their season ending roster, per the team’s press release is:

Defense: Sean Allen, Cam Clarke, Jacob Graves, Alex Peters, Patrik Parkkonen, Dean Stewart 

Forwards: Anthony Beauregard, Charlie Combs, Peter Crinella, Jay Dickman, Spencer Dorowicz, Matteo Gennaro, Stephen Johnson, Bryan Moore, Garrett Schmitz, Beau Starrett, Brayden Watts

Goalies: Evan Buitenhuis, Mitch Gillam, Evan Weninger

Of these 20, Wichita is allowed to retain the rights of eight by extending qualifying offers to them. These offers MUST be given out prior to July 23rd. The maximum number of veterans that can receive qualifying offers is four. Teams cannot trade players on open qualifying offers, and aren’t required to issue a qualifying offer if they’ve signed a contract prior to July 23rd. August 16th is the date where players become free agents if they’re not signed to an offer sheet or a ECHL contract. 

Now you might be alarmed to not see veterans Ryan White, Stefan Fournier, and Mathieu Gagnon. This is most likely because even if veteran players are protected, they become unrestricted free agents on August 16th, according to a tweet from the broadcaster from the Indy Fuel, Andrew Smith. This doesn’t mean that Ramsay won’t resign the fan favorite veterans (minus Gagnon.) It just means they can be signed by other teams as well, as Gagnon has already found a new team.

One thing to note: Evan Weninger, Anthony Beauregard, and Mathieu Gagnon are for sure not returning as they have already signed deals somewhere else. Gagnon will stay in the ECHL as he just signed with Lions de Trois-Rivières, one of the new expansion teams. Beauregard and Weninger are heading overseas. 

Stay tuned for more content along the way, as player signings and other fun stuff will be coming shortly.

by Gabe Daniel