It’s hard to believe it’s been over a month since the Worcester Railers played their last game of the season with a lot of things going around with Worcester hockey and in the ECHL.

Railers Extend Affiliation Agreement with New York Islanders

On Thursday the Worcester Railers and the New York Islanders announced a two-year extension to their affiliation agreement. Worcester has benefited tremendously from the initial agreement, with several players under contract with both the Bridgeport Sound Tigers and the Islanders dressing for the Railers throughout last season.

The Railers, Sound Tigers, and Islanders will continue to be a force heading into the 2019-20 season.

New Collective Bargaining Agreement Goes into Effect July 1

It was announced back in March that the PHPA and the ECHL had ratified the Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) for the next five seasons.

Modifications to the CBA include adjustments to the reserve system, specifically in relation to Veteran players, along with housing and travel reimbursement provisions, basic medical benefits for players and their families through the off-ice health insurance program, as well as increases to the salary cap and per-diem.

The new collective bargaining agreement will be in effect from July 1, 2018 to June 30, 2023.

More information will be released on the Professional Hockey Players’ Association website closer to July 1.

Protected Lists and Upcoming Dates

The first big date for ECHL contracts in June has come and gone on June 1 with the submission of protected lists. The protected list is an unlimited amount of players the team retains the rights to.

The Railers announced the following players to their protected list on June 4:

Defense (8)

Justin Agosta

Connor Doherty

Justin Hamonic

Ryan MacKinnon (Signed with Bridgeport until – 18/19)

Ben Masella

Kyle McKenzie

Patrick McNally

Tommy Panico

Forwards (9)

Barry Almeida

Frank DiChiara

Woody Hudson

Tommy Kelley

Chris Langkow

Jake Randolph

Nick Saracino

T.J. Syner

Dylan Willick

Goalies (1)

Mitch Gillam

 

The following players are excluded from ECHL protected lists as they have contracts with either the Bridgeport Sound Tigers or the New York Islanders:

Eamon McAdam (NYI) – 18/19

Mike Cornell (BST) – 17/18

Jeff Kubiak (BST) – 17/18

Matt Lane (BST) – 17/18

Kellen Jones (BST) – 17/18

Matt Gaudreau (BST) – 17/18

Patrick Cullity (BST) – 17/18

Josh Holmstrom (BST) – 17/18

Kyle Schempp (NYI) – 17/18

Yanick Turcotte (BST) – 18/19

 

Teams must complete all future considerations trades by June 13. The Railers had one future considerations trade which involved trading Anthony Calabrese to the Greenville Swamp Rabbits, so we can expect a transaction to complete the trade before then.

The next big date is June 15, where teams will submit their season-ending roster which will include 20 players from that protected list, and on the next day the Railers can begin signing players and submitting qualifying offers to players.

On June 30, the league will release the list of players who have been issued qualifying offers by each team. Each team will be able to give eight qualifying offers, excluding players who have already accepted an offer from their team. Teams are allowed to sign players and announce the signings at a later date, so if we don’t see players that we expect to re-sign on that list, there’s a good chance they’ve already re-signed.

Recent Jersey Auction Results

The Railers have been auctioning off the white jerseys that have been worn throughout the regular season and postseason in the past few weeks. The results of the auctions are as follows:

Round 1 Results (ended 5/23/18):

F. DiChiara #17 – $529
N. Saracino #18 – $549
T. Kelley #37 – $609
R. MacKinnon #4 – $499
P. Cullity #44 – $399
K. Jones #9 “A” – $509

Round 2 Results (ended 5/30/18):

M. Lane #10 – $639
T. Syner #14 – $509
B. Almeida #19 “A” – $599
T. Panico #2 – $439
W. Hudson #23 – $589
W. King #29 – $529

The remaining white jerseys are expected to be auctioned off throughout the summer through the HandBid app, with announcements of upcoming auctions being made the day they go live.

Closing Thoughts and Mentions