Falcons Submit Qualifying Offers

July 1, 2008 - ECHL (ECHL)
Fresno Falcons News Release


FRESNO, CALIF. - The Fresno Falcons announced today the list of eight players who have received qualifying offers for the 2008-09 season.

Each team was entitled to reserve Rights to a maximum of eight (8) Qualified Players. Of these eight (8) Qualified Players, no more than four (4) of the Qualified Players shall be Veterans (260 regular season professional hockey games played as of the start of the upcoming 2008-09 season).

The Falcons list of players who received qualifying offers is as follows:

Spencer Carbery, who tallied four points in 20 games with the Falcons, and totaled 12 points in 58 combined games with Fresno, Bakersfield, and Stockton; Oren Eizenman, who led the Falcons last season in both goals (27) and points (66) as a rookie; L.P. Lachance¸who joined the Falcons for the Kelly Cup Playoffs after being claimed off waivers from Stockton on April 5; Stuart MacRae, who was reacquired by the Falcons in a trade with the Gwinnett Gladiators on February 18.

Brian O'Hanley, who appeared in 12 games with the team at the end of the season after concluding his collegiate career at Boston College; Matt Quinn, who scored 12 goals and added 10 assists in 63 games as a rookie last season; Matt Stefanishion, who was voted by the fans as the Falcons Fan Favorite Player last season, and led the team with 243 penalty minutes, while adding 37 points in 54 games; and Joe Van Culin, who tallied 25 points in 65 games during his rookie season.

Players will have until August 1 to accept a qualifying offer.

Players on open Qualifying Offers can not be traded.

Teams were not required to protect players who signed a Standard Players Contract prior to July 1.

Teams are not allowed to sign more than 24 players to contracts during the summer.

Players that were not signed by July 1 or extended a qualifying offer by July 1 become unrestricted free agents.

A Member extending a valid Qualifying Offer to a Veteran retains the Rights to that Veteran until August 1. After August 1, if the Veteran is not signed to a Standard Player Contract by the Member, the Veteran shall be deemed a Restricted Free Agent and shall be entitled to seek and secure offers of employment from other Members. Restricted Free Agents may not be traded.

When a Restricted Free Agent receives an offer to sign a Standard Player Contract from an Offering Member other than the Member with Rights and the Restricted Free Agent desires to accept the Offer, the Restricted Free Agent and the Offering Member must, within 24 hours, deliver a completed Offer Sheet to the Member with Rights, the League Office and the PHPA. The Member with Rights shall then have seven (7) days after the date it receives the Offer Sheet to exercise its Right to Match. The Right to Match shall expire seven (7) days from the date the Offer Sheet was received but not counting the day of receipt.

If a Restricted Free Agent is not signed to either an Offer Sheet or a Standard Player Contract by a Member by August 31, he shall be deemed an Unrestricted Free Agent.

The Falcons return downtown to Selland Arena for the 2008-09 season. The home opener is Friday, October 24 against the Bakersfield Condors at 7:30 p.m. Season Ticket packages start at just $432, and are now available by calling the Falcons at (559) 485-7825.

Began in 1988-89 with five teams playing in four states, the Premier ‘AA' Hockey League has grown into a coast-to-coast league that will have 23 teams in 16 states and British Columbia playing 828 games from Oct. 17, 2008 to Apr. 4, 2009. Eighteen of the 23 teams have played at least five years in their current city.

The third-longest tenured professional hockey league behind only the National Hockey League and the American Hockey League, the ECHL averaged 4,174 per game last season, marking the fourth year in row and the 16th time in the last 18 years that the league has averaged over 4,000 fans. The league has drawn over four million fans each of the last five years and 11 times in the past 12 seasons.



ECHL Stories from July 1, 2008


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