ECHL South Carolina Stingrays

Rays Extend Qualifying Offers to Five

July 1, 2008 - ECHL (ECHL)
South Carolina Stingrays News Release


North Charleston, SC - The South Carolina Stingrays announced today the list of five players that 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).

Players issued a qualifying offer by the Stingrays are Marc Busenburg, Chris Chaput, Mike Gabinet, Paul McIlveen and Matt Smith.

Busenburg was signed by the Stingrays last season, but did not play a game at the ECHL level. The 6'1" defenseman remained with the Worchester Sharks of the American Hockey League all season registering nine points (1g, 8a) and ten penalty minutes in 31 games.

Chaput tallied 25 goals and added 38 assists for 63 points last season with the Stingrays in 71 games. The Providence, RI native also played his first profession post-season where he added another 12 points (5g, 7a) in 20 games. The 5'10" center was second on the team in points and power play points (29).

Gabinet split his time last season between the Stingrays and the Springfield Falcons of the AHL after joining the Stingrays from the Idaho Steelheads in late December. With the Rays, the 26-year-old defenseman had 14 points (2g, 12a) in 23 games. Gabinet, originally selected by the Los Angeles Kings in the eighth round of the 2001 NHL Entry Draft, also played 19 games with the Falcons, scoring three points, before being sidelined with an injury.

McIlveen scored 34 points (11g, 23a) in 57 games with the Stingrays in his first professional year of hockey last season. The Waterloo, Ont. native led the team during the playoffs with his plus-5 rating.

Smith joined the Stingrays following the completion of his college season at R.I.T. The 5'11" forward played seven regular season games with the Rays tallying seven points (5g, 2a). Smith added another four points in 13 playoff games during the Stingrays run to the American Conference Finals.

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.

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