RoadRunners Tender Qualifying Offers To Eight Players

July 3, 2008 - ECHL (ECHL)
Phoenix RoadRunners News Release


PHOENIX, Ariz. - The Phoenix RoadRunners of the ECHL, a proud affiliate of the San Jose Sharks and the Worcester Sharks, announced today that they have submitted qualifying offers to forwards Matt Carter, Gino Guyer, Mathieu Melanson, and Sean O'Connor; defensemen Rob Dmytruk, Bryan Nathe, and Tom Sawatske; and goaltender Dave McKee.

Per the collective bargaining agreement, each team was entitled to reserve the rights to a maximum of eight players from their season-ending roster 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 20008-09 season). Players on open qualifying offers cannot be traded. Teams were not required to extend a qualifying offer to players who signed a contract prior to July 1.

The qualifying offer must remain open for acceptance until August 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 will retain the rights to that veteran until August 1. After August 1, if the veteran player is not signed to a contract by the team, the veteran 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 August 31, the player shall be deemed an unrestricted free agent.

Forward Sean O'Connor is the only player of the eight RoadRunners who were tendered qualifying offers that is classified as a veteran.

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 restricted free agents.

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 a 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.

There have been 355 former ECHL players who have gone on to play in the NHL after playing in the ECHL, including 99 in the last three seasons. There have been 210 former ECHL players who have played their first game in the NHL in the past seven seasons.

The RoadRunners return to the ice at US Airways Center in October for their fourth season of ECHL hockey. Keep up with everything that's happening during the off-season from player signings and community appearances by logging on to www.phxroadrunners.com. Information on season tickets, half-season packages, and flex plans for the 2008-09 season of Phoenix RoadRunners Hockey are available by calling (602) 462-GOAL.



ECHL Stories from July 3, 2008


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