ECHL Reading Royals

Royals Extend Qualifying Offers To Eight Players

July 2, 2008 - ECHL (ECHL)
Reading Royals News Release


Reading, PA - The Reading Royals of the ECHL, affiliate of the Los Angeles Kings of the National Hockey League and the Manchester Monarchs of the American Hockey League, today announced that the team has extended qualifying offers to the following eight players: Chris Blight, Shawn Collymore, Bracken Kearns, Charlie Kronschnabel, Mike Salekin, Kevin Saurette, Kevin Schaeffer, and Joe Zappala.

Under ECHL rules, each Member 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 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.

In his third pro season, Blight (6'0/190) (25) scored twenty-one goals and assisted on eighteen others (thirty-nine points) in forty regular season games with the Royals last season. Blight, who registered nine multi-point performances during the year, tied two team records when he scored four goals and picked up five points in the Royals' 6-2 victory over the Johnstown Chiefs on November 10, 2007. Blight, who played his college hockey at Clarkson University, also played thirty-one American Hockey League games last season in three separate call-ups with the Manitoba Moose, the Wilkes-Barre Scranton Penguins, and the Albany River Rats. After his final stint in the AHL (with Albany), Blight returned to the Royals with five games remaining in the regular season and, in thirteen playoff games with the team, scored four goals and assisted on four others (eight points).

After signing with the Royals in the off-season last year, Collymore (6'0/190) (25), who hails from LaSalle, Quebec, went to AHL training camp with the Norfolk Admirals, where he made the roster but was limited to only ten games, during which he scored a goal and assisted on another, over a five month span due to injuries. Collymore, who will be entering his fifth pro season, then joined the Royals on February 22, 2008, and promptly registered at least one point in every regular season game he played for the team, racking up seven goals and fourteen assists (twenty-one points) in thirteen games. Collymore was then loaned to the Hershey Bears of the AHL, where he played thirteen regular season games and five playoff games before returning to the Royals for Game Two of the North Division Finals best of seven series against the Cincinnati Cyclones. Collymore, a fifth round pick of the New York Rangers in 2001, continued to stretch his consecutive point streak with Reading at that time, registering at least a point in five consecutive playoff games against the Cyclones (2g-4a=6pts) before finally being held off the board in the team's final game of the year-Game Seven of that series.

Kearns (6'0/195) (27), a native of Vancouver, British Columbia, who will be entering his fourth year of pro, started last season with the Royals where he was named as team captain and scored eighteen points (5g-13a) in seventeen games. On December 14, 2007, Kearns, who played four seasons at the University of Calgary, was loaned to the Norfolk Admirals of the AHL, where he stayed for the remainder of the season, scoring nine goals and assisting on sixteen others (twenty-five points) in fifty-three regular season AHL games.

Kronschnabel (6'4/209) (25), who hails from St. Paul, Minnesota, was the only player last season to compete in all seventy-two regular season and thirteen playoff games for the Royals. During the regular season, Kronschnabel, who will be entering his second full season of professional hockey next year, scored thirteen goals, assisted on twenty-two others (thirty-five points), and racked up sixty-two penalty minutes. In the playoffs, Kronschnabel scored three goals and assisted on five others (eight points) in his thirteen post-season games. Kronschnabel, who played four seasons of college hockey for the University of Alaska, Anchorage, received the Fans' Choice Ironman Award for his efforts in Reading last season.

As a first year pro last season, Salekin (6'0/208) (22) led the Royals with 183 penalty minutes in forty-nine regular season games, which was the third highest PIM total amongst rookies in the league. During the regular season, Salekin, who played his college hockey at the University of Alabama-Huntsville, scored four goals and assisted on nine others (thirteen points) for Reading. A native of Castlegar, British Columbia, Salekin, who was selected as the Royals' Scrapper of the Year last season, also scored a goal and assisted on another while racking up thirty-four penalty minutes in eleven playoff games with the Royals.

Last year, Saurette (6'0/190) (28) completed his second full season with the Royals, scoring fourteen goals, assisting on twenty-three others (thirty-seven points) and picking up 106 penalty minutes in fifty-six regular season games. Saurette, who hails from Winnipeg, Manitoba, was tied for second on the team in playoff scoring with ten points (3g-7a) in thirteen post-season games. Saurette, who played his college hockey at the University of Manitoba, also played three games with the Binghamton Senators of the AHL last season.

Schaeffer (6'1/200) (23), a native of South Huntington, New York, who will be entering his second season as a pro, began his rookie year in Reading, scoring two goals and assisting on five others (seven points) in nineteen games with the Royals before being loaned to the Providence Bruins of the AHL. While with Providence, Schaeffer, who played his college hockey at Boston University, scored a goal and picked up an assist in thirty-one AHL games. Schaeffer rejoined the Royals in Game Three of the North Division Semi-Final series against the Elmira Jackals and promptly scored what proved to be the game winning goal at 10:34 of the third period in Reading's 3-2 win over the Jackals that night.

Zappala (6'0/205) (25), who hails from Medford, Massachusetts, will be entering his third pro season next year. Over the last two years, Zappala has played a total of 115 regular season games with the Royals, scoring a total of 41 goals and assisting on forty-seven others (eighty-eight points) and racking up 200 penalty minutes. Last season, Zappala, who played his college hockey at Yale University, established a new Royals' team record by scoring at least one goal in eight consecutive games (10 goals) (02/22 - 03/08/08). At last year's Fans' Choice Awards Banquet, Zappala received the Heart Award, as well as the Fans' Choice Award.

The ECHL 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 24 teams in 16 states and British Columbia playing 864 games from Oct. 17, 2008 to Apr. 4, 2009. Nineteen of the 24 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.

The Royals open the 2008-09 regular season against the Elmira Jackals on Friday, October 17, 2008 at First Arena in Elmira, New York. The Royals' home opener is set for Saturday, October 25, 2008, when the Johnstown Chiefs visit the Sovereign Center. Royals' full Season Tickets and Total Choice Flex Plans are now on sale. To obtain more information on becoming a part Royals' hockey, call 610-898-PUCK to speak with Royals' ticket representative or visit the Royals website, www.royalshockey.com.

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