The Newfoundland Growlers and the rest of the ECHL moved to the next stage of the league’s off-season free-agent process on Monday as teams revealed their lists of players receiving qualifying offers ahead of the 2019-20 season.
Those getting qualified by the ECHL champion Growlers include forwards Marcus Power, Semyon Babintsev and Todd Skirving, defencemen Evan Neugold, Kyle Cumiskey, James Melindy and Kristians Rubins and goaltender Michael Garteig. All eight were signed to ECHL contracts by the Growlers last season, although Rubins, Garteig and Comiskey were promoted to AHL deals during the campaign, Garteig and Rubins with the Toronto Marlies and Comiskey with the Providence Bruins.
Garteig has already signed with a team in the Finnish Elite League for 2019-20 and Babintsev left Newfoundland for his native Russia before the end of last season. However, by qualifying them, the Growlers ensured they hold their ECHL rights should they find the way back to the league sometime next season.
Qualifying offers remain open for acceptance until July 16, at which time the offer becomes void.
Of the eight qualified players, no more than four could be veterans (260 regular season professional hockey games played); Melindy and Cumiskey are the only players on the Growlers’ qualifying list that fall into the category. Teams that extend a qualifying offer to a non-veteran player retain the rights to that player for one season.
Teams extending a valid qualifying offer to a veteran player (or to a goaltender who has played more than 180 regular-season games,) retain rights to that player until July 16. If not re-signed by that date, the player becomes a restricted free agent and can seek offers from other ECHL teams. If a new offer is forthcoming, the team that qualified him has a week in which to match or exceed the new offer.
That process only lasts half a month. If a restricted free agent isn’t signed to either an offer sheet or a contract by an ECHL team by Aug. 1, the player becomes an unrestricted free agent.
Players on open qualifying offers and restricted free agents can’t be traded.
