INDIANAPOLIS - The Indy Fuel, proud ECHL affiliate of the National Hockey League's Chicago Blackhawks and the American Hockey League's Rockford IceHogs, revealed their 2017-18 season-ending roster on Friday. The Fuel's 17-man roster consists of 10 forwards, six defenseman and one goaltender, with 16 of those players seeing action in Indianapolis last season. Friday is the official end of the 2017-18 ECHL season, with teams being permitted to sign players to 2018-19 contracts starting on Saturday.
2017-18 INDY FUEL SEASON-ENDING ROSTER (Parentheses denotes 2018-19 status)
Forwards (10): Kevin Dufour, Johnny McInnis, Darian Dziurzynski (V), Mathew Thompson (R), Logan Nelson, Josh Shalla (V), Matt Rupert, Ryan Rupert (V), Michael Neal (V), Geoff Walker (V)
Defensemen (6): Riley Sweeney, Troy Vance, Jaynen Rissling, Jack Burton, Zach Miskovic (V), Garrett Clarke
Goaltender (1): Étienne Marcoux
Per the ECHL, Season-Ending Rosters may include up to 20 players. Season-Ending Rosters cannot include any players who did not sign an ECHL contract in 2017-18.
Each team is entitled to reserve rights to a maximum of eight players from the list of 20 by extending a qualifying offer no later than June 30. 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 2018-19 Season). Players on open qualifying offers cannot be traded. Teams are not required to extend a qualifying offer to players who sign a contract prior to July 1.
The qualifying offer must remain open for acceptance until Aug. 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, or to a goaltender who has played more than 180 regular-season games, will retain the rights to that player until Aug. 1. After Aug. 1, if the veteran player or goaltender is not signed to a contract by the team, the veteran or goaltender 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 Aug. 31, the player shall be deemed an unrestricted free agent.
Ticket Plans for the Fuel's fifth anniversary season are now on sale! Lock up your seat for every second of the action in 2018-19 at Indiana Farmers Coliseum by heading to IndyFuelHockey.comor by calling the Fuel front office at 317-925-FUEL. Don't forget to follow the Fuel on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Snapchat (IndyFuel) for news, updates, contests and much more throughout the offseason.
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