KFDM COOP Posted June 19, 2007 Report Posted June 19, 2007 New ice age coming in ECHL The Texas Wildcatters lost their top scorer to a European club, but so have the South Division champion Florida Everblades. And the Gwinnett Gladiators can just about say goodbye to ECHL most valuable player Brad Schell. "I'll be shocked if he ever plays in the this league again," said Texas coach Malcolm Cameron, who expects Schell to sign an American Hockey League deal this summer. Cameron looks to the probable departures of Florida's Vince Bellissimo and Gwinnett's Schell as reasons not to fret about the loss of eight Texas players to European clubs. "The fans may get alarmed about the guys going to Europe, but teams change every year," said Cameron, who coached Texas to a second-place finish in the South Division last season. "People have to remember that we have more now than we had last year. We had nothing at this time last year." Kevin Baker had a team-high 81 points (36 goals, 45 assists) for Texas, which will be without its top five scorers from last season. Four signed with European clubs, and another was traded. Recent departures are forward Daniel Sparre and defenseman Derick Martin. Martin was sent to Alaska to complete a midseason trade for Alex Leavitt. Sparre went to Columbia to complete a midseason trade for Martin. Martin has since signed with a team in France. Forward Ben Thomson, who spent much of last season with the Houston Aeros, will also play in Europe, Cameron said. Texas is not the only South Division team with roster turnover. Florida has lost two of its top three scorers to European teams and does not hold the rights to five of its top seven scorers or its No. 1 goalie. Florida's third-leading scorer, Dustin Johner, will also play in Europe. Third-place Gwinnett, which lost to Texas in the division semifinal, will not return its top three scorers. Schell and Colton Fretter are expected to sign American Hockey League deals, Cameron said. Scott Mifsud, the team's second-leading scorer, has signed with a European club. "It's tough to compete with the money in Europe," said Cameron, who noted that European clubs pay as much as three times the amount as ECHL teams. The Wildcatters hold exclusive rights to 17 players from last season, according to a list released Monday by the league. Cameron has until July 1 to sign or make a qualifying offer to those players. Each team is allowed to make a qualifying offer to no more than eight unsigned players for next season. Six of those 17 players are signed in Europe. Players who receive a qualifying offer cannot sign with another team in the league. Unsigned players who do not receive a qualifying offer are unrestricted free agents. Players expected to be in Europe are Baker, Martin, Thomson, forwards Mike Bayrack, Brandin Cote and Olivier Proulx, defenseman J.F. David and goalie Matt Yeats. Thomson was signed with the Houston Aeros and joined Texas on loan for six regular season games and the playoffs. Radio waves?The team's front office had a recent shakeup when director of broadcasting and corporate sales Anthony Langella Jr. was not invited for another year. Texas ended the season without a radio broadcast after KIKR-AM changed its format from all-sports to a Spanish language-only broadcast. All playoff games were broadcast by Langella Jr. over the internet only. Wildcatters managing partner Rick Adams did not return a telephone message Monday to say if the team would have a radio broadcast next season. Playoff format setThe Wildcatters will be part of a nine-team division in which the top eight teams qualify for the playoffs, the ECHL announced Monday. The division quarterfinal, semifinal and final series will be a best-of-five format. The addition of Mississippi increases the number of teams in the division to nine. New coach no factorCameron said the Wildcatters will maintain their affiliation agreement with the Aeros even after they hired a new coach. Houston replaced coach Rob Daum with Kevin Constantine after a last-place finish in the American Hockey League's West Division.
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