Six More Off The Market

As get nearer to the start of the hockey season, things get a little clearer when it comes to who may be wearing a jersey for your favorite team. Sometimes, there are surprises, but there's a general sense that there are always 10-12 guys for every team at the NHL level who are locks to play for the team each season. That's entirely different than what we see in the ECHL where some teams make roster moves on an almost daily basis. For guys trying to break into the professional game, that means there are opportunities to be had if they can land one, and six more former U SPORTS players will look to do that this fall when ECHL camps open!

We'll start with a guy who hasn't been around the university scene in some time, but former StFX X-Men defender Mark Louis signed a deal on Monday with the Greenville Swamp Rabbits! Louis skated with the X-Men from 2008-12 where he scored two goals and five assists in 66 AUS games, but he's had a number of stops since leaving U SPORTS hockey. From 2011-15, he skated with the AHL's Portland Pirates before finishing the 2015 season with the Bridgeport Sound Tigers after his rights were traded by the Arizona Coyotes to New York Islanders for David Leggio. 2015-16 saw him play for the ECHL's Orlando Solar Bears, but he was off to Wales for the next four years as he signed a deal to play with the EIHL's Cardiff Devils. Aside from the 2020-21 panedmic year where he played for Michalovce Dukla HC in the Slovakian league, Cardiff is where the 36 year-old Louis spent the better part of his professional career, earning two EIHL championships! He'll look to earn a Kelly Cup with Greenville this year to add some North American championship flavour to his career!

The Iowa Heartlanders joined the signing spree when they added former Ontario Tech Ridgebacks forward Austin Eastman! Eastman played three seasons with Ontario Tech, suiting up for 65 games between 2018 and 2022 where he scored 21 goals and 33 assists. Greenville offered him a contract midway through that 2021-22 season, limiting him to just nine OUA games, but his scoring continued at the ECHL level where he notched three goals and seven assists in 15 games. Greenville brought him back last season, but things fell off a bit as he had just one goal and five assists in 26 games. That led to Greenville waiving Eastman before Iowa picked him up in April. Not surprisingly, Eastman scored three goals in three games for the Heartlanders, prompting the Heartlanders to re-sign him on Tuesday as Iowa will be looking for that same scoring touch this season!

With one-half of their dynamic scoring duo already gone, the Manitoba Bisons saw the other half sign a professional deal on Tuesday as forward Devon Skoleski inked a deal with the Wichita Thunder! The former Everett Silvertips and Prince Alberta Raiders winger skated for four seasons with the Bisons, scoring 30 goals and 45 assists in 93 games for the Herd from 2018-23. Skoleski wasn't a big scorer during his time in the WHL, but his career with the Bisons saw him score clutch goals in key moments for the club. Skoleski's best season with the Herd came in 2022-23 as he notched 11 goals and 16 assists in 27 games, and that's the kind of production that Wichita will be looking for as Skoleski's first professional game will come on October 20 when the Thunder hosts the Kansas City Mavericks!

The Idaho Steelheads got a little better on Tuesday as they added more championship pedigree to their roster in former UNB Reds forward Mark Rassell! Rassell played three seasons for UNB, scoring 33 goals and 40 assists in 72 games from 2018-22. Rassell joined UNB after a successful four years with the WHL's Medicine Hat Tigers, and he helped the Reds win two U SPORTS National Championships in 2019 and 2022! Rassell joined Fort Wayne for two games at the end of the 2021-22 season, but he returned to the Komets last season where he scored 21 goals and 29 assists in 68 games! He also had a one-game appearance for the AHL's Bakersfield Condors, but the Idaho Steelheads are looking for the same production that Rassell had in Fort Wayne to help them win the Kelly Cup this season!

It was a good day today on the free agent market for the Norfolk Admirals as they signed former Ottawa Gee Gees forward Nicolas Ouellet! Ouellet spent two seasons lighting the lamp for the University of Ottawa as he scored 13 goals and added five helpers in just 32 OUA games from 2021-23. His successful university years followed four years of solid hockey with the QMJHL's Val d'Or Foreurs where he topped out at 30 goals and 20 assists in 48 games during the 2019-20 season. Ouellet's first professional game will come on October 20 when the Admirals travel to Savannah, Georgia to meet the Ghost Pirates, and Norfolk is hoping that Ouellet brings that goal-scoring talent with him!

I mentioned it was a good day for Norfolk on the free agent market, and that's because they signed a second U SPORTS player today as they added former Acadia Axemen forward Jordan Stallard as well! Stallard spent three seasons with Acadia where he played in 42 games, scoring 16 goals and 24 assists from 2018-22. His university career following four WHL years with Calgary and Prince Albert, and 19 ECHL games split between Allen and Indy in 2018-19. Stallard joined the EIHL's Manchester Storm for five games in 2022-23 before signing on with Klostersee EHC in Germany's Oberliga - Germany's ECHL - where he scored eight goals and 12 assists in 28 games to finish fourth in team scoring! Being that Stallard was selected 127th-overall in the 2016 NHL Entry Draft by the Winnipeg Jets, it seems the Jets wanted him playing on this side of the ocean as they got him to join their ECHL affiliate in Norfolk!

Six more players will attempt to make rosters when the ECHL season opens on October 19. There are no guarantees, as stated off the top, for any of these players to make or even remain on a roster all season long, but if they play well, add some scoring, and help their teams get closer to a playoff spot, we could be talking about the next Kelly Cup-winning former U SPORTS player! We're a long way from that point right now, though, but these six players are looking for those opportunities with these five ECHL teams!

Until next time, keep your sticks on the ice!