A Career Unpredictable

It isn't often that a former Canada West player is moved at the ECHL level, but the Cincinnati Cyclones were busy today as they made a number of moves including one that brought a former Canada West player into their team. The Cyclones dealt defender Matt Murphy to the Tahoe Knight Monsters in exchange for forward Chris Dodero and former Spartans defenceman Elijah Vilio! Vilio will get his gear together and head northeast as he joins his sixth ECHL club since 2021, and I'm sure he hopes that he can remain there for next few months and beyond. After spending four seasons with Trinity Western, Vilio's professional hockey career has largely been nomadic based on how long he has spent in ECHL cities, so perhaps this move will be a more permanent one that his previous stops were.

While the pandemic took a chance for Vilio to play in Canada West, he was a big part of the Spartans while they played in the BCIHL. In 66 games in that league, Vilio scored 20 goals and 56 points over three seasons while winning two BCIHL championships, so he was a solid contributor for Trinity Western while wearing their colours. It looked like Vilio was going to take a big step in his professional career in 2021 as the pandemic subsided when he signed a deal with Kazakhstan's Barys Nur-Sultan, but it appears that he never actually suited up for the KHL franchise despite the contract signing.

That led to Vilio signing with the Atlanta Gladiators on October 6, 2021 where played 50 games, scoring nine goals and 23 points. However, that run with Atlanta would come to an end on March 7, 2022 when the Gladiators traded Vilio to the Rapid City Rush to complete a November trade that sent Kam Kielly's rights to the Gladiators in exchange for future considerations. Vilio would play six games for the Rush where he had a goal and an assist, but he was on the move again on March 31 when the Norfolk Admirals acquired Vilio and forward Brett Van Os from Rapid City for defenseman Kyle Rhodes. In eight games with the Admirals to finish the 2021-22 season, Vilio had three goals and two assists.

On June 30, 2022, the Norfolk Admirals announced that they had re-signed Elijah Vilio as it seemed like the defenceman may have found himself some permanence in his hockey career. Vilio would find out that there is no such thing, though, as his one goal and three assists in 27 games was enough for the Savannah Ghost Pirates to acquire Vilio on December 29, 2022. His season would be cut short, however, when he suffered a lower-body injury in February, limiting him to 28 games where he scored twice and added three helpers.

The good news is that Savannah wanted Elijah Vilio back for the 2023-24 season as they put him on their protected list on June 11, 2023 and they announced that Vilio had re-signed with the club on August 22, 2023. At the time of the signing, Vilio said, "It was an easy decision for me. I love the team, coaching staff, and the city. I have been training hard this off-season with the goal of winning a championship. I can not wait to be back in Savannah."

Vilio had a great start to the season as he had a goal and five assists in ten games, but something wasn't working for him in Georgia as the EIHL's Dundee Stars announced on Christmas Day in 2023 that they had added Vilio to their blue line!

Stars head coach Marc LeFebvre seemed excited with the addition, stating, "He has great offensive instincts but it also creates more internal competition that we need and with injuries and suspensions, we need those extra bodies around as well He is going to improve our team overall and the biggest aspect for us is being able to transport the puck up ice quicker, so he will definitely help us with that."

Vilio's addition worked out well for the Stars as he played in 30 games with Dundee, scoring one goal and 14 points. Dundee finished as the seventh-seeded team for the EIHL playoffs, and they were quickly eliminated by the Cardiff Devils by 4-2 and 3-2 scores for an aggregate of 7-4. Vilio played in both games, but recorded no points in the playoffs. Nevertheless, his first taste of international hockey went fairly well with a solid finish to the 2023-24 season.

Vilio would be back in North America to start this season, though, as he signed with the expansion Tahoe Knight Monsters on August 27, 2024. Again, Vilio got off to a good start with his new team as he posted four helpers in 15 games with the Knight Monsters while playing solid defence, but that led to the move I spoke about off the top of this article as Vilio and Dodero were flipped to the Cincinnati Cyclones for Murphy. Vilio moves from a 15-6-1-1 Tahoe team to the ECHL basement with the 3-15-3 Cyclones.

The good news is that the 27 year-old defender has looked solid while with Tahoe this season. He was playing on the third pairing there, but he was showing some good poise and defensive zone awareness in helping Tahoe get off to their great start. His move to Cincinnati will obviously come with challenges as they haven't defended well all season, but Vilio's steady play could make the Cyclones harder to score on for opposition forwards. He won't be in the running for any ECHL awards, but Vilio has the potential to make Cincinnati better.

For a guy who was a reliable piece of Trinity Western's blue line for a number of years, his professional career has seen him bounce around the map for a few seasons. While I'm not saying that a three-win Cincinnati is the place that any player wants to be, the combination of Vilio's game and Cincinnati's need for a few good defenders could make this stay with the Cyclones longer than any of his other tours of duty in the ECHL.

Of course, Cincinnati could look to improve its team by trading good players for two or three other players. Vilio could be included in that scenario as well just like we've seen before, so he may want to keep his bags packed for now. Cincinnati is in Kalamazoo this weekend where Vilio could potentially make his debut for the Cyclones, but he'll get his first experience on Cincinnati ice on December 27 after the holiday break. My hope is that Vilio plays his best hockey with Cincinnati for the remainder of the season so that he doesn't need to file another change-of-address card unless he gets a good free agent offer in the summer.

Elijah Vilio has a home in Cincinnati, but will it be permanent? As of right now, the only thing permanent in Vilio's career is unpredictablilty.

Until next time, keep your sticks on the ice!