Kalamazoo Wings announce 2016 Protected List

By @StefanKubus –

The ECHL’s Kalamazoo Wings announced its Protected List for 2016 on Thursday.

The K-Wings’ list features 20 players, 19 of which suited up for Kalamazoo in 2015-16.

ECHL teams can protect as many players as they choose so long as the protected players meet the guidelines laid out in the Collective Bargaining Agreement between the ECHL and the Professional Hockey Players’ Association.

The K-Wings’ list includes Michigan connections Tanner Sorenson (F; Michigan State alum), Eric Kattelus (F; Traverse City) and Adam Phillips (D; Farmington Hills).

MORE: Kalamazoo Wings sign one-year affiliation agreement with NHL’s Tampa Bay Lightning

Rounding out the list are forwards Darren Archibald, David Gilbert, Tyler Shattock, Alex Mallet, Lane Schiedl, Justin Taylor and Matt Caria, goaltender Joel Martin and defensemen Cory Pritz, Charlie Vasaturo, Brett Ponich, Sacha Guimond, Steve McCarthy, Benjamin Dieude-Fauvel, Ben Wilson, Sean O’Rourke.

The CBA guidelines state that teams shall retain the rights to each player that “signed an SPC in 2015-16 with the team and has not been traded or released, or signed an SPC in 2015-16 and was recalled to the NHL/AHL or IIHF team, and has not been traded or released, or had received a qualifying offer last summer for the current season, did not sign an SPC, and has not been traded or released, or has been suspended by the team or league, and has not been traded or released, or signed an SPC on or after the first day of the 2015-16 regular season, then subsequently signed an NHL/AHL contract, and has not been traded or released, or has executed the ECHL Retirement Form, and has not been traded or released.”

The ECHL also announced that teams must complete all Future Consideration trades by 3 p.m. ET on June 13 and that teams must submit their season-ending roster by 3 p.m. ET on June 15. Season-ending rosters may include up to 20 players and cannot include any players who did not sign an ECHL contract in 2015-16.