Gladiators Announce Season-Ending Roster

The Atlanta Gladiators announced the organization’s season-ending roster on Monday. By ECHL rule, teams are allowed a maximum of 20 players on the final roster, but those who did not sign an ECHL contract in 2016-2017 may not be included (i.e. players who were under contract to teams in either the National Hockey League or the American Hockey League).After completing their remaining future consideration trades last week, the Gladiators submitted a final roster of 20 players: Akim Aliu, Josh Atkinson, Daniel Bahntge, Drew Baker, Bryan Cameron, Ben Danford, Thomas Frazee, Connor Gaarder, Alex Gacek, Alex Guptill, Brock Higgs, Colin Jacobs, Patrick McCadden, Tyler Murovich, Eric Neiley, Derek Nesbitt, Rory Rawlyk, Dalton Reum, Tyler Shiplo, and Colin Sullivan.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 July 1. 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 2017-2018 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 August 1st, 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 August 1st. After August 1st, 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.The Atlanta Gladiators 15th anniversary season kicks off at the Infinite Energy Arena on Friday, October 20th against the Florida Everblades at 7:35 PM. For ticket package information, visit the official team website at www.atlantagladiators.com or call the main office line at 770-497-5100.The Gladiators are members of the ECHL, the nation’s premier "AA" hockey league. All home games are played at the 11,355-seat Infinite Energy Arena, located just off I-85 on Sugarloaf Parkway in Duluth – where parking is always free. The Gladiators have established an unrivaled commitment to excellence, maintaining a distinctive reputation for affordable and family-friendly sports entertainment and consistently ranked as one of the top “Things To Do” in the Atlanta area and across the North Georgia region.For all the latest team news, contests, and more visit AtlantaGladiators.com, or “like” the Gladiators on Facebook (www.facebook.com/AtlantaGladiators), follow the team on Twitter (www.twitter.com/ATLGladiators), Instagram (www.instagram.com/atlgladiators) or Snapchat (www.snapchat.com) at "gladshockey". -###-