WHEELING – The Wheeling Nailers, proud ECHL affiliate of the Pittsburgh Penguins, have announced their season-ending roster for the Summer of 2025. The roster consists of 20 players.

season-ending rosters may include up to 20 players, and cannot include any players who did not sign an ECHL contract in 2024-25. From this list, teams are entitled to reserve rights to the maximum of eight players, by extending a qualifying offer to them by July 7. No more than four of the eight can be veterans (260 regular-season professional hockey games), players on open qualifying offers cannot be traded, and if a player signs a contract prior to July 7, that team does not have to extend a qualifying offer to said player. If a player does receive a qualifying offer, that offer remains open for acceptance until July 22.

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 July 22. After July 22, 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 August 8, the player shall be deemed an unrestricted free agent.

Teams are now permitted to begin signing players for the 2025-26 season.

The Wheeling Nailers season-ending roster consists of the following players:

Goaltenders: Jaxon Castor and Logan Neaton.

Defensemen: David Drake, Brent Johnson, Chris Ortiz, Louie Roehl, Evan Stella and Aidan Sutter.

Forwards: James Hardie, Randy Hernandez

Nick Hutchison, David Jankowski, Matt Koopman, Peter Laviolette III, Eli Lieffers, Jordan Martel, Matthew Quercia, Cole Tymkin, Mitch Walinski and Jack Works.