WHEELING — The Wheeling Nailers, proud ECHL affiliate of the Pittsburgh Penguins, have announced their season-ending roster for the summer of 2021. 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 2020-21. From this list, teams are entitled to reserve rights to the maximum of eight players, by extending a qualifying offer to them by July 23.

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 23, 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 Aug. 9.

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 Aug. 9.

After Aug. 9, 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 16, the player shall be deemed an unrestricted free agent.

The Wheeling Nailers season-ending roster consists of the following players: F Matt Alfaro;F Jared Cockrell; F Jake Coughler; F Tim Doherty; D Matt Foley; G Louis-Philip Guindon; F Brendan Harris; F Jack Jenkins; F Sean Josling; F Tad Kozun; D Jesse Lees; F Darby Llewellyn; D Dylan MacPherson;D Patrick McNally; D Matt Miller; F Jacob Pritchard; D Adam Smith; D Matthew Spencer; D Aaron Thow and F Patrick Watling.