ECHL questions

[columbia]

I live far away from Pittsburgh, but plan to check out the Nailers when they come to my town.

Are there any guys to look out for this season?
Is it a revolving roster where anyone with even a remote chance gets shipped up to WBS?
What's the overall quality of play in the league?

[WWGRD]

As of right now, they're aren't any players to look out for and they're probably won't be for Wheeling

Last year, Sean Collins averaged a point per game over the whole season but will apparantly be going overseas, and not returning next year

The overall quality of the league is pretty bad, but games are fun to be at. You'll have a good time.

[columbia]

The overall quality of the league is pretty bad, but games are fun to be at. You'll have a good time.

That makes sense. I've guess I was hoping that there was some sort of parallel with AA baseball, which can be very good and a lot of non-college players go through. I guess the juniors fill that role on hockey.

I suppose the ECHL is closet to the independent leagues in baseball. And they are pretty bad. I check out the local team every summer. Fun, but very little in the skill department.

[K2]

You should see a handful of guys who are PIT property, maybe Boogaard, Letestu or D'Aversa, but it's not like baseball where the prospects work their way up from the bottom. Most guys who are worth looking out for are going to go straight to the A, barring massive organIzational depth. You'll see some exciting hockey nonetheless, and if you follow the prospects pretty well you'll see some familiar names

[Old Time Hockey]

I disagree in that the ECHL is a bad league. It has gotten better over the years and it has become more competitive than ever. I lived in Pittsburgh for my first 22 years of my life until I moved down to South Carolina. I was a South Carolina Stingrays season ticket holder this past season and the ECHL is improving each year. This past season, the Hershey Bears called up 12 of our guys to the AHL to play some significant minutes, so the ECHL is not what it used to be.

[Henry Hank]

There are a decent number of NHL players that played in the ECHL... they did something on guys just from Wheeling that are in the NHL, including Vokoun, Ouellet, Sabourin, and a few others. I wouldn't compare to an independent baseball league where they're almost entirely filled with minor league wash-outs and never-weres plus the occasional washed up former MLBer.

[Idoit40fans]

Its pretty much impossible to compare it to any league in Baseball, because where the majority of MLB players play at every level (one of the levels of A, AA, AAA, Major), the majority of NHL players go straight to the AHL then to the NHL.