Icemen Announce 2023-24 Season-Ending Roster

JACKSONVILLE, FL – The Jacksonville Icemen, proud ECHL affiliate of the NHL’s Buffalo Sabres and the AHL’s Rochester Americans announced today the team’s Season-Ending Roster for the 2023-24 season.  This is the second of a several-step process that ECHL teams use to begin building their rosters for the 2024-25 season. 

The Icemen placed 18 players on their Season-Ending Roster.  The following is a complete list of players placed on the Season-Ending Roster.  Please note any player on an NHL or AHL contract last season may not be eligible to be placed on the following list:

Goaltenders (2)
Matt Vernon
Joe Murdaca

Defensemen (6)
Ivan Chukarov
Jacob Panetta
Julian Kislin
Connor Russell
Garret Cockerill
Sean Leonard

Forwards (10)
Derek Lodermeier
Ryan Scarfo
Jerry D’Amigo
Chris Grando
Craig Martin
Justin McRae
Matheson Iacopelli 
Brendan Harris
Garrett Van Wyhe
Logan Cockerill

Defenseman Brendan Fortunato, and forwards Christopher Brown, Riley Fiddler-Schultz and Damien Giroux were omitted from the this list because they played under an AHL contract last season.      

Season-Ending Rosters may include up to 20 players. Season-Ending Rosters cannot include any players who did not sign an ECHL contract in 2023-24.

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 11:59 p.m. ET on July 7. 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 2024-25 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 7.

The qualifying offer must remain open for acceptance until 11:59 p.m. ET on July 22 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 11:59 p.m. ET on 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 11:59 p.m. ET on August 8, the player shall be deemed an unrestricted free agent. 

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