News release
25 May 2007
PRINCETON, N.J. For the seventh consecutive year a former ECHL player will be a member of the National Hockey League Champion.
The ECHL is represented in the Stanley Cup Finals by Anaheim assistant coach Dave Farrish and Ducks players Francois Beauchemin and George Parros and by Ottawa players Joe Corvo, Chris Neil and Lawrence Nycholat.
For the sixth consecutive year that the Stanley Cup was awarded, the ECHL was represented in 2006 by Carolina head coach Peter Laviolette, who became the first ECHL coach to hoist the coveted trophy, Chad LaRose, Andrew Hutchinson and assistant athletic trainer Chris Stewart.
The ECHL was represented on each of the 16 teams in the Stanley Cup Playoffs including more than 30 players for the second year in a row and over 25 players for the fourth straight season. For the third year in a row there were six former ECHL coaches behind the benches of teams in the NHL postseason. Four referees and three linesmen with ECHL experience worked the Stanley Cup Playoffs, seven of the 15 former league officials who worked in the NHL in 2006-07.
There are 11 former ECHL players whose names are on the Stanley Cup: Chad LaRose and Andrew Hutchinson (Carolina - 2006), Ruslan Fedotenko, Nolan Pratt and Andre Roy (Tampa Bay 2004), Corey Schwab (New Jersey 2003), Manny Legace (Detroit 2002), David Aebischer and Nolan Pratt (Colorado 2001), Krzysztof Oliwa (New Jersey 2000) and Kevin Dean (New Jersey 1995). Pratt is the only ECHL player to have his name engraved twice on the Stanley Cup.
The Premier AA Hockey League, the ECHL has affiliations with 25 of the 30 teams in the National Hockey League in 2006-07, marking the 10th consecutive season that the league has had affiliations with at least 20 teams in the NHL. There were two NHL head coaches (Peter Laviolette of Carolina and Jim Playfair of Calgary) and nine NHL assistant coaches who have experience in the ECHL.
There have been 329 players who have played in the NHL after the ECHL and 184 who have made their debut in the last five seasons, including 26 in 2006-07 and a record 47 in 2005-06. Each of the past four seasons there have been more than 50 former ECHL players on NHL opening-day rosters including a record 57 players in 2006-07. In each of the past five seasons there have been more than 100 players on NHL contracts who have played in the ECHL including 130 in 2006-07.