I think that Verbeek's crazy to bring in that many (six to seven) into the AHL considering how many youths we added this year alone. Didn't Verbeek say he wanted overripen prospects? Why rush the lower levels, oversaturate the AHL with youths, and shorten the control over their development?
This year's rookie squad on an ELC
D Zell
D Hinds
C Gaucher
LW Pastujov
LW Nesterenko
RW Caulfield
RW Wiebe
G Clang
This year's rookie squad on an AHL contract
F King
G Suchanek (just signed an future ELC contract for next season; was not drafted)
We're gonna have rookies teaching in-coming rookies with not a lot of veterans there to guide the way.
Reserve list that need signed this summer or lose their rights
RW Colangelo
C/LW Hvidston
F King
F Perbix (probably won't be signed)
C Sundsvik (probably won't be signed)
Signing King and Suchanek to an ELC wouldn't be categorized as new players to the AHL like signing Colangelo and Hvidston.
Two players who might draw an ELC are RW Sidorov and LD Dionicio, since they both turn 20 years old before the next season starts. Although, I did read that Dionicio doesn't want to return to the CHL as an overager next year and has sights on playing in Europe. We still would own Dionicio's rights if he played in Europe. Or maybe it's possible that Sidorov and Dionicio sign AHL contracts like Ben King did this past season.