Future for ECHL, other minor leaguers tenuous

Tom Parisi made the long drive from South Carolina to his home just south of Boston with a lot on his mind.

The ECHL season had just been cancelled because of the coronavirus pandemic, and the 26-year-old wondered if he’d need to dig for oysters on the beach or do odd jobs around the neighbourhood to make ends meet. He and many fellow minor hockey league players are struggling and don’t know how they will afford to get to next season.

“I’m obviously going to try my best to do what I can to whip up some money, but it might take a couple weeks before I can even do that,” Parisi said. “Just not knowing what’s going to happen and how I’m going to survive the next couple months is probably the biggest worry.”

The 26-team ECHL — a developmental pro league just below the American Hockey League — cancelled its season in mid-March, three weeks before the playoffs. The final paychecks came March 16, a significant blow to more than 400 players on ECHL-only contracts who make an average of $700-725 per week, less than $3,000 per month.

Players on NHL deals continue to be paid while the season is suspended, but ECHL teams couldn’t afford to follow the same path. Hockey players in the minors face an uncertain future and even offseason jobs could be hard to come by.

“I kind of figured that I’d be able to just get maybe a labour or summer job at the end of the season,” said 29-yearold forward James Henry, a veteran of seven ECHL seasons. “With how everything’s going and everything being closed, that seems like a more difficult job to obtain right now.”

Professional Hockey Players Association executive director Larry Landon said the organization will contribute the first $200,000 into the COVID-19 ECHL Players Relief Fund, which launched Wednesday.

Landon knows the fund won’t be able to give players 100% of what they would have earned, but hopes members look into the career-enhancement program for ideas on life beyond the sport.