via Sarah Hobday
The Washington Capitals and South Carolina Stingrays have renewed their affiliation agreement on a three year deal. The Caps and Stingrays have been affiliates from 2004-2012 and 2014-present. To date, there have been 13 former Stingrays to play for Washington. Those mostly include goaltenders such as Braden Holtby, Philipp Grubauer, Pheonix Copley and Michal Neuvirth. In total, there have been 58 players that have played in the ECHL that went on to play for the Caps, including Olie Kolzig, Jay Beagle and Matt Hendricks. Besides Holtby, the only other current Capital to play in the ECHL was Nick Jensen.
“We are excited to extend our agreement with the South Carolina Stingrays organization,” said Capitals general manager Brian MacLellan in a press release. “We look forward to continuing our affiliation with a first-class and successful organization in which our prospects can develop.”
“The Washington Capitals are a first-class organization,” said Stingrays president Rob Concannon in the release. “They have been a great partner with us for a long time. We look forward to continuing to help some of their young prospects develop.”
Five players who have played for South Carolina were under contract with Washington in the 2019-20 season: Braden Holtby, Tyler Lewington, Pheonix Copley, Vitek Vanecek and Kristofers Bindulis. Holtby began the 2009-10 season with the Stingrays and represented South Carolina in the ECHL All-Star Game. In 12 career games with South Carolina, Holtby was 7-2-3 with a 2.95 goals against average and a .911 save percentage. Hershey Bears head coach Spencer Carbery was also head coach of the Stingrays from 2011-2016.
On Wednesday, The Stingrays hired Ryan Blair as the team’s new head coach. There is still no schedule released for the 2020-21 ECHL season.
