Elite Hockey Experience

The following list of players are scheduled to not be eligible for EHE play in the 2019-20 season, due to retirement or agreements they have with teams in Europe or Asia. You may still retain their rights depending on their contract situation and age. Later in the offseason, GMs will also have the right to elect three of their own players on this list to remain active for next season, if they are currently under contract, have not retired, and were not chosen for reactivation last season.


As of November 3, 2019:
Player (19-20 Rightsholder)

Mathias Bau (ANA)
Jordan Caron (ANA)
Emil Johansson (ANA)
Marcus Kruger (ANA)
Ivan Kulbakov (ANA)
Adam Ollas Mattsson (ANA)
Michael Cammalleri (AZ)
Colin Greening (BOS)
Alexandre Ranger (BOS)
Ryan Spooner (BOS)
Brady Austin (BUF)
Grayson Downing (BUF)
Sammy Herr (BUF)
Sam Jardine (BUF)
Kerby Rychel (BUF)
Frankie Simonelli (BUF)
Jordan Subban (BUF)
Tommy Vannelli (BUF)
Jakob Forsbacka Karlsson (CGY)
David Ullström (CAR)
Ryan Callahan (CHI)
Joe Cannata (CHI)
Dan Girardi (CHI)
Harry Zolnierczyk (CHI)
Tyler Moy (CHI)
Kevin Spinozzi (CHI)
Braden Christoffer (COL)
Adam Musil (COL)
Benoît Pouliot (COL)
Ty Rattie (COL)
Jake Chelios (CBJ)
Freddie Hamilton (CBJ)
Josh Jooris (CBJ)
Jacob Josefson (CBJ)
Wade Megan (CBJ)
Jack Skille (CBJ)
Daniel Altshuller (DAL)
Kyle Brodziak (DAL)
Eric Gryba (DAL)
Colby Robak (DAL)
Chase Balisy (DET)
Jonathan Dahlén (DET)
Jens Lööke (DET)
Jesse Puljujarvi (DET)
Jussi Jokinen (EDM)
Jamie Phillips (EDM)
Kyle Platzer (EDM)
Scooter Vaughan (EDM)
Mark Zengerle (EDM)
Trevor Cheek (FLA)
Joe Colborne (FLA)
Stefan Elliott (FLA)
Axel Holmström (FLA)
Tobias Lindberg (FLA)
Chris Thorburn (FLA)
Michal Čajkovsky (LA)
Tony Cameranesi (LA)
Wayne Simpson (LA)
Jeremy Smith (LA)
Jonne Tammela (LA)
Eric Tangradi (LA)
Victor Ejdsell (MIN)
Reid Gardiner (MIN)
Niklas Hansson (MIN)
Joonas Lyytinen (MIN)
Reid Petryk (MIN)
Kevin Tansey (MIN)
Colton Hargrove (MTL)
Harri Säteri (MTL)
Nikita Scherbak (MTL)
Jordan Schroeder (MTL)
Scott Eansor (NSH)
Kevin Ekman-Larsson (NSH)
Jesse Gabrielle (NSH)
Pavel Jenys (NSH)
Emil Pettersson (NSH)
Eric Roy (NSH)
Kevin Bieksa (NJ)
Evan Cowley (NJ)
Mark Fayne (NJ)
Tomáš Hyka (NJ)
Sven Andrighetto (NYI)
Marek Mazanec (NYI)
Robin Press (NYI)
Kristers Gudlevskis (NYR)
Zac Lynch (NYR)
Nikita Soshnikov (NYR)
Sergei Boikov (OTT)
Vaclav Karabáček (OTT)
Peter Budaj (PHI)
Chris Carlisle (PHI)
Daniel Ciampini (PHI)
Adam Helewka (PHI)
Peter Holland (PHI)
Dmitrij Jaskin (PHI)
Max Reinhart (PHI)
Ludwig Byström (PIT)
Mitch Callahan (PIT)
Austin Carroll (PIT)
Matt O'Connor (PIT)
Colin Stevens (PIT)
Curtis Valk (PIT)
Julius Bergman (STL)
Trevor Murphy (STL)
Travis Brown (SJ)
Jakub Jerabek (SJ)
Juho Lammikko (SJ)
Ryan Mantha (SJ)
Steve Mason (SJ)
Zack Mitchell (SJ)
Lukas Sedlak (SJ)
Mike Sislo (SJ)
Nail Yakupov (SJ)
Chris Bourque (TB)
Dennis Everberg (TB)
Hampus Gustafsson (TB)
Ryan Murphy (TB)
Artur Tyanulin (TB)
Tyler Wong (TB)
Drayson Bowman (TOR)
Simon Despres (TOR)
Tim Erixon (TOR)
Spencer Foo (TOR)
Jesse Graham (VAN)
Maxim Mamin (VAN)
Dominic Moore (VAN)
Anton Rödin (VAN)
Brady Brassart (VGK)
Marian Gaborik (VGK)
Michael Garteig (VGK)
Oscar Lindberg (VGK)
Tom Pyatt (VGK)
Cam Ward (VGK)
Michael Bournival (WSH)
Matt Cullen (WSH)
Matt Hackett (WSH)
Corban Knight (WSH)
Dan Maggio (WSH)
Rick Nash (WSH-Elite)
Andrej Šustr (WSH)
Troy Bourke (WPG)
Brian Cooper (WPG)
Mark McNeill (WPG)
C.J. Motte (WPG)
A.J. Jenks (UFA)
Alex Wideman (UFA)
Andrew O'Brien (WPG)
Adam Cracknell (UFA)
Adam Pardy (UFA)
Ales Hemsky (UFA)
Alex Grant (UFA)
Anders Lindback (UFA)
André Benoît (UFA)
Andrew Miller (UFA)
Anthony Peters (UFA)
Antoine Vermette (UFA)
Antti Niemi (UFA)
Atte Tolvanen (UFA)
Bobby Farnham (UFA)
Bogdan Kiselevich (UFA)
Branden Troock (UFA)
Brandon Mashinter (UFA)
Brett Welychka (UFA)
Brian Flynn (UFA)
Brian Ward (UFA)
Brooks Macek (UFA)
Brooks Orpik (UFA)
Caleb Herbert (UFA)
Chris Butler (UFA)
Chris Crane (UFA)
Chris DiDomenico (UFA)
Chris Kunitz (UFA)
Chris Porter (UFA)
Chris Summers (UFA)
Colin Larkin (UFA)
Connor Jones (UFA)
Cory Ward (UFA)
Daniel Winnik (UFA)
David Broll (UFA)
Dennis Robertson (UFA)
Derian Plouffe (UFA)
Derek MacKenzie (UFA)
Desmond Bergin (UFA)
Drew Miller (UFA)
Eddie Pasquale (UFA)
Egor Yakovlev (UFA)
Elgin Pearce (UFA)
Eric Fehr (UFA)
Ethan Werek (UFA)
Filip Pyrochta (UFA)
Grant Besse (UFA)
Igor Ozhiganov (UFA)
Jagger Dirk (UFA)
Jaime Sifers (UFA)
Jamie McBain (UFA)
Jared Thomas (UFA)
Jaromir Jagr (UFA)
Jason Garrison (UFA)
Jeff Schultz (UFA)
Jeremy Langlois (UFA)
Jim O'Brien (UFA)
Joel Chouinard (UFA)
Joel Ward (UFA)
John Edwardh (UFA)
John Ramage (UFA)
Johnny Austin (UFA)
Johnny Oduya (UFA)
Jordon Southorn (UFA)
Jori Lehterä (UFA)
Josh MacDonald (UFA)
Judd Peterson (UFA)
Justin Hodgman (UFA)
Justin Peters (UFA)
Juuso Ikonen (UFA)
Kari Lehtonen (UFA)
Kyle Schempp (UFA)
Libor Šulák (UFA)
Marcus Högström (UFA)
Mathieu Brodeur (UFA)
Matt Finn (UFA)
Matt Fonteyne (UFA)
Matt Hackett (UFA)
Matt Hendricks (UFA)
Matt Lane (UFA)
Maxi Kammerer (UFA)
Mike Szmatula (UFA)
Niklas Svedberg (UFA)
Nolan Yaremko (UFA)
Patrick Eaves (UFA)
Pierre-Cedric Labrie (UFA)
Riley Bourbonnais (UFA)
Roberto Luongo (UFA)
Shane Hanna (UFA)
Shawn Matthias (UFA)
Stephen Gionta (UFA)
Steve McParland (UFA)
T.J. Melancon (UFA)
Toby Enström (UFA)
Tomas Plekanec (UFA)
Tommy Thompson (UFA)
Travis Morin (UFA)
Trevor Hamilton (UFA)
Troy Josephs (UFA)
Tyler Barnes (UFA)
Viktor Svedberg (UFA)
Yannick Rathgeb (UFA)
Zack Stortini (UFA)
Cody Bass (UFA)
Tim Clifton (UFA)
Niklas Kronwall (UFA)
Joey Leach (UFA)
Ben Lovejoy (UFA)
Mike McKenna (UFA)
Kris Newbury (UFA)
Dennis Seidenberg (UFA)
Lee Stempniak (UFA)

Added to the list on June 15

Adam Ollas Mattsson (ANA)
Alexandre Ranger (BOS)
Grayson Downing (BUF)
Jakob Forsbacka Karlsson (CGY)
David Ullström (CAR)
Tyler Moy (CHI)
Braden Christoffer (COL)
Jake Chelios (CBJ)
Josh Jooris (CBJ)
Jeremy Smith (LA)
Jonne Tammela (LA)
Reid Petryk (MIN)
Kevin Tansey (MIN)
Harri Säteri (MTL)
Jesse Gabrielle (NSH)
Pavel Jenys (NSH)
Tomáš Hyka (NJ)
Mike McMurtry (NJ)
Nikita Soshnikov (NYR)
Daniel Ciampini (PHI)
Peter Holland (PHI)
Trevor Murphy (STL)
Travis Brown (SJ)
Lukas Sedlak (SJ)
Chris Bourque (TB)
Tim Erixon (TOR)
Spencer Foo (TOR)
Michael Bournival (WSH)
Matt Hackett (WSH)
Corban Knight (WSH)
Andrej Šustr (WSH)
Andrew O'Brien (WPG)
Justin Hodgman (UFA)
Jori Lehterä (UFA)
Steve McParland (UFA)
Adam Pardy (UFA)
Eddie Pasquale (UFA)
Filip Pyrochta (UFA)
Libor Šulák (UFA)
Atte Tolvanen (UFA)
Brett Welychka (UFA)


Nick Ebert has been reactivated to NY Islanders.

Added to the list on July 7

Marcus Kruger (ANA)
Colin Greening (BOS)
Sammy Herr (BUF)
Ryan Callahan (CHI)
Kevin Spinozzi (CHI)
Trevor Cheek (FLA)
Stefan Elliott (FLA)
Eric Roy (NSH)
Adam Helewka (PHI)
Austin Carroll (PIT)
Zack Mitchell (SJ)
Tyler Wong (TB)
Simon Despres (TOR)
Michael Garteig (VGK)
Mark McNeill (WPG)
David Broll (UFA)
Chris Butler (UFA)
Adam Cracknell (UFA)
Trevor Hamilton (UFA)
Matt Hendricks (UFA)
Bogdan Kiselevich (UFA)
Roberto Luongo (UFA)
Brooks Macek (UFA)
Jim O'Brien (UFA)
Brooks Orpik (UFA)
Dennis Robertson (UFA)


Jani Hakanpää has been reactivated to Edmonton.

Added to the list on July 27

Mathias Bau (ANA)
Ivan Kulbakov (ANA)
Ryan Spooner (BOS)
Brady Austin (BUF)
Kerby Rychel (BUF)
Ty Rattie (COL)
Chase Balisy (DET)
Jamie Phillips (EDM)
Kyle Platzer (EDM)
Wayne Simpson (LA)
Colton Hargrove (MTL)
Sven Andrighetto (NYI)
Sergei Boikov (OTT)
Mitch Callahan (PIT)
Matt O'Connor (PIT)
Juho Lammikko (SJ)
Ryan Mantha (SJ)
Mike Sislo (SJ)
Hampus Gustafsson (TB)
Ryan Murphy (TB)
Brady Brassart (VGK)
Tom Pyatt (VGK)
Matt Cullen (WSH)
Brian Cooper (WPG)
Riley Bourbonnais (UFA)
Patrick Eaves (UFA)
Eric Fehr (UFA)
Jason Garrison (UFA)
Shane Hanna (UFA)
Matt Lane (UFA)
Kari Lehtonen (UFA)
Josh MacDonald (UFA)
Chris Summers (UFA)
Mike Szmatula (UFA)
Brian Ward (UFA)
Nolan Yaremko (UFA)


Tommy Hughes has been reactivated to Los Angeles.
Ryan Johnston has been reactivated to Pittsburgh.

Added to the list on August 23

Sam Jardine (BUF)
Adam Musil (COL)
Wade Megan (CBJ)
Jonathan Dahlén (DET)
Eric Tangradi (LA)
Chris Carlisle (PHI)
Dmitrij Jaskin (PHI)
Artur Tyanulin (TB)
Dan Maggio (WSH)
Johnny Austin (UFA)
Desmond Bergin (UFA)
Mathieu Brodeur (UFA)
Chris Crane (UFA)
Jagger Dirk (UFA)
John Edwardh (UFA)
Bobby Farnham (UFA)
Matt Finn (UFA)
Matt Fonteyne (UFA)
Stephen Gionta (UFA)
A.J. Jenks (UFA)
Troy Josephs (UFA)
Chris Kunitz (UFA)
Pierre-Cedric Labrie (UFA)
Colin Larkin (UFA)
T.J. Melancon (UFA)
Travis Morin (UFA)
Elgin Pearce (UFA)
Judd Peterson (UFA)
Derian Plouffe (UFA)
Kyle Schempp (UFA)
Zack Stortini (UFA)
Jared Thomas (UFA)
Tommy Thompson (UFA)
Branden Troock (UFA)
Cory Ward (UFA)
Alex Wideman (UFA)


Zack Phillips has been reactivated to Boston.
Eddie Wittchow has been reactivated to Los Angeles.
Casey Bailey has been reactivated to Tampa Bay.
Brad Ross has been reactivated to Toronto.

More players have been added to the list and I'm sure there are a few that happened while I was on vacation that aren't on here. I did list them in the league transactions though. It's important to note that while I've continued to keep track of retiring players, players who transferred overseas after September 13 are eligible to play this season. You also have the right to deactivate any players who did transfer overseas after that date.

Added to the list on November 3

Jordan Subban (BUF)
Dan Girardi (CHI)
Harry Zolnierczyk (CHI)
Kyle Brodziak (DAL)
Eric Gryba (DAL)
Jesse Puljujarvi (DET)
Tobias Lindberg (FLA)
Chris Thorburn (FLA)
Scott Eansor (NSH)
Zac Lynch (NYR)
Oscar Lindberg (VGK)
Cam Ward (VGK)
Cody Bass (UFA)
Tim Clifton (UFA)
Niklas Kronwall (UFA)
Joey Leach (UFA)
Ben Lovejoy (UFA)
Mike McKenna (UFA)
Kris Newbury (UFA)
Dennis Seidenberg (UFA)
Lee Stempniak (UFA)


Lance Bouma has been reactivated to Calgary.
Reid McNeill has been reactivated to Florida.
Alex Guptill has been reactivated to Minnesota.
Hayden Hodgson has been reactivated to Montreal.
Tom Parisi has been reactivated to NY Islanders.
Cole Cassels has been reactivated to NY Rangers.

To further update the situation on Dustin Byfuglien... ... The short of it is: He's being allowed to play... for now.

Elliot Friedman and Chris Johnston have reported that Byfuglien told the Jets in September that he was retiring and the Jets were basically like fuck you. No you're not. Then Byfuglien's camp started saying that he was injured, which I'm sure at some point his agent was saying, "Don't retire. You can get paid while you're on IR." (Byfuglien's never been a very bright guy...) The Jets and Byfuglien's agency have been arguing over whether or not his injury was suffered last season or during the offseason. It seems like we're not going to find out about that fact until after it's already been settled. In the meantime, Byfuglien apparently has told the Jets that he wants to resume his career when he's healthy. I don't know if I really believe that but we can only go off of what we know.

So Byfuglien will be an active player in EHE this season until he decides he no longer wants to play. Whomever holds his rights this season should be aware that he is still very much under retirement watch.

That's ridiculous - words matter and when the below was said, only then did I make a move regarding Byfuglien:

What is going on with Byfuglien come out of nowhere but the Jets weren't expecting this to happen any more than his EHE team was. Sometimes it's just a shitty hand. So Byfuglien is hopefully only temporarily deactivated.

That to me means he's deactivated temporarily - meaning at least to start the season.

I'm not claiming I was hoodwinked - I knew the risk regarding this situation and if Byfuglien announced tomorrow he was coming back, then obviously he should be active in the EHE and that's that. But you're basing this all on some very suspect information, and as of your last comment on the situation, he was to be deactivated, at least some of the upcoming season.

Because we've started so late, he should be deactivated until some sort of OFFICIAL word comes out. Almost all of the reporting is complete speculation, and while some of it is informed, this is precisely why there should be a specific policy to fall back on. True, it's a unique-ish situation, but it's basically a holdout since Byfuglien is under contract, and injured on top of that. As such, he shouldn't be active right now.

To clarify, I'm not upset at me trading him - again, I knew the risk if he were re-activated by WPG this season and was fine with it. I got a pretty good prospect and a pick from moving him, so I'm not sour grapes about the return. I'm just a little miffed about the timeline (being mindful we are starting late and that's fine - life happens!) and that a decision on him seemingly had already been made.

BlackhawksGM wrote: ↑

Sun. Nov. 03, 2019 2:17 pm

That's ridiculous - words matter and when the below was said, only then did I make a move regarding Byfuglien:

What is going on with Byfuglien come out of nowhere but the Jets weren't expecting this to happen any more than his EHE team was. Sometimes it's just a shitty hand. So Byfuglien is hopefully only temporarily deactivated.

That to me means he's deactivated temporarily - meaning at least to start the season.

I'm not claiming I was hoodwinked - I knew the risk regarding this situation and if Byfuglien announced tomorrow he was coming back, then obviously he should be active in the EHE and that's that. But you're basing this all on some very suspect information, and as of your last comment on the situation, he was to be deactivated, at least some of the upcoming season.

Because we've started so late, he should be deactivated until some sort of OFFICIAL word comes out. Almost all of the reporting is complete speculation, and while some of it is informed, this is precisely why there should be a specific policy to fall back on. True, it's a unique-ish situation, but it's basically a holdout since Byfuglien is under contract, and injured on top of that. As such, he shouldn't be active right now.

The way I understand it, he was to be deactivated until we had more news. More news came and Kevin has made a decision based on that. If Byfuglien's to be believed he's no longer contemplating retirement, he's simply injured.

Like you said, you knew the risks when you traded him. And as Kevin mentioned, his availability is still suspect to further news on the situation. You only waited 5 days after the announcement to trade him, and while I get that there was some risk in waiting and potentially having him retire it may have been wise to wait a little longer for more information.

That being said, I do agree with Thomas that it would be great to have these sorts of deactivations clarified in the CBA. What types of real-life injuries result in a player being unavailable in the CBA? If a player holds out do they hold out in the EHE? If a player takes extended time away for whatever reason are they unavailable in the EHE during that time?

Having this clearly stated will make it much easier for GMs to make decisions when these sorts of situations come up. This is especially true for new GMs who will be caught off guard by these types of deactivations.