Any coach will tell you that a hockey team cannot be carried just by its star players. Depth is pivotal. 

Players who do the little things – block shots, win faceoffs, hit opponents – are just as valuable as the players who score the goals and make highlight-reel passes.

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While the ECHL has plenty of ballyhooed stars – such as the Norfolk Admirals’ Brady Fleurent, the Idaho Steelheads’ Hank Crone and the Savannah Ghost Pirates’ Dennis Cesana – let’s take a look at 10 players who even passionate ECHL fans may not have noticed as much as they should have this season.

Griffin Luce, D, Worcester Railers

No one in the ECHL is blocking nearly as many shots as Luce. According to Hudl Instat, he has 108 blocks – 30 more than the next best in the league, the Kalamazoo Wings’ Colin Saccoman.

Worcester’s defense has been one of the poorest in the league – it’s allowing 3.62 goals per game, fourth-most in the ECHL – but the Railers actually don’t give up a ridiculous number of shots. They are allowing an average of 31.76 shots, 11th in the league, and a lot of those seem to find their way into Luce’s shins.

Luce logs more than 20 minutes of ice time per night, has four goals and seven points in 33 games, and stands out as particularly reliable on a team battling to stay in the playoff race.

Luce, 26, in his is his fifth pro season and has spent much of it in the higher-level American Hockey League, so it’s not surprising he’s done so well against ECHL forwards the past two seasons.

Brady Pouteau, D, Rapid City Rush

Only two players with more than 20 games for Rapid City have positive plus/minus ratings – their leading scorer, Ryan Wagner, and Pouteau, who’s in his second season of pro hockey and first in North America.

He’s got a big frame – 6-foot-3, 204 pounds – and it’s pivotal in front of the net, where he’s blocked 66 shots, third in the ECHL. He also ranks seventh with 74 hits, according to Hudl Instat.

Pouteau, 26, is no slouch offensively with two goals and 11 points in 32 games, which has taken some pressure off blue-liner Billy Constantinou, and he’s helped Rapid City become more competitive with three wins in its last five games.

Odeen Tufto, F, Fort Wayne Komets

Tufto is a skilled forward – obvious from his eight goals and 27 points in 27 games this season – but he’s often overlooked because he’s on a roster with players such as Jack Dugan, Alex Aleardi and Kyle Mayhew.

Tufto’s value is especially high because of the things he does aside from scoring, namely his ability to win faceoffs; he’s got 323 wins, putting him behind only Allen’s Spencer Asuchak (411) and Toledo’s Sam Craggs (338), and Tufto has won a solid 59.1% – sixth among players with more than 330 faceoffs – according to Hudl Instat.

Tufto, 27, also plays a surprisingly physical game and goes to the hard areas, so he’s more than the finesse playmaker some perceive him to be.

Lou-Felix Denis, F, Reading Royals

Denis is a wildly talented forward who had 28 goals and 64 points in 65 games last season in the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League. 

He hasn’t quite found his offensive touch yet – he has five goals and eight points in 31 games for the Royals – but he’s found other ways to contribute.

Denis wins more than 51% of his faceoffs, can quarterback the power play and is responsible in his own zone.

When it comes to physical play, he doesn’t shy away and has 87 hits, which is second only to the 101 of the South Carolina Stingrays’ Ryan Leibold, according to Hudl Instat.

Lou-Félix Denis answers right back with a goal!

REA 1 | WOR 1@ECHL pic.twitter.com/5QDXYclXnF

— Reading Royals (@ReadingRoyals) January 4, 2025

Jackson Berezowski, F, Kansas City Mavericks

Much like Tufto, Berezowski suffers a little in perception because of who he’s surrounded by. 

The Kansas City roster has been paced offensively by Cade Borchardt, Max Andreev, David Noël and Casey Carreau, who each have at least 23 points, and then there’s Berezowski with 12 goals and 20 points in 32 games – very strong numbers.

There are few players in the ECHL who get as many scoring chances as Berezowski, a second-year player who had 18 goals and 54 points in 59 games last season for the Newfoundland Growlers.

At 22 years old, there’s a ton of potential – he had 94 goals over his final two seasons in the Western Hockey League – and once he starts bearing down for the Mavericks, it’ll be something to see. He’s good on the power play, has 76 shots on goal and doesn’t shy away from contact.

Josh Boyer, F, Bloomington Bison

It jumped off the page when the expansion Bison picked up Boyer, 25, from the Atlanta Gladiators for future considerations on Dec. 3 because he seemed a good fit for a blue-collar lineup.

Boyer isn’t afraid to get physical on the ice, blocks a lot of shots, and he’s proven to be opportunistic offensively with six goals and eight points in 13 games since the trade. By comparison, he had only one goal and two points in 19 games over two seasons with Atlanta.

He was never a prodigious scorer in college for Nebraska-Omaha and then St. Lawrence, but the 6-foot-3 forward is starting to break out for the Bison, who are 13-16-2 and in the mix for a playoff spot in the Central Division.

Jordan Sambrook, D, Florida Everblades

I rave often – as does everyone else – about the goaltending of the Everblades’ Cam Johnson. But he does need plenty of help from the defensemen in front of him, and Sambrook is one of the gems.

It’s not just that he provides some offense, including two goals and 14 points in 31 games this season, but he also logs about 18 minutes of ice time per night and is a key to the Everblades’ top-ranked defense (1.97 goals against per game).

Sambrook, 26, has 6-foot-3 size and five seasons of pro experience, including helping the Everblades to the 2022 and 2024 Kelly Cup championships. He blocks shots, has a team-best plus-18 rating and is reliable each and every night.

Alexis Gravel, G, Orlando Solar Bears

Many of us came into this season focused on Ryan Fanti joining the Solar Bears, after he had two seasons with Fort Wayne and then signed an AHL deal with Syracuse Crunch last summer.

But it has been Gravel who has shined in the Orlando net this season, and he’s on an ECHL contract.

Despite a 7-5-4 record that won’t turn any heads, Gravel has a .933 save percentage to go with his 2.31 goals-against average, and he’s also got a shutout.

A 24-year-old rookie out of the University of Quebec-Trois Rivieres, Gravel has been one of the league’s best rookies, he just hasn’t gotten as much attention as other freshmen goalies, such as Wheeling’s Sergei Murashov and Iowa’s William Rousseau.   

Gravel returns to the 407 from the @BellevilleSens. https://t.co/KMGCTS2Hfq

— Orlando Solar Bears (@OrlandoHockey) January 3, 2025

Bear Hughes, F. Tahoe Knight Monsters

Touching the puck often is something a lot of players do, but that doesn’t mean they’re productive. 

Hughes is a puck possessor who has used unselfishness to generate 19 assists, to go with his seven goals, and has helped the expansion Knight Monsters off to a great 20-9-3 start with the No-1 ranked offense in the league (4.00 goals per game, tied with Norfolk).

Scoring from Hughes isn’t new – he had 23 goals and 59 points in 66 games for the South Carolina Stingrays in 2022-23 – but the 23-year-old forward is settling in with the talented Tahoe forward group. He sees time on the power play and the penalty kill, throws his 6-foot-2 frame into opponents and wins the majority of faceoffs he takes.

Brendon Michaelian, D, Toledo Walleye

Toledo has top-tier two-way defensemen in Jalen Smereck and Colin Swoyer, but Michaelian, 27, is a nice security blanket who has tallied two goals, nine points and a plus-6 rating in 34 games.

He logs about 16 minutes of ice time per game, blocks a bunch of shots and plays the body. 

With Toledo in the offensively charged Central Division, he needs to be on his game every night and he’s been tagged with only five penalties this season.

In his second season out of Mercyhurst College, Michaelian is just starting to hit his stride for the Walleye. 

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