PEORIA — The Peoria Rivermen began the rebuilding process for the 2026-27 season Thursday when the SPHL deadline arrived for teams to submit their protection lists.
Each team was permitted to choose 13 players from its final roster in the playoffs.
Players who finished the 2025-26 season under team suspension or on ECHL call-ups were also eligible to be protected.
Teams keep the SPHL rights to players on their 13-man lists. Some prominent players might not be listed because they have already guaranteed their team they will return only to them, or have indicated they will retire or plan to play in a different league.
“It’s always a difficult thing to put together,” Rivermen head coach Jean-Guy Trudel said. “It can be a bit of a chess game. Guys don’t always know right after the playoffs end whether they are going to play again. At this level, if a guy has a chance to take a non-hockey job in the world he often will do that.
“Or if his body is breaking down, or any number of reasons. JM Piotrowski says he is retiring. Braydon Barker is undecided, he’s dealing with a lot of injuries. We didn’t cover Alec Baer because he’s our captain, he’s living full-time in Peoria now and we know he’s only going to play for us.”
The Rivermen protected list:
Among the players not protected from the Peoria roster that reached the SPHL President’s Cup Finals were right wings Daniel Chartrand and Barker; centers Matt Wiesner and Piotrowski; left wing Griffen Fox; Baer; defensemen Terry Ryder and Cory Dennis; and goaltender Nick Latinovich.
Trudel says goaltender Connor McAnanama, who was tremendous here during a call-up from the low-A FPHL, has indicated he wants to play for Peoria next season. The Rivermen could have protected him because he was placed on team suspension when they sent him back down to the FPHL before the playoffs.
“The bottom line is, we’ll be happy to get any of those guys back if they want to play here,” Trudel said.
Dave Eminian is the Journal Star senior writer and sports columnist, and covers Bradley men’s basketball, the Rivermen and Chiefs. He writes the Cleve In The Eve sports column for pjstar.com. He can be reached at deminian@pjstar.com. Follow him on X.com @icetimecleve.
This article originally appeared on Journal Star: An inside look at players on the Rivermen protected player list, and why
Reporting by Dave Eminian, Peoria Journal Star / Journal Star
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