By: Andy Zilch, Bloomington Bison
Bloomington, Ill. – Bloomington Bison General Manager and Head Coach, Phillip Barski, announced the team’s qualifying offers.
The Qualifying Offers are as follows:
FORWARDS (5): Chongmin Lee, Brandon Yeamans, Mikael Robidoux, Brett Budgell, Connor Lockhart
DEFENSEMAN (1): Zack Hoffman
GOALTENDER (1): Mark Sinclair
Each team was entitled to reserve the rights to a maximum of eight qualified players. Of the eight qualified players, no more than four could be veterans (260 regular season professional hockey games played as of the start of the upcoming 2025-26 Season). Players on open qualifying offers cannot be traded.
The qualifying offer must remain open for acceptance until July 22, at which time the qualifying offer becomes null and void, and the team may sign the qualified player to any salary or may elect to take no further action. Teams that extend a valid qualifying offer to a non-veteran player shall retain the rights to that qualified player for one playing season.
A team that extends a valid qualifying offer to a veteran player, or to a goaltender who has played more than 180 regular-season games, will retain the rights to that player until July 22. After July 22, if the veteran player or goaltender is not signed to a contract by the team, the player shall be deemed a restricted free agent and shall be entitled to seek and secure offers of employment from other ECHL teams. Restricted free agents may not be traded. When a restricted free agent receives a contract offer from a team other than the team with the player’s rights and the restricted free agent wishes to accept the contract offer, the restricted free agent and the offering member must, within 24 hours, notify the ECHL, the team with the player’s rights and the Professional Hockey Players’ Association. The member with the player’s rights shall have seven days after being notified to exercise their right to match the contract offer.
2025-26 Full and Half Season Memberships are now on sale! Full Season Membership pricing starts at just $699 per seat. Half-season membership pricing starts at just $379 per seat. 10-month payment plans are also available! To secure your seats, visit bloomingtonbisonhockey.com or call (309) 965-HERD.
