The Peoria Rivermen signed two veteran stalwarts from their SPHL championship team and added a rookie defenseman on Monday.
Peoria brought back winger Cayden Cahill and defenseman Braydon Barker, and added newcomer Johnny Aonso.
“Cayden Cahill and Braydon Barker were huge for us last season, we don’t win an SPHL championship without them,” Rivermen coach Jean-Guy Trudel said. “They are both guys who can play at the next level, and carry elite roles here for us on the ice and in leadership off of it.
“We’re counting on them to lift the competitive level of everyone around them.”
Cahill, 27, earned his first ECHL call-up, to Toledo, last season and turned in his best year as a pro.
The 5-foot-10, 180-pound right wing scored career highs in goals (15) and assists (28) for a 43-point effort in 55 games. He returns for his fourth season with the Rivermen, with whom he has 29 goals and 53 assists with a plus-30 rating in 107 regular-season games.
He’s added another goal and assist in 12 playoff games for Peoria, including the game-winner in the opening postseason match on the road at Pensacola last spring.
He came to the Rivermen late in the 2021-22 season after four college campaigns with Wisconsin-River Falls.
A defenseman who can score
Braydon Barker returns for his third season with the Rivermen.
The 6-foot-2, 190-pound defenseman tied for the league lead in goals by all defenseman last season with 13 in 46 games. He notched five power play goals and three game-winners during the regular-season, and notched five assists in seven playoff games on the way to the President’s Cup championship.
Barker, 27, has played 100 games in two seasons for the Rivermen, including playoffs. He has 16 goals, 22 assists and a plus-21 rating.
Barker played his college hockey at Concordia University (Wis.) and went right to the Double-A ECHL as a rookie, spending 50 games with Orlando in 2021-22.
Meet a rookie defenseman
Rookie defenseman John Aonso was part of a Melbourne Ice team that reached Australia’s championship game before losing last week to end the pro season down under. The 6-foot-3, 200-pound defenseman played the last four seasons at NCAA Division-III SUNY-Fredonia.
River Readings
The Rivermen will have a significant presence in ECHL camps this fall, as several current or former players from Peoria’s SPHL championship team are getting looks with class-AA teams. Among them are: Tristan Trudel (Fort Wayne), Chase Spencer (Tulsa), Renat Dadadzhanov (Maine), Josh Martin (Bloomington), Mike Gelatt (Bloomington), Troy Kobryn (Tulsa) and Tyler Kobryn (Tulsa).
