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2025 Wheeling Nailers vs Norfolk Admirals

Kelly Cup Playoffs 2025: ECHL Players To Watch As Postseason Begins

Kelly Cup Playoffs 2025: ECHL Players To Watch As Postseason Begins

The 2025 Kelly Cup Playoffs begin Wednesday. Chris Peters identifies a number of players to watch.

Apr 16, 2025 by Chris Peters
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The ECHL’s Kelly Cup Playoffs are due to begin with the first round as 16 teams – four from each division – square off to begin their first steps toward the league’s coveted championship. It all starts Wednesday night as the Wheeling Nailers meet the Norfolk Admirals in the North Division semifinals.

FloHockey has you covered throughout the playoffs with every single game available live and on demand with a FloHockey subscription. We will also present two games from the opening round for free across FloHockey’s social channels starting with Wheeling vs. Norfolk Game 1 Wednesday night.

To get you ready, here’s a look at some of the star players you’ll want to keep a close eye on in the opening round of the playoffs. 

ECHL Players To Watch In The Kelly Cup Playoffs

Brandon Hawkins, F, Toledo Walleye

It seems to be an annual tradition that Brandon Hawkins is at or near the top of the ECHL’s scoring leaderboard. He finished the 2024-25 regular season with more points than anyone else in the league and has finished with no fewer than 81 points in any of his last three seasons in the league. Affectionately known as The Mayor in Toledo, Hawkins has been seeking to bring the elusive Kelly Cup to Toledo, which has traditionally been one of the best teams in the league but has little hardware to show for it. Having won the Kelly Cup with Fort Wayne in 2021, he’s got that playoff pedigree. Could this be the year Hawkins leads the club to the promised land? The Walleye have to get through the Indy Fuel first.

Sloan Stanick, F, Tahoe Knight Monsters

The ECHL’s Rookie of The Year had an absolutely incredible season with expansion Tahoe. He led all first-year players with 79 points including 29 goals and helped make the Knight Monsters one of the most formidable scoring attacks in the league. At just 21 years old, Stanick made a seamless transition from the WHL to the ECHL and continued his upward trajectory as a prospect after a very productive junior career. The Knight Monsters’ first-round series will be against another high-scoring team in the Wichita Thunder, making it one of the most anticipated first-round series.

Michal Stinil, F, Wichita Thunder

One of the most productive players in the ECHL over the last three seasons, Stinil has had a couple of AHL stints with the San Diego Gulls. When he’s in the ECHL, however, he scores in bunches. He had 77 points this season in 63 games, just two points off of his career high. The Czech forward saw his goal totals slightly dip, but he had a career-best with 52 assists. Wichita has a boatload of scorers, but Stinil is often the straw that stirs the drink. The Thunder face a similarly potent offensive attack in the Tahoe Knight Monsters in Round 1.

Cade Borchardt, F, Kansas City Mavericks

Borchardt led the league in goals with 40 this season, smashing last year’s career high of 24. The second-year pro put up 71 points in just 58 games and earned a few looks with the Coachella Valley Firebirds in the AHL as well. After putting up 11 points in last year’s playoffs, the Mavericks’ top scorer will be looked to, to carry the team offensively heading into this campaign. 

Kyle Mayhew, D, Fort Wayne Komets

We’re still not sure how much Fort Wayne is going to have Mayhew here for the first round as he is currently up with the Bakersfield Condors in the AHL. He is ECHL playoff eligible, but Bakersfield is still locked in a battle for the last spot in the AHL postseason and Mayhew has played well there. But he was just named ECHL defenseman from the year and can be one of the biggest game-changers in the league based on what he can do from the back end. He had 52 points in 60 games this season and 57 the year before with Utah. If he returns to Fort Wayne, it makes them a more potent team in their first-round playoffs matchup with the Iowa Heartlanders.

Chris Jandric, D, Trois-Rivières Lions

I’m not sure anyone saw the kind of season Chris Jandric is having coming. Though he was a productive collegiate defenseman at both the University of Alaska Fairbanks and later North Dakota, he has been explosive this season. The 26-year-old had 50 points in 54 games for the Lions, who are making the playoffs for the first time this season after finishing atop the North Division. He is going to play some massive minutes against Reading.

Cam Johnson, G, Florida Everblades

You can’t talk about the playoffs without talking about Cam Johnson. The three-time defending Kelly Cup champion, starting all the biggest games for the Florida Everblades in their remarkable run, raises his game in the postseason. He was a first-team All-ECHL selection this year for the first time with a .921 save percentage, but in the playoffs he has a career mark of .928 in 63 postseason contests. He’s been the MVP of the playoffs twice. When you get into a best-of-seven, he’s not the goalie you want to be lining up against.

Hank Crone, LW, Norfolk Admirals

A midseason trade sent Crone to the Admirals and he’s put up 10 points in seven games. The former 105-point scorer with the Allen Americans two years ago, Crone can help the scoring attack of the Admirals against a very strong goaltending tandem in Wheeling in Round 1. This could be the last time we see Crone in the ECHL for a while as he has committed to play in Switzerland’s top pro league next year. With a staggering 224 points in 164 career ECHL games, he’s been one of the most entertaining players in the league in the last three seasons.

Jeremie Biakabutuka, D, Tulsa Oilers (ANA)

Traded to the Anaheim Ducks organization as part of the deal that sent Cam Fowler to the St. Louis Blues, Biakabutuka has fit right in with Tulsa, which will go toe-to-toe with Kansas City in the first round. Biakabutuka is a towering defenseman who can play a physical game, but also showed this year that he can produce. Since arriving in Tulsa, he has 28 points in just 32 games. He ended the season with eight points over his last four games.

Taylor Gauthier and Sergei Murashov, G, Wheeling Nailers (PIT)

Gauthier is currently with the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins in the AHL, but Murashov is with the Nailers and I’d bet we’ll see a fair amount of both of them as the Penguins organization looks to get two promising prospects some postseason reps.

I’d expect to see Murahov get the Game 1 start in what has been a sensational first season in North America. With Wheeling, he has a .922 save percentage in 26 games, while winning 17 of those contests. He’s also played 16 games in the AHL and won 12 of those with a .913 save percentage.

If Gauthier gets back, he’s been lights out this year for Wheeling with a .928 save percentage in 30 games for the Nailers. He’s been one of the best goalies in the ECHL over each of the last two seasons including being named goalie of the year last year.

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