The Toledo Walleye, the Red Wings’ ECHL affiliate, open the 2026-27 regular season Saturday at 7:35 p.m. against division rival Fort Wayne at Memorial Coliseum in Fort Wayne, Indiana. The opener starts a road-heavy first month: Toledo plays its next two weekends away as well before the Huntington Center home opener on Saturday, Nov. 7, again against the Komets.
The roster
Toledo announced a 27-player opening roster Thursday: 17 forwards, eight defensemen, and two goaltenders. The headline addition is Chris Terry, a former NHL forward and veteran AHL scorer who signed with the Walleye on Wednesday. Returning and newly signed forwards include Scott Docherty, Reilly Funk, Kyle Gaffney, Nick Nardecchia, and Brandon Hawkins, and the blue line includes Cooper Zech, Carter Schade, and Andrew Stacey, who earned a contract out of training camp.
Four players on the opening roster came from Grand Rapids: forward Kaden Bohlsen, defenseman Marcus Crawford, and goaltenders Carter Gylander, assigned by Detroit, and Jonathan Lemieux. The Griffins added a fifth on Friday, reassigning forward Tag Bertuzzi to Toledo ahead of the opener.
In goal
Gylander and Lemieux are the two goaltenders on the opening roster. Gylander was sharp in a preseason game against the Kalamazoo Wings on Oct. 9. Matt Jurusik, who re-signed with Toledo in September, is not on the opening roster.
How to follow
Every ECHL game streams on FloHockey. After Saturday, the Walleye’s home schedule features 33 of 36 dates on Fridays, Saturdays, or Sundays, with Fort Wayne visiting five times.
Leave a Reply