St. Louis defenseman Wilhelm signs NAHL tender
November 10, 2016
The St. Louis Jr. Blues, proud members of the NA3HL, are pleased to announce that defenseman Trevor Wilhelm has signed a tender agreement with the Corpus Christi IceRays of the NAHL.
A 5’8”, 170lb right-hander from St Louis, Mo., Wilhelm has made a big splash in his first season in junior hockey. He has scored twelve points (6 goals, 6 assists) in 14 games played, accumulating a plus-minus rating of +5. He has also been a regular fixture on special teams, scoring four power-play points (1G, 3A) and also serving as an effective penalty-killer. Wilhelm was named Midwest Division Star of the Week for the week of October 16.
Jr. Blues head coach Chris Flaugher noted that “Trevor is really a complete package of a defenseman: he’s strong in both zones, accountable with the puck on his stick, and a great man to have out there on special teams. He’s committed on and off the ice to become a better player. Trevor has been spending time with [Jr. Blues assistant coach and] his personal off-ice trainer CJ Jung to get stronger. We as an organization are incredibly happy for him.”
This will not be Wilhelm’s first trip to the Coastal Bend: as IceRays coach Brad Flynn said, “we were really impressed with Trevor at our main camp and then again in Corpus. As the youngest defenseman we had brought, we felt that it was important that he go back [to the Jr. Blues], learn the junior game while playing big minutes and develop. It was always our plan to tender Trevor, and we aren’t just getting a good player but also a good person.”
Likewise, Wilhelm isn’t the first Jr. Blue to tender with Corpus, as Andy McGlynn signed with the IceRays following the 2014-15 season. McGlynn has played the past two seasons in South Texas, this year scoring six goals and five assists in 15 games. In addition, Frankie Melton (now with the Shreveport Mudbugs) got his first NAHL action with the IceRays, as he was a mid-season call-up in 2014-15.
A tender is a contract, of sorts, a player signs announcing his intentions to play for that particular NAHL team and that NAHL team only. Once a player signs a tender with an NAHL team, his playing rights belong to that team within the NAHL and he may not be recruited by any other NAHL team. Each team is granted ten (10) tenders, which include one tender exclusively used on players from the NA3HL - plus or minus any trades - which became active on Nov. 1. Tendered players are not eligible for the NAHL draft, which will be held on June 2, 2017.
