The South Carolina Stingrays, ECHL affiliate of the NHL's Washington Capitals and AHL's Hershey Bears, announced today that the club has agreed to terms with defensemen Jacob Graves and Andrew Perrott for the 2024-25 season.
Graves, 29, brings eight seasons of professional hockey experience to the Stingrays. Last season, he captained the Atlanta Gladiators before being traded to the Toledo Walleye and helping them reach the ECHL's Western Conference final on a run that included a 22-game win streak. The 6-2, 190-pound defenseman is known for his physical presence on the ice, and he accumulated a career-high 146 penalty minutes in 58 regular season games last season.
"I'm really happy to have Jacob come to South Carolina," said Stingrays Head Coach Jared Nightingale. "He is a player who fits our identity of being a tough team to play against. I wanted to add a veteran player and know how important it is to have your veterans be high character, team-first guys who bring valuable experience. Jacob checks all the boxes, and I'm really excited for him to be with the Stingrays."
In 327 career ECHL games, Graves has 72 points (11 goals, 61 assists) and 639 penalty minutes. Graves also has American Hockey League experience, appearing in 42 games with the Cleveland Monsters in the 2016-17 and 2017-18 seasons. Graves faced the Stingrays ten times last season as a member of the Gladiators. He was traded to Toledo two days before the Walleye and Stingrays faced off on March 13. He missed that matchup, a 5-4 comeback victory for the Stingrays, but the Walleye won 22 consecutive games after that loss, and Graves was in the lineup for all of them.
An ECHL veteran with 27 career games of playoff experience, Graves wants to help the Stingrays return to the postseason this year.
"The goal is definitely to get the Stingrays back to the playoffs," said Graves. "I thought the Stingrays had a heck of a team last year, and if they got into the playoffs, they could have done some damage. I'm excited that this team has a lot of offense. My style is defense-first and physical, and hopefully, I can bring that to the team this year."
Perrott, 22, reunites with Coach Nightingale after playing for him for the last two seasons with the AHL's Rockford IceHogs. The 5-10 216-pound defenseman has split time between the IceHogs and the ECHL's Indy Fuel in both seasons of his young professional career.
"Having coached Andrew the last two years, I feel really fortunate to work with him again," said Nightingale. "Andrew's best hockey is ahead of him, and he is at his best when he plays physical. He is also really good at distributing the puck. With him and Jacob, these two signings are a good start for us to build a foundation of being tough to play against."
Perrott has 33 games of AHL experience with Rockford, tallying seven points (two goals, five assists. The hard-nosed defenseman has spent most of his professional career with the Indy Fuel, where he has registered 28 points (5 goals, 23 assists) in 70 games. Like Graves, Perrott's focus is on helping the Stingrays return to the postseason.
"I'm super excited to get started with South Carolina, and I'm looking forward to getting them back in the playoffs and where they should be," Perrott said. "I know this team has a storied history of winning championships and being one of the better teams in the league year to year. Coach Nightingale and I had a great relationship in Rockford, and that was part of the reason why South Carolina was the team I chose to continue my career with. He thinks the game well, and having him as our Head Coach will impact our team positively. I'm looking forward to continuing my career under him."
Graves and Perrott are the first defensemen to join the Stingrays for the 2024-25 season.
The Stingrays 2024-25 season begins on Saturday, October 19, with the Home Opener against the Savannah Ghost Pirates at 6:05 p.m. The full schedule can be viewed here.
