Photo Courtesy of the Florida Everblades The Florida Everblades [https://thehockeynews.com/echl/latest-news/everblades-captain-returns-for-2025-26-season]have re-signed defenseman Connor Doherty to a standard player contract for the 2025-26 season. The 32-year-old left-shot blueliner was a mainstay in the Everblades top four last season, his first with the club. Over 60 games, the veteran defender scored four goals and tallied 14 assists, his best ECHL [https://thehockeynews.com/echl/]season since 2022. He also added five assists in 15 post-season games. Throughout his overall ECHL career, Doherty has played 405 games between the Worcester Railers [https://thehockeynews.com/echl/latest-news/worcester-re-signs-donhauser-for-2025-26-season], Kansas City Mavericks [https://thehockeynews.com/echl/community/latest-news/kansas-city-mavericks-add-a-forward], Maine Mariners [https://thehockeynews.com/echl/latest-news/lamppa-dipaolo-return-to-mariners], and Everblades. The Holden, Mass. native has 14 goals and 79 assists during that time. In 2020, he won the league’s Community Service Award as a member of the Railers. Before turning pro, Doherty played three seasons of collegiate hockey [https://thehockeynews.com/ncaa/]at Sacred Heart. He got seven goals and 14 assists over 99 NCAA games. The season before college in 2014, Doherty won a USPHL Premier championship with the Boston Junior Bruins.
