Keeper inks deal with Stingrays

NORTH CHARLESTON, S.C. – The South Carolina Stingrays, ECHL affiliate of the National Hockey League’s Washington Capitals and American Hockey League’s Hershey Bears, announced today that they have agreed to terms with defenseman Brady Keeper for the 2025-26 season.

Keeper spent three separate stints in the NHL with the Florida Panthers and played four seasons in the AHL, last with Laval Rocket in the 2023-24 season.

The 29-year-old signed with the Panthers on March 18, 2019 after completing his collegiate career at the University of Maine and made his NHL debut on March 29, 2019. He became the first member of the Pimicikamak Cree Nation to play in the NHL in a 5-2 win for Florida over the Ottawa Senators.

After his debut, Keeper played in two more games for Florida over the next two seasons and played in the AHL for the Springfield Thunderbirds and Syracuse Crunch. During the 2019-20 season, he posted career highs in Springfield with 18 points (6g-12a) and totaled 108 penalty minutes, seventh most in the AHL that year.

Following his time with the Panthers, Keeper signed with the Vancouver Canucks and played for their AHL affiliate, the Abbotsford Canucks, in the 2022-23 season before signing with the Montreal Canadiens for the 2023-24 season. He tallied four points (1g-3a) in 22 games with Montreal’s AHL affiliate, the Laval Rocket, that year. In his career in the AHL, Keeper posted 32 points (11g-21a) in 131 games.