WORCESTER, Mass. – The Worcester Railers Hockey Club, ECHL affiliate of the St. Louis Blues, announced that the club has signed forwards Matt DeMelis, MacAuley Carson, Dalton Duhart and Matthew Hobbs to contracts for the 2026-27 season.

DeMelis, 27, re-signs in Worcester for his third professional season. The Railers first signed DeMelis as a free agent out of Northeastern University ahead of the 2024-25 season. The Hingham, Massachusetts native was one of two skaters to have played in all 72 games for Worcester during the 2025-26 season, along with Railers captain Anthony Repaci. DeMelis set career-highs in goals (19), assists (23) and points (42), finishing third among all Railers skaters in goals while placing fourth in assists and points. DeMelis is 11th all-time in points (68) in Railers club history, two behind Jacob Hayhurst entering the season for 10th on the all-time list. Prior to professional hockey, he played five seasons of collegiate hockey at Northeastern. Across his five-year career with the Huskies, DeMelis had 50 points (20g-30a) in 152 games played. He won three Beanpot Championships at Northeastern, including back-to-back championships while scoring the game-tying goal against Boston University in the 2024 Beanpot Championship.

Carson, 27, re-signs in Worcester for his second professional season. The Railers first acquired Carson in a trade with the Jacksonville Icemen on Nov. 24, 2025. In 36 games played for Worcester, Carson had seven goals to go with 12 assists and 19 points. The Midhurst, Ontario native had a stretch of 14 points in 15 games for Worcester from Jan. 24-March 30, as he scored four goals to go with ten assists in that span. He was named the Worcester Railers Seven Hills 7th Player Award Winner, in addition to the Railers Player of the Month for the month of March as voted on by the Worcester Railers Booster Club members. He began his professional career after wrapping up his collegiate career at the University of New Brunswick. Carson totaled 44 points (14g-30a) with 182 penalty minutes in 100 games played for the Varsity Reds from 2021-22, while winning two USports University Cup titles in 2023 & 2024, and four AUS Conference Championships in all four seasons he played at UNB (2022, 2023, 2024, 2025).

Duhart, 25, re-signs in Worcester for his third professional season. The Railers first acquired Duhart in a trade with the Indy Fuel on March 18, 2026. Duhart played in four games for Worcester at the end of the season, notching a goal and an assist to go with a +2 rating. In 54 games with the Icemen last season, he had 16 points (8g-8a) to go with 10 penalty minutes. The Grand Blanc, Michigan native has appeared in games for the Icemen, Bloomington Bison and Kansas City Mavericks across his two-year career. In 96 ECHL games, Duhart has 27 points (12g-15a) to go with 37 penalty minutes.

Hobbs, 27, signs in Worcester for his first full season in the ECHL. He has spent the past four full seasons in the SPHL with the Evansville Thunderbolts, serving as their captain each the past two campaigns. Hobbs is a two-time SPHL champion with the Thunderbolts, having led Evansville to President's Cups in each the 2024-25 and 2025-26 seasons. In 28 SPHL playoff games, Hobbs has 16 points (2g-14a) to go with 48 penalty minutes. In 227 SPHL regular season games, Hobbs has 96 points (38g-58a) to go with 554 penalty minutes. The Burlington, Ontario native began the 2021-22 season in Sweden before returning to the United States to play for the Birmingham Bulls and Thunderbolts of the SPHL. Hobbs played in two games that season for the Newfoundland Growlers, picking up an assist to go with seven penalty minutes.