Cardiff Devils

The returning core

Cardiff head into the 2026/27 Elite League season as defending playoffs champions after Paul Thompson guided his Devils to a 5-2 win Sheffield. Retention seems to be one of the Cardiff's priority this summer and, once again, the vast majority of the playoff-winning side returns for another campaign.

On the blue line, Brandon Estes returns after showing himself as one of the league's best offensive defencemen and is expected to play another leading role. He joins the returning Gleason Fournier, Evan Mosey, Jimmy Oligny, Tyson Helgesen and long serving Brit Mark Richardson.

Josh MacDonald is back to give the Devils primary scoring after scoring 31 goals last year. Similar to the defence, most of Cardiff's 25-26 forward group remains Ryan 'Wheels' Barrow, Joey Martin, Kohen Olischefski, Kristoff Kontos and playoff hero Nolan Yaremko returns along with the Britpack of Ben Davies, Sam Duggan and Bayley Harewood. Fan favourite Riley Brandt has also been retained for another campaign.

Between the pipes, long term Brit stalwart Ben Bowns and the impressive Christian Stoever returns for his 2nd season.

Summer reinforcements

For new faces, Nick Welsh joins from Manchester after an impressive first season in the EIHL. The Devils have added Devils culthero Vezio Sacratini's son Jake joining for his first year pro. Thomas Caron and Panu Mieho both join direct from the Finnish Liiga. We think the Devils have 2 spots to fill and fans will be hoping for additional primary scoring.

Departures & outlook

There have been notable departures, with brit Brett Perlini and primary goal scorer Cole Sanford both leaving the club, while Steven MacLean and Connor Caponi have also moved on to the ECHL.