The Philadelphia Wings have named goaltender Dallas Eliuk, Philadelphia’s longest current tenured professional athlete, as its franchise player for the 2006 season.  The National Lacrosse League allows each team to declare up to two franchise players who each receive the League’s maximum veteran salary plus an additional 15-percent. 

                “Dallas has been a cornerstone of the Wings franchise since the day we signed him in 1991,” said Wings President Russ Cline.  “He is one of the greatest competitors the League has ever seen and it is a given that we would give him franchise status.”

                Eliuk and his teammates return to the turf when the Wings open training camp in early November.  The Wings will open the 2006 season in January.

                Eliuk is the most decorated goaltender in professional lacrosse history and has won four championships, nine All-Pro awards, and two championship MVP awards during his 15-year career with the Wings.  Eliuk has made 5,764 regular season career saves and has an 80% save percentage.  He leads the Wings in all-time games played with 159.  Eliuk outranks the following currently active players amongst Philadelphia sports teams:

Philadelphia Flyers           Eric Desjardins         1994-95

Philadelphia 76ers            Allen Iverson             1994-95

Philadelphia Phantoms     Neil Little                  1999-00 (Loaned to Grand Rapids in 98-99)

Philadelphia Phillies         Mike Lieberthal          1996 (First complete MLB season)

Philadelphia Eagles          Hollis Thomas           1996

Philadelphia Kixx              Don D’Ambra            1996-97

                                       Peter Pappas            1996-97

                To qualify for Unrestricted Free Agency for the 2006 season, a player must be at least 32 years of age on or before January 1, 2006. The player must have also previously played in all or part of at least six seasons in the NLL or the Major Indoor Lacrosse League (MILL), the predecessor to the NLL. Younger players and those with less than six seasons of experience do not qualify for Unrestricted Free Agency, and therefore cannot be declared as franchise players.