Columbus Cottonmouths lose Patrick Murphy in SPHL expansion draft

The SPHL held an expansion draft Monday as the league looks to welcome the Evansville Thunderbolts and the Roanoke Rail Yard Dawgs to the league for the 2016-17 season.

Each team got to pick six players from the other teams in the league. the Columbus Cottonmouths lost Patrick Murphy to Evansville.

The defenseman played just seven games for the Snakes last season. He scored one goal and had one assist.

The list of Columbus’ protected players were Brandon Jaeger, Alex Pompeo, Kyle Shapiro, Rusty Hafner, Craig Simchuk, Patrick McCadden, Andy Bathgate, Chad Bennett, Alex Kromm, Shawn Bates, Ben O’Quinn, Chris Rial and Kyle Johnson.

The SPHL also announced that the Louisiana IceGators will not field a team for next season as the Cajundome in Lafayette, La., undergoes renovations.

The Cottonmouths open the 2016-17 season in October.

This story was originally published May 17, 2016 at 6:43 PM with the headline "Columbus Cottonmouths lose Patrick Murphy in SPHL expansion draft."