Undrafted free agent watch; Appreciation for elite AHL players; Bobby Brink's march to 50 points
Plus: Miroshnichenko and Amirov's fight; News, notes from around the hockey world
It’s undrafted free agent season as March 1 marked the first day NHL teams could offer contracts to such candidates. The top of the market in terms of Canadian Hockey League players is already starting to thin out as most of the top candidates for free agent deals quickly got snapped up.
Teams wasted no time in signing UFAs as Seattle Thunderbirds forward Henrik Rybinski, who was drafted by the Florida Panthers but did not get signed by the club, inked an ELC with the Washington Capitals to get things going. He has 54 points in 39 games so far this season. In short order, the Seattle Kraken made a play for Soo Greyhounds playmaker Tye Kartye, the Pittsburgh Penguins nabbed goalie Taylor Gauthier from the Portland Winterhawks and late-blooming forward Jordan Frasca from the Kingston Frontenacs to help make a bigger dent in a shallow prospect pool. The Tampa Bay Lightning also landed Bennett MacArthur who has 43 points in 27 games for Acadie-Bathurst in the QMJHL this season.
While the CHL market is thinning out, there’s a big college free agent market this season that NHL teams have not yet been able to tap into, but will soon. I just dropped my Top 10 college UFA list on DailyFaceoff.com Thursday, but wanted to share a little extra analysis and reporting here as well, especially as some new information has become available.
Here’s the list (full reports on each player at DFO):
Ben Meyers, C, Minnesota
Bobby Trivigno, LW, UMass
Jake Livingstone, RHD, Minnesota State
Brandon Scanlin, LHD, Omaha
Marc McLaughlin, C/W, Boston College
Corey Andonovski, RW, Princeton
Ethen Frank, RW, Western Michigan
Parker Ford, C, Providence
Taylor Ward, RW, Omaha
Noah Philp, C, University of Alberta (USports)
Six others to watch: Clay Stevenson, G, Dartmouth; Zach Metsa, D, Quinnipiac; Brandon Bussi, G, Western Michigan; Riese Gaber, C, North Dakota; Jaxson Stauber, G, Providence; Nick Blankenburg, D, Michigan.
I think Meyers is far and away the best overall UFA on the board this year. I think he can play int he NHL immediately and potentially make an impact for a roster as early as next season. I keep looking at what Alex Iafallo has become for the Los Angeles Kings and think that Meyers could be on a very similar track.
Also, as I noted in the piece, Riese Gaber and Jaxson Stauber are among the college UFA’s most likely to return to school and not actually sign this summer. Since the story dropped, I have also gotten more indications that Jake Livingstone is likely to go back to Minnesota State for another NCAA season. I don’t think that news will prevent teams from reaching out just to guage things, but those three may not be heading out. At the very least, keep an eye on where those players go if they get invites to player development camps in the offseason. Sometimes, but not as often as you’d think, that can be an indication of where a player might sign when his college career is over.
The big late riser this year is Andonovski. I was told as many as 15 teams have expressed interest in signing the speedy Princeton winger and that there was a pretty large contingent of scouts to see him in recent weekends. I really like the speed he brings to the table and I wonder if he can tailor his game to being an aggressive forechecker and a force in transition. I’m still not certain I see him being much of a producer, but I’d also like to see what he looks like playing with better competition.
The goalie market is pretty soft for this year, but I do think Brandon Bussi has a lot of interest among NHL teams. The 6-foot-5 goalie is one that has a lot of raw tools and needs some refinement to really round out. He has the option to return to Western Michigan for another year and I really wouldn’t blame him if he did. He’s close, but there’s work to be done and it might help to stay and dominate before moving on. We’ll see where that one goes.
Also, I included Noah Philp from USports on a tip. I’ve heard he’s getting more NHL interest and went and did some video work on him. He’s missed a good chunk of the season, but he basically came back and scored at a goal-per-game pace. He’s a big center with a heavy shot and I’ve heard good things about his character. He’s dealt with some very serious personal adversity in the last year and it’s been particularly impressive to see how he has returned to his team and been a dominant force.
USports in general has become a more fertile recruiting ground for free agents and I think that will continue as we come out of these last few years where COVID-19 provided so much disruption to individual players and teams. Those junior players that missed out on extra looks for the draft or for free agent contracts may get themselves on the map at a Canadian university. Assuming they continue to put in the work and play at a high enough level, the dream doesn’t have to die after junior hockey.
I’ve also seen a ton of high-level USports alumni in the ECHL games I’ve covered this year and will be fascinated to see if any of them advance to the AHL. Once they get there, they’re really only a step away. It’s a big step, but something to keep an eye on over these next three years or so as players find their way out of the COVID-induced disruption to their careers.
There were some players I didn’t list that I could also see getting longer looks from NHL teams. Among them: Ethan Frisch, D, North Dakota; Jaxon Nelson, C, Minnesota; Julian Napravnik, C/W, Minnesota State; Trenton Bliss, C, Michigan Tech; Drew Worrad, C, Western Michigan; Wyatt Bongiavanni, C, Quinnipiac.
The underrated value of elite AHL veteran players
If there is one significant misconception NHL fans have when it comes to the AHL, it’s that veteran players on their favorite club’s farm team are taking ice time away from the team’s younger, more prominent prospects. It annoys me a bit because it completely under-appreciates what those veteran players are actually doing — aside from being excellent, if not the elite of the elite, hockey players.
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