Category: Juniors

UMass-Lowell Riverhawks‘ graduate captain, defenseman Jon McDonald(47) signed an ato with Toledo Walleye after finishing up Hockey East tournament play last season.

The tough as nails, the undrafted 6′ 181 lbs. blue liner scored 3 assists in 10 ECHL games.

He played 2 years of USHL junior hockey with Fargo Force and helped them with the 2018 Clark Cup Championship.

The Livonia, MI native signs for his rookie season, 2023/2024 with South Carolina Stingrays.

We think the 25-year old will have great luck with this club.

In 64 games, he scores 4 goals and 13 assists with a +2 rating to score himself a contract with the parent club, Hershey Bears heading into his 2nd campaign.

He would appear in 31 games, scoring 3 goals and 3 assists with a -5 rating, then appeared in 7 playoff matchups with o points, but was a +2.

For 2025/2026, he re-signs to stay a Bears and will likely be mostly on a 1-way deal.

In his 2nd season with the team, he scores 3 goals and 9 assists in 60 AHL games to gain a new contract to remain in Hershey for 2026/2027.

Michigan State University Spartans‘ senior right wing Tanner Kelly(78) signed a pro contract with Toledo Walleye for his rookie season, 2025/2026.

The 5’10” 174 lbs. had 10+ points in 3 college seasons.

In 10 ECHL games, he has 2 goals and 2 assists.

From San Diego, CA, the 24-year old did 2 years USHL juniors before school.

After a very strong rookie run, scoring 25 goals and 25 assists in 66 games with a +13 rating, he is dealt to Jacksonville Icemen for 2026/2027 to complete a future transactions deal.

6th year defenseman Rob Hamilton(65) trades in the remainder of his 2-year AHL deal with Colorado Eagles to sign a similar pact to Traktor Chelyabinsk through 2024.

The solid 6′ 194 lbs. blue liner played his way up from originally agreeing to ECHL deals, almost literally the same way he is entering his new deal in the KHL.

A former 4-year University Of Vermont Catamounts, he came alive scoring as a senior with 10 goals and 11 assists in 38 games.

The 28-year old from Calgary, AB may just get comfortable in his new hockey environs.

Through 9 games in 2023/2024, he records only 1 assist and is a -4, which must have made his club antsy, as he gets dealt to Dinamo Minsk.

His game curves much the way it did when he 1st arrived, but even better with 4 goals and 19 assists with a +15 rating in 54 games, then another 3 assists in 3 playoff games and he gets re-upped to Minsk for another 2 seasons through 2025/2026.

In his 3rd year with the same club, he scores a league best for himself 5 goals and 20 assists, but is moving on to sign with rivals CSKA Moskva for 2026/2027.

Toronto Maple Leafs‘ 3rd round pick in the 2016 draft (#62 overall) goaltender Joseph Woll(53) maybe wasn’t quite as effective as he wanted to be in the crazy 2021 AHL season, going 7-7 with one shutout and a not great 3.54 GAA and .892 SV%.

The very sizable 6’3″ 205 lbs. goalie posted similar stats as a rookie on affiliate Toronto Marlies with their equally inconsistent .500 game record.

Although last campaign wasn’t pulled until the playoffs, he may have been just getting familiar with the pro side of the game in 2019/2020 after leaving a frame at Boston College Eagles on the shelf to sign his 3-year entry level deal.

He had a pair of decent showings for the USNTDP squad but mostly seemed to shine when he was involved in international play of the WJC tournaments.

The still young 22-year old from Dardenne Prairie, MO only has another season left on his contract, so we’ll look for him to step it up a level as he’s set to become a restricted free agent.

For 2021/2022, he opened the season as back-up in the minors, as part of a trio of able net minders in the system.

He played 3 games with a 2-1 record but his GAA and SV% were still nothing to brag about.

Maybe a little on the unlikely side, but he found himself to be the goalie on recall in November and started his first NHL game, and got a gattling-gun scoring 5-4 win.

He continued up on backup until a bit more than a week later was called for a 2nd start, which happened to be a 20-save shutout shrinking his GAA to 2.00 and .915 SV% on a 2-0 record.

This is a nice opportunity on a fairly smoking hot 2021/2022 club.

He has found himself pressed into action and has rolled a 3-1 record with 2.76 GAA and .911 SV% to earn a 2-year extension to keep working on his game in the system.

After 25 games in net last season, posting 12-11-1 record with good numbers, then goes 2-0 in the playoffs with a .86 GAA and .964 SV%, he earns himself a very nice 3-year extension to stay in a Leafs jersey.

Playing the majority of games for the parent club with good results, he is eyed for a trade with 2 years left on his current deal and gets shipped to Philadelphia Flyers, where he should fit in nicely.

Clarkson University Golden Knights‘ senior defenseman Tristan Sarsland(61) scored 8 goals and 15 assists in 39 games with a +14 rating as a junior and did slightly less in his final frame, but still good and grabs an AHL deal with San Jose Barracuda for 2026/2027.

The 6’1″ 203 lbs. blue liner from Wayzata, MN blew up scoring at USHS-MN and only did NAHL juniors after graduating high school and scored there through the playoffs before college.

He reported to his new team on an ato, playing 4 games with no points, but that should change quickly as he really gets started.

Sacred Heart University Pioneers‘ graduate right wing John Jaworski(18) takes a college best scoring 13 goals and 18 assists in 39 games with a +8 rating to a 1st pro contract 2025/2026 with Cincinnati Cyclones.

The 5’11” 185 lbs. forward did 2 years of juniors before school.

From Grinnell, IA, the 25-year old will likely score well in the ECHL.

After a good scoring season with 15 goals and 20 assists in 55 games with a +3 rating, he decides to take his game elswhere and signs HK 32 Liptovsky Mikulas of Tipsport Extraliga for 2026/2027.

Philadelphia Rebels‘ 3rd NAHL year defenseman Billy Sheridan(2) was looking to step right into his college hockey game, but decided to wait after making an initial decision.

In 46 games last season, he came away with 33 points (10-23).

The 5’11” 172 lbs. blue liner from Sewell, NJ did a lot of his youth hockey in the New Jersey Rockets‘ system.

For 2026/2027, he commits to Neumann University Knights.