Category: NHL Draft Pick

31Oct

Matt Benning (5)

Posted in College Hockey Player, Free Agent Signing, Juniors, NHL Draft Pick | Leave a comment

8th year defenseman Matt Benning(5) skates his 400th NHL game for new club San Jose Sharks, where he seems to have found his footing for assists and is dangerously close to surpassing his career high of 15 as a sophomore skater.

He currently has 13 helpers in 35 appearances.

The 6’1″ 203 lbs. blue liner was originally a Boston Bruins‘ 6th round pick in the 2012 draft (#175 overall), but was dished to Edmonton Oilers before so much as getting out of his debut training camp.

Born in St. Albert, AB, he comes from a hockey family and studied 3 years at Northeastern University Huskies before deciding to turn pro.

The 28-year old signed a 4-year $1.25M AAV deal that runs through 2026, but he may have landed at a nice team for him to be and continue with.

7 games into the new season with 3rd year team, he is traded to Toronto Maple Leafs.

If he can remain healthy and rebound his game, he should adjust well to the style of his new team and contribute.

28Oct

Artem Shlaine (8)

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Undrafted, Russian-born center Artem Shlaine(8) takes a pair of good seasons at University Of Connecticut Huskies to a new adventure through the transfer portal for his junior season with Northern Michigan University Wildcats.

The 6’1″ 174 lbs. forward scored a college career high 7 goals and 10 assists for 17 points in 36 NCAA Division 1 games, sending his team all the way to the Hockey East Finals before being eliminated in overtime.

Despite being from fairly far away, the New Jersey Devils’ 5th round pick in the 2020 draft (#130 overall) has already spent a good amount of time here through youth hockey and a couple of extraordinary years at Shattuck St. Marys USHS-Prep.

The 20-year old will likely do well in his new hockey home.

After putting up 10+ goals and assists (21 as a junior) in each of his 2 seasons in the midwest, he leaves for a graduate program start at Arizona State University Sun Devils.

27Oct

Taylor Makar (18)

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University Of Massachusetts Minutemen sophomore, left wing Taylor Makar(18) is starting to pop scoring with 7 goals and 2 assists in 19 games.

The fairly sizable 6’3″ 220 lbs. forward was a Colorado Avalanche 7th round pick in the 2021 draft (#220 overall), which could very well put him on the same team as his Stanley Cup winning, NHL Best Defenseman brother, Cale Makar.

He has yet to prove he has the same depth, but did take his scoring up in his 3rd season with AJHL junior team, Brooks Bandits before getting selected.

The Calgary, AB native is big and looks to be starting to use his size to his advantage, which will definitely create room for him to score.

For his senior year, he decides to head off to Hockey East rival, University Of Maine Black Bears for 2024/2025 and he’s off to a huge start with 4 goals and 3 assists in 4 games.

23Oct

Joshua Nodler (20)

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UMass Minutemen senior center Joshua Nodler(20) will take on a 3rd school, heading to Bowling Green State University Falcons for 2023/2024.

The 5’11” 194 lbs. forward started his college career with 3 seasons at close by Michigan State University Spartans, where he scored his best 7 goals and 8 assists as a junior.

From Oak Park, MI, the Calgary Flames‘ 5th round pick in the 2019 draft (#150 overall) first played the Honeybaked system before ultimately doing 1 USHL season at Fargo Force.

The 22-year old will likely doing ok for his graduate year in the CCHA.

He plays a college tying best 36 games, scoring 5 goals and 10 assists and unsigned by the team that selected him.

An unrestricted free agent, he signs a nice 1-year deal with Toledo Walleye to get started as a rookie, 2024/2025.

21Oct

Landon Slaggert (84)

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University Of Notre Dame Fighting Irish senior left wing Landon Slaggert(84) is exited from college playoffs and signs his 2-year NHL entry level deal with draft team (3rd round, 2020, #79 overall), Chicago Blackhawks.

The 6′ 190 lbs. forward takes a new college best 20 goals and 31 points to his new gig.

He did 2 years USNTDP after youth hockey with Chicago Mission.

The South Bend, IN, 21-year old gets right into big league games to start.

He played 21 games last season with 1 goal and 3 assists and a +1 rating on a non-playoff team.

After what must have been an impressive camp, he gets a new 2-year deal to continue and already has 1 assist in 2 AHL games with affiliate Rockford Icehogs.

20Oct

Wade Murphy (6)

Posted in College Hockey Player, Europe, Juniors, Minor League Deal, NHL Draft Pick, Transfers | Leave a comment

6th year right wing Wade Murphy(6) returns to sign with Idaho Steelheads for 2022/2023 after spending the last 3 seasons of pandemic madness away in Norway, Austria and Slovenia, where he managed to capture that country’s 2022 league championship.

The 6′ 194 lbs. forward has 120 games of ECHL experience with decent scoring, but definitely could flatten that +/-.

Originally a Nashville Predators’ 7th round pick in the 2013 draft (#185 overall), he was never signed after an outstanding junior season based on his early college numbers.

He graduated after a 2 season transfer to Arizona State University Sun Devils from University Of North Dakota Fighting Hawks with a college career best 9 goals and 11 assists.

The 28-year old from Victoria, BC is a big frame that should be able to score goals almost at will we the right team in this league.

He takes a career high by a mile frame, scoring 21 goals and 22 assists in 54 games with a +38 rating to 20 playoff match ups and another 20 point total.

It’s an absolute no brainer that he receives a new contract to continue wearing a Steelheads‘ jersey for 2023/2024.

He is taking career scoring bests goals, assists, points with him for another foray to test his skills overseas in the tough to play Slovak Extraliga and signs with HC Slovan Bratislava for 2024/2025 and we think does very well here.

Limited to only 10 games last season, he scored 6 goals and 2 assists with a +5 rating and will next skate in the same league for HK Poprad in 2024/2025.

20Oct

Matt Stienburg (36)

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Cornell University Big Red junior, center Matt Stienburg(36) is a Colorado Avalanche 3rd round pick in the 2019 draft (#63 overall) and looks to be ready for another breakout session.

In 3 games, he’s got a pair of goals and looks to score many many more in 2021/2022.

The 6’1″ 192 lbs. native of Halifax, NS originally accepted his college in his first season, then was NHL selected in the follow-up frame, where he was almost a point and a half player and served as team captain, while also heading to 3 USHL games with Sioux City Musketeers of a junior hockey career during break.

At 21-years old and one year away from finishing through some tough college hockey times without a 2020/2021 frame, he probably should just continue before signing an entry level deal, but he’s easily the style of power forward the parent club wants.

Smitten by the injury bug, his senior year as assistant captain was limited to 18 appearances with 2 goals and 5 assists.

He plows through though and signs an ato to join Colorado Eagles to hopefully get back to pushing his game forward.

In his 4th AHL game, he records a 1st point, a nice assist for himself.

He appears in 4 more playoff games and gets another helper point for himself.

It looks as though he has made a decent enough impression to score a contract for 2023/2024.

Through 54 games last season, he scores 5 goals and 8 assists with a +2 rating and in the opening 2 games of the 2024/2025 season, he grabs 1 goal and 1 assist with a +2 to earn a 1st NHL recall.

In his debut he skates 9 shifts for 4:36 of ice time, including 3 hits and 1 fight with a -1 rating in a 5-3 loss, then follows it up with 8 shifts for 5:16 ice and 2 shots on net in an overtime win.

16Oct

Tyler Muszelik (30)

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University Of Connecticut Huskies‘ junior  Hockey East transfer from somewhat underuse in 2 years University Of New Hampshire Wildcats‘ goaltender Tyler Muszelik(30) already has a 3-1 record with a 2.28 GAA and .901 SV% for the Florida Panthers‘ 6th round pick in the 2022 draft (#189 overall).

The 6’3″ 193 lbs. net minder from Long Valley, NJ did 2 years USNTDP before heading to his 1st school.

He’s just 20-years old, so is well on his way towards development.

15Oct

Matthew Perkins (34)

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University Of Minnesota-Duluth Bulldogs‘ sophomore center Matthew Perkins(34) puts himself in the middle of all plays, as Vancouver Canucks‘ 4th round pick in the 2023 draft (#119 overall).

The 5’11” 176 lbs. forward had 6 goals and 9 assists through 35 games last season and already has 1 assist in 3 games in the current session.

From Balgonie, SK, he did 1 year of point-per-game junior up north before 1 very decent 15 goal and 29 assist frame in the USHL before school.