Category: NHL Draft Pick

10th year net minder Anthony Stolarz(41) gets a 1-year NHL deal with Florida Panthers worth $1.1M AAV after spending the last 4 in Anaheim Ducks‘ system.

Originally a Philadelphia Flyers‘ 2nd round pick in the 2013 draft (#45 overall), he spent the 1st 5 years of his pro career with them.

The huge 6’6″ 243 lbs. goalie played 8 games at University Of Nebraska-Omaha Mavericks before leaving to join London Knights for 2 seasons, winning the 2013 OHL Championship in his 1st after coming from college.

At 29-years old, he will likely see more action in the show, but also will help train the youngsters in the system.

In 27 games for his new team as primary backup, he comes away with some pretty outstanding numbers to help the team win the 2024 Stanley Cup.

An unrestricted free agent, Toronto Maple Leafs are interested and agree to terms on 2 years for $2.5M AAV.

4th year center Sam Lafferty(18) gets a new start, as he is traded to Chicago Blackhawks from draft club, Pittsburgh Penguins (4th round, 2014, #113 overall) after appearing in only 10 NHL games with two assists and a 0 rating.

The former Brown University Bears‘ forward will likely find more room to continue to develop his game.

He has 94 games to his credit, scoring 6 goals and 15 assists.

The 26-year old is fairly prolific in the minors with 17 goals and 38 assists through 85 AHL games.

If he can catch on with his new team, there’s little doubt he’ll earn a new contract, but if that doesn’t happen, we expect him to pick up and leave for overseas.

After a solid 2021/2022 season, scoring 5 goals and 6 assists in 46 games, he picks himself up a healthy 2-year extension to continue.

He actually takes a trade travel path from scoring a best 10 goals and 11 assists in 53 games to being dealt to Toronto Maple Leafs near the end of that campaign, where he did ok in just 19 games, then 9 in the playoffs.

In the offseason, the unrestricted free agent signs with Vancouver Canucks and this turns out to be pretty successful with a new best 13 goals and 24 points in 79 games with a +4 rating.

He will need a new contract, but he returns to the Blackhawks in yet another transaction for the Hollidaysburg, PA native.

Buffalo Sabres step in and offer him 2 years for $2M AAV and he accepts.

12th year veteran, unrestricted free agent defenseman Brendan Smith(7) signs a new deal with Carolina Hurricanes for 2021/2022.

He’ll definitely help solidify the blue line for his new club.

The 6’2′ 200 lbs. d-man has a hefty 526 NHL games experience, scoring 29 goals and 81 assists.

Originally a Detroit Red Wings‘ 1st round pick in the 2007 draft (#27 overall), he played the first 7 years of his pro career in their system.

He’s almost oddly, quietly skated for New York Rangers the last four years and sort of no surprise he didn’t continue.

The 32-year old, former University Of Wisconsin Badgers, who put up a huge 15 goals and 37 assists in 42 Big10 games, has to be happy just playing and could split for some overseas looks before retiring.

Heading into 2022/2023, he records 4 goals and 4 assists in 65 games with a +6 rating, then adds 4 more points in 14 playoff contests.

His accountability gets him a new 2-year deal with New Jersey Devils worth $1.1M AAV and at the very least will help stabilize their blue line.

After 2 seasons with the same team, he moves to sign with Dallas Stars for 2024/2025.

Unrestricted 9th year free agent Derek Forbort(24) signs a three-year NHL deal with Boston Bruins through 2023/2024 for $3M AAV.

The big 6’4″ 219 lbs. blue liner skated for Winnipeg Jets, who signed him to a simple deal for a season.

A veteran of 331 games, the 29-year old has 8 goals and 57 assists with a +8 rating and blocks a tremendous amount of shots.

The former three year University Of North Dakota Fighting Hawks‘ d-man and Los Angeles Kings‘  1st round, 2010, #15 overall pick is going to be a perfect fit with his new club.

He would have finished up 3 good years with the team from the East, but last year suffered some injuries that sidelined him for time, limiting his play to 35 games.

A free agent, he accepts a new 1-year deal with Vancouver Canucks for 2024/2025.

New York Islanders‘ 1st round pick in the 2016 draft (#19 overall), left wing Kieffer Bellows(20) signs a 1-year deal as a restricted free agent to stay.

The 6’1″ 195 lbs. forward play the entire 2020/2021 session up with the big club, but only skated 14 games, scoring 3 goals, so was either a healthy scratch or reassigned to the taxi squad.

As a 2nd year player, he would score an AHL best 22 goals and 9 assists for 31 points for affiliate Bridgeport Islanders (Sound Tigers).

The former Edina High School, MN native was selected to head to Boston University Terriers and went onto 2 very successful USHL seasons before heading to college, but only lasted there for one year before deciding to split for Portland Winterhawks.

In 56 WHL games, he scored 41 goals and 33 assists with a +40 rating.

The 23-year old is son of former NHL player of 1188 games, Brian Bellows.

He would end up playing his 1st full frame in the big league, skating a healthy 45 games, scoring a not so bad 6 goals and 13 assists that would lead to his new 1-year, 1-way deal worth a tidy $1.2M AAV.

For 2022/2023, he would start on the roster, but it was decided to waive with the intention of reporting to the minors, but Philadelphia Flyers didn’t let him sit long and pulled him in.

He’s played 3 games with his new team, and although all loses, he’s kept it simple in his 10+ minutes of play and is only a -1.

We think the now 24-year old finds his footing, sticks and starts to make an impression.

He actually doesn’t really find his footing with 3 goals through 27 games.

For 2023/2024, he signed a pto with Toronto Marlies, is scoring big, not looking back and gets a deal for the current season.

Nashville Predators see something for their weighted 2024/2025 lineup that may start with affiliate Milwaukee Admirals, but could get a call up for the 1st time in a couple of frames.

10th year, former 2012 1st round NHL draft pick, defenseman Brady Skjei(86) switches up to only his 3rd team for 2024/2025, signing a 7-year deal worth some $7M AAV with another contender, Nashville Predators.

The 6’3″ 209 lbs. blue liner, scored a new career best 34 assists and 47 points last season.

He did 3 years at University Of Minnesota Golden Gophers before signing his 3-year entry level deal with the team that selected him, New York Rangers.

There’s little doubt his game really came together in the 4 years with Carolina Hurricanes.

The 30-year old is likely very far from finished, obviously.

San Jose Sharks‘ acquired defenseman Henry Thrun(3) from draft team Anaheim Ducks, where he was selected in the 4th round of 2019 (#101 overall) and after 3 years at Harvard University Crimson, putting up just about equal stats as a sophomore and junior with 7 goals and 25/24 assists, he has decided to sign a 2-year NHL entry level deal to turn pro.

The big 6’2″ 195 lbs. blue liner skated his 1st big league game with his new pro team, getting a tough 4-3 OT win and him picking up a pair of assists in the conquest, earning a 2nd star of the game.

He has always been a good assist guy, twice with 10+, almost 20 when with the USNTDP, when he got drafted.

The 22-year old from Southborough, MA plays to form and will likely do very well for himself.

In his 16th appearance, for the new year 2024, he steps up to score a first big league goal.

He is handily playing himself into a full-time role with the big club and it’s now extended for another 2-year to continue that growth in a Sharks‘ sweater for the big man on d.

Toronto Maple Leafs‘ 3rd round pick in the 2016 draft (#62 overall) goaltender Joseph Woll(60) 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.

13th year center Garrett Roe(9) returns home to sign with Hershey Bears for 2023/2024 after playing in 4 different leagues overseas with the last 6 in the NL for ZSC Lions and EV Zug.

The 5’9″ 180 lbs. forward was in fact a Los Angeles Kings 7th round pick in the 2008 draft (#183 overall), but did not sign.

His 1st contract was with Adirondack Phantoms, where he scored 32 assists and he stuck there a 2nd season before leaving.

The Vienna, VA native initially went to Austria’s top hockey EBEL, signing with EC Salzburg and score points.

He left for Germany’s DEL, agreeing to terms with EHC Muenchen and he scored points.

His next stop would be for a pair of sessions in the SHL with Linkoping HC and yup, he scored points.

He would continue to do it in Switzerland and it’s expected the 35-year old, former St. Cloud State University Huskies will help out his new AHL team continue to score.

In 48 games, he bags 7 goals and 14 assists with a +15 rating, then through 12 in the playoffs, he nets another 6 goals and 4 helpers, which makes the now 36-year old and easy re-sign to continue being a Bears, 2024/2025.

University Of Connecticut Huskies‘ junior left wing Chase Bradley(20) leaves a year on the table to sign a 2-year NHL entry level contract with Colorado Avalanche.

The 6′ 198 lbs. forward was originally drafted by Detroit Red Wings in the 7th round of the 2020 draft (#203 overall), but they elected to not sign him.

He scored a college best 11 goals and 11 assists last season.

From St. Louis, MO, the 22-year old will likely start with their affiliate Colorado Eagles, but could blossom quickly.