Latest news with #USAHockeyNationalTeamDevelopmentProgram
Yahoo
01-04-2025
- Sport
- Yahoo
Capitals' Leonard, Rangers' Perreault Lead The Most Promising NCAA Talents Signing NHL Deals
The flood of NCAA players signing their entry-level NHL contracts has begun. The Frozen Four begins on April 10, so we should see a couple more players signing after then, but a handful of prospects are jumping from the NCAA to the NHL right now after being eliminated. Some of the most promising and exciting prospects in hockey have come through the NCAA pipeline in recent years. This year's crop of signees will be effective on teams that are either securely in the playoffs, pushing for a wild-card spot or sitting near the bottom of the league and looking forward to the future. Let's look at some of the most promising entry-level signings from the NCAA in recent days. The bull in a china shop that is Ryan Leonard has been one of the most physically dominant players in the NCAA over the past couple of years. His speed, strength, and legitimate skill make him a player who can play up and down the lineup at the NHL level. He was the engine of Boston College's top line alongside 2025 top NHL draft prospect James Hagens and Gabe Perreault, who's expected to sign with the New York Rangers. Leonard should slot into the Capitals' middle six forwards and provide some energy and scoring punch down the lineup for their playoff run. Even if his offensive game takes a minute to get going, his speed and tenacity should make him a valuable part of the lineup. The Rangers announced they officially signed Perreault at 5 p.m. ET on Monday. Perreault is one of the premier play connectors who came through the NHL draft in recent years. He'll be playing with new linemates for the first time in three years – he won't have either Leonard or Will Smith alongside him as he did going back to his days in the USA Hockey National Team Development Program. Perreault isn't the fastest, most skilled or strongest player, but his value comes from his intellect and cerebral playmaking ability. Perreault is highly effective as an off-puck attacker who can make a quick pass or get himself into a scoring area with ease. Whether he makes a one-touch pass or waits the extra half-second to allow a lane to develop on a zone entry, Perreault is such a smart player who allows his teammates to play to their strengths. Top 25 NHL Prospects In Future Watch 2025 Some players make the NHL as teenagers, but many prospects take three, four or even five years to break through. Already getting into one NHL game with Chicago, Moore is a speed demon who plays hard at both ends of the ice. He's consistently played a steady middle-six game whenever he's been asked, but he's skilled enough offensively to drive results when asked to play up the lineup. Moore is a fantastic fit for this Blackhawks team, which is looking for some added team speed. The rest of the Hawks' season means little in the standings, but Moore could make a strong case for a roster spot next year with a good run of play. His versatility could see him stick on the wing for now, but Moore's two-way game and pace make him more of a fit at center. Either way, Moore should be a fixture in the middle six for Chicago for years. Although Wood didn't become a dominant player during his two-year college run, he joins the Predators as they play out the stretch of a lost season. Wood is a big-bodied forward who is an excellent off-puck finisher. He's grown as a playmaker in the NCAA. His last month of the season with the University of Minnesota was as good as he's been in college, and it should give him confidence heading into the NHL. While he shouldn't be expected to hit the ground running, especially on a Preds team where nothing has gone right this year, Wood should be a nice addition that provides a glimpse into the future. The 6-foot-4 Albertan could play down the lineup as a center or a left winger. Wood has the skill and shooting talent to score some goals. He just needs someone to help him get the puck in good positions. After setting career highs in goals and points in the NCAA, Snuggerud joins the Blues in the thick of a playoff race. He doesn't necessarily drive play, but he is an excellent Robin to someone's Batman. He plays with speed and energy, finds open space in the offensive zone and helps make life easier on his linemates by doing a little bit of everything. Snuggerud is slated to line up on the third line for the Blues, which could give them the depth scoring they need to pull away in the playoff race. Snuggerud has always found a way to elevate his game as the stakes get higher, whether it's the World Junior Championship or the NCAA tournament. Like Moore, Rinzel got into his first NHL game already, and he looked quite solid. He has size, skating ability and some skill, which immediately makes him one of the Hawks' more intriguing blueliners. Rinzel has the kind of reach and mobility that it takes to play a solid defensive game and the passing and skill to play well enough in the offensive end. Rinzel will make some mistakes, but the experience he gains in this season's final days could spur him on to being a regular in the lineup in the fall. His raw tools have always been incredibly intriguing, and his development in college has been encouraging. Getting a glimpse of pro hockey will be integral as he heads into a summer training to be a full-time pro. Get the latest news and trending stories by following The Hockey News on Google News and by subscribing to The Hockey News newsletter here. And share your thoughts by commenting below the article on
New York Times
24-02-2025
- Sport
- New York Times
Projecting the 2030 Olympic men's hockey rosters for Canada and the United States
It's been an incredible time for international hockey, with the 4 Nations Face-Off surpassing even the loftiest expectations for what the first best-on-best tournament in nine years would bring. Canada's overtime win over the United States in the championship game Thursday night was the exclamation point on a thrilling tournament — and a tremendous way to lead into the 2026 Olympics in Milan next year. Advertisement Odds are the rosters for that tournament will look very similar to the ones on display in Montreal and Boston. There will be some tinkering around the fringes, but with less than a year between the events, the cores will remain the same. Looking ahead one more cycle, though, is a more revealing way to look at the future of both the U.S. and Canadian national teams and how the next wave of stars for both countries could fit in. So, The Athletic's Max Bultman and Corey Pronman took an early run at projecting the 2030 Olympic rosters for both North American powerhouses. Because the current U.S. team is so young, there are a lot of familiar faces in this projection. Jack Eichel, Auston Matthews, Dylan Larkin, Tage Thompson, Charlie McAvoy, Zach Werenski and Matthew Tkachuk will all be into their 30s by then, but not so old that we wouldn't project them in the mix here. Their respective talent and track records give them a strong baseline. So let's focus on the new names. Logan Cooley has taken a step forward this season in Utah and should continue to rise steadily between now and 2030. By then, he'll be 25 and should be a great fit between two very sound two-way wingers in Matt Boldy and Ryan Leonard. Leonard takes some projecting, considering he's not even in the NHL yet, but he's a tough, two-way player who can score, kill penalties and play a hard-nosed game. Much of the same is true of Matthew Knies, who is already an important player in Toronto and should only get better in the next five years. Matty Beniers, meanwhile, hasn't quite gotten back to the offense he found in his Calder Trophy season in 2022-23, but is still trending to be an excellent defensive forward who slots into that bottom line perfectly. He should be a top penalty killer for this group and brings elements any coaching staff would love. Advertisement It's fair to wonder if the fourth line could use a pure playmaker, as here it's made up of a lot of north-south, 200-foot players. But the obvious candidates we left off (such as Clayton Keller, Jason Robertson, James Hagens and Will Smith) don't have the same penalty-kill utility and aren't as projectable to tough matchups. We have Cole Caufield as the 13th forward, but it's entirely possible he could work higher into this lineup. His chemistry with Hughes, dating back to their time at the USA Hockey National Team Development Program, is certainly appealing. On defense, it's a very similar makeup to the current group, losing only Jaccob Slavin, Noah Hanifin and Adam Fox. Hanifin and Fox are right on that same age-32/33 bubble as some of the top forwards, but the U.S.'s young defense pipeline is promising enough that we gave the nod to Jake Sanderson (who was the first call-up in this tournament), Luke Hughes and Zeev Buium — with Lane Hutson another potential option. There are many capable options in goal, and including Connor Hellebuyck here is highly dependent on how he ages. He'll be 36 in early 2030. But Jake Oettinger would be a strong potential starter at age 31, and we'll take the bet on Spencer Knight — who has quietly performed well recently — re-emerging as a top goaltender as he enters his own prime. Team Canada sees more turnover on its roster than Team USA likely will, with a lot of their important members on the 2025 4 Nations team aging out. Their blue line sees a massive revamp, and there is no returning goaltender. The top-six forward group is a mixture of stars of today and tomorrow. Prime-aged superstars such as Connor McDavid and Nathan MacKinnon remain important fixtures, but we expect the next generation of Canadian stars to be led by Macklin Celebrini, Connor Bedard and Adam Fantilli. Advertisement The third line featured some hard decisions. Dylan Guenther has been fantastic this season, but will he be the best choice in five years? Will Mitch Marner's play fall off? There are close calls and other reasonable candidates could have been picked. Some may argue for Gavin McKenna but this is a tough team to make. McKenna won't even be in the NHL for another 18 months, never mind being one of the top nine forwards in Canada in five years. We debated keeping Brandon Hagel in the mix and he could have subbed out one of the current fourth-liners. This seems like a young blue line, but it won't be in 2030. We expect Owen Power, Thomas Harley and Noah Dobson will be established long-time major minutes defensemen by that point in their careers. Matthew Schaefer will be on the younger side, but we expect him to be a two-way star in the league by then as well. The goaltending is a major question mark. Your guess is as good as ours. Canada lacks standout goalies in the NHL currently, and there isn't a no-doubt stud coming up the pipeline either. Some scouts are very high on Joshua Ravensbergen, but he's only 18 and goalies take a while typically to reach the highest echelon of their development. (Top photos of Auston Matthews and Connor McDavid: Minas Panagiotakis / Getty Images)
