1. Zach Aston-Reese, Left Wing, Northeastern
Zach Aston-Reese’s head coach Jim Madigan summed it up nicely: ““If he’s not the best college free agent, I haven’t seen who’s better than him.”

Aston-Reese is an absolute beast working along the boards and in heavy traffic situations. He’s continued to develop his two-way play, and put in a lot of work on his shot to become a more effective scorer.

You can read more about why Aston-Reese is the best NCAA free agent available in this feature piece, with some more great quotes from his coach.

2. Daniel Brickley, Defenseman, Minnesota State

Last year, Minnesota State’s Casey Nelson was one of the top free agent defensemen available out of the NCAA, eventually signing with the Buffalo Sabres and jumping right into their lineup. Brickley is an extremely similar, if not slightly more polished, prospect.

Brickley isn’t a lightning-fast skater, and is still developing on the defensive end, but his combination of size—listed at 6-2 205 lbs.—and tremendous offensive abilities give him a tantalizing amount of upside. He missed time this year with a fractured wrist, but his time out only increased his value as Minnesota State’s power play struggled without him running things from the point.

What he lacks in straight-line speed, he makes up for with a shiftiness laterally which is really impressive for a big defender that allows him to create his own passing and shooting lanes. He’s aggressive in looking for his shot which helps generate a lot of offense. He’s still a bit of a project, but could develop into a second pairing defenseman that is very good on the power play at the NHL level.
- ImThatGuy

nice...

fwiw, baker mentioned Brinkley as a possibility

it was actually 3 in 4 and 6 in 9 with two sets of back-to-backs--the last of which was st. louis and chicago

in all they played 7 games in 11 days and don't have near enough forward depth to handle a Chicago team that was hitting on all cylinders last night
- Michael Pachla

Missing 2 centers, plus Reinhart. Yeah, they sucked, but honestly they were out of gas. You've written this before, but does the schedule maker not see the irony? They need a break because the schedule is condensed for a break. So, the break created a need for itself, if that makes any sense

Just not as developed as everyone hoped he would be. I just hope he doesn't turn into our new Ruhwedel.
- sskkoo1

And where the (frank) is that guy? Rochester? Injured? Buried next to Jimmy Hoffa?

And where the (frank) is that guy? Rochester? Injured? Buried next to Jimmy Hoffa?


- jochfr

Playing for PItt.. had an assist yesterday i believe

Where the (frank) is that guy? Rochester? Injured? Buried next to Jimmy Hoffa?
- jochfr

Im right here, ya Jerk.

was it you who had the atomic explosion for their avatar?
- Michael Pachla

Missing 2 centers, plus Reinhart. Yeah, they sucked, but honestly they were out of gas. You've written this before, but does the schedule maker not see the irony? They need a break because the schedule is condensed for a break. So, the break created a need for itself, if that makes any sense
- jcragcrumple

it was a silly thought the nhlpa brought into negotiations, according to pham...dumb move

rochester won

ullmark up to .500


nylander scored
kennedy another multi point night
karabacek scored

it was a silly thought the nhlpa brought into negotiations, according to pham...dumb move
- Michael Pachla

Thx for the info. Sounds like it'll be the first and last year of it. Although Ovechkin sounds like he's taking a week vacation next year around this time. Wonder if any others will join him. The Canadian players will go lock step with the NHLPA, and so will the low-paid Euros, but the high-paid Euros will see an opportunity to possibly win Gold with the U.S. and Canadians fielding weaker teams

Breaking News: it's later than it should've been...im OFF the bogo train.

Injuries are bad luck but you just cant have a player with a cap hit of 4+ mill miss 20+ games a year.

While i still think he can be an impact player "when" healthy we can sign a player (#4/5 pairing) to a 3 mill a year cap hit to achieve the same production over 82 games.

IMO his name should be big enough to grab attention from Vegas

- cabin

moulson gets over 4 minutes of pp time

kane gets less than 90 seconds


that is how f@cking clueless our coach is

Breaking News: it's later than it should've been...im OFF the bogo train.

Injuries are bad luck but you just cant have a player with a cap hit of 4+ mill miss 20+ games a year.

While i still think he can be an impact player "when" healthy we can sign a player (#4/5 pairing) to a 3 mill a year cap hit to achieve the same production over 82 games.

IMO his name should be big enough to grab attention from Vegas
- yen6d1

I want gorges and kulikov gone first

bogp is at least serviceable on the pk

rochester won

ullmark up to .500


nylander scored
kennedy another multi point night
karabacek scored
- homiedclown

I usually go to a game a week and a few other notes..
-Sabres injuries have CRUSHED the amerks roster especially on D
-Nylander looks like an 18 year old in a grinding league. But has shown flashes in recent weeks.
-Ullmark has been good not great
-Karabacek has impressed me more than Cornell playing a bottom six role. still a LONG shot
-E-Rod is usually invisible down here but impresses with the sabres..
-Bailey has earned his stay in the nhl but the hole is tough for fasching to fill

I want gorges and kulikov gone first

bogp is at least serviceable on the pk
- homiedclown

Gorges in a #6/7 role i can handle by the end of the year then move on
Kuilkov is already gone by the deadline imo.

Not saying bogo is bad when healthy. Point is ditching bogos cap hit instead of 22 or 28
could be a blessing considering he plays 55 games a year

I don't think last night's game takes anything away from a great month of hockey by this team. Schedule has been brutal They were gassed early. It happens to most teams a couple of times during the year. Foligno and Okposo looked particularly bad last night. Glad we have 2 winnable games coming out of the bye week.

Gorges in a #6/7 role i can handle by the end of the year then move on
Kuilkov is already gone by the deadline imo.

Not saying bogo is bad when healthy. Point is ditching bogos cap hit instead of 22 or 28
could be a blessing considering he plays 55 games a year
- yen6d1

Yeah losing 22 or 28 for nothing would be a shame. They both have value. At the same time, i think they're pretty redundant players. Moving one to bring in a speedier fourth liner would be an improvement IMO, especially if we can get something of value

Yeah losing 22 or 28 for nothing would be a shame. They both have value. At the same time, i think they're pretty redundant players. Moving one to bring in a speedier fourth liner would be an improvement IMO, especially if we can get something of value
- jcragcrumple

I still think that if things went to plan and either 28 or 22 couldve center that 4th line we be in a much better situation and also not be forced to play 15 or 90 21+ minutes

Id love to see a brian boyle type player signed here next year

I still think that if things went to plan and either 28 or 22 couldve center that 4th line we be in a much better situation and also not be forced to play 15 or 90 21+ minutes

Id love to see a brian boyle type player signed here next year
- yen6d1

A veteran expert PKer would really help. Whether that's a fourth line winger or center doesn't really matter to me. Larsson is also a PK guy, so i would lean toward keeping him over 28. Down the middle:

15
90
22
veteran guy/Asplund


Girgs is probably the odd man out.

moulson gets over 4 minutes of pp time

kane gets less than 90 seconds


that is how f@cking clueless our coach is
- homiedclown

Moulson leads the team in Power Play goals...

I still think that if things went to plan and either 28 or 22 couldve center that 4th line we be in a much better situation and also not be forced to play 15 or 90 21+ minutes

Id love to see a brian boyle type player signed here next year
- yen6d1

Also, in hindsight, Legwand would have been a better choice than 44 for this team. Pretty much anyone would be a better choice over DLO, but Legwand probably would have our PK higher than 30th. I was totally wrong on that one

nice...

fwiw, baker mentioned Brinkley as a possibility
- Michael Pachla

Probably because Brickley was at Sabres dev camp last summer. I like our chances in signing him.

Moulson leads the team in Power Play goals...
- buffalofan19

is that the players, or coaching?

is that the players, or coaching?
- homiedclown

Ploaching

Probably because Brickley was at Sabres dev camp last summer. I like our chances in signing him.
- mhp

Always late to the party could have signed him now you're going to have a bidding war

Just like Drake Caggiula

Also, in hindsight, Legwand would have been a better choice than 44 for this team. Pretty much anyone would be a better choice over DLO, but Legwand probably would have our PK higher than 30th. I was totally wrong on that one
- jcragcrumple

IMO legwand was the perfect 4c played a great simple 2 way game. Faceoffs and PK are something our Bottom 6 hasn't lived up too