As Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet first reported last night, Ethan Prow of St. Cloud State is expected to sign a two-way entry-level contract with the Pittsburgh Penguins. Bob McKenzie of TSN also confirmed that report this morning.
As @FriedgeHNIC suggested last night, college UFA D Ethan Prow of St. Cloud State is going to PIT. Two-yr entry level deal kicks in next yr.
— Bob McKenzie (@TSNBobMcKenzie) March 29, 2016
Prow has played four years at St. Cloud State and recently put together a very productive senior season, piling up 38 points in 37 games-played. In total, through all four years of college hockey, he has 22 goals and 99 total points in 149 games. He’s also a Hobey Baker trophy finalist this season.
The scouting report on Prow is exactly what you’d expect the Penguins to seek. At 5-foot-11 and 185-pounds, Prow is a solid puck-mover that has scored most of his points on St. Cloud’s top power play unit.
The details on Prow’s contract aren’t available just yet, but he’ll likely spend the rest of the season with Pittsburgh’s AHL affiliate in Wilkes-Barre/Scranton on an amateur tryout contract. His two-way deal with the Penguins will kick in for the 2016-17 season. Prow will enter next season as one of the more NHL-ready prospects in camp, having played so much college hockey.
The Penguins, after years of mortgaging their future for rental players while gearing up for postseason contention, look to be reversing that role and focusing heavily on re-tooling their prospect cupboard. They’ve recently signed their 2012 second-round draft pick Teddy Blueger who also spent the last few seasons playing college hockey and Jake Guentzel, a 2013 third-round draft pick who has played the last three years at the University of Nebraska.