Prospects News & Rumors: Swaney, Duehr, Zary & More

Today is the National Hockey League’s trade deadline, but that has not stopped teams from signing prospects over the last 24 hours. The Minnesota Wild, Montreal Canadiens and Calgary Flames all added to their prospect pool. Plus, we will make a quick stop in the Western Hockey League (WHL) to check in a recent top draft pick of the Flames.

Nick Swaney Stays in Minnesota

Swaney will not have to travel very far to start his professional career. A couple of days after his college career with the University of Minnesota, Duluth came to an end; he signed a one-year, entry-level contract with the Wild on Sunday. The deal will begin at the start of the 2021-22 season. He will report to the Iowa Wild of the American Hockey League to finish out this season.

The 23-year-old forward scored 13 goals and a team-leading 28 points in 28 games for the Bulldogs. He was the alternate captain for a UMD team that advanced all the way to the Frozen Four before losing to St. Cloud State in the national semifinals.

In 134 NCAA games, Swaney scored 46 goals and 101 points. He is one of 59 players in school history to score at least 100 career points. He was part of back-to-back National Championships with the Bulldogs in 2018 and 2019. Before college, he had 66 goals and 115 points in 120 games for Waterloo Black Hawks in the United States Hockey League (USHL).

Montreal Canadiens Ink Corey Schueneman

General manager Marc Bergevin has been very busy heading into the trade deadline. He has recently traded for veterans Eric Staal and Jon Merrill, signed Cole Caufield, and lost Victor Mete to the Ottawa Senators via waivers.

In between these moves and multiple phone calls and text messages with his fellow general managers, Bergevin signed Schueneman to a one-year entry-level contract that goes into effect in the 2021-22 season. The 25-year-old will make $750,000 at the NHL level and $175,000 in the American Hockey League.

Schueneman has played 21 games with the Laval Rocket in the AHL and has three goals and seven points. He has 34 shots on goal, which is second among all defensemen on the team. The left-handed defender has seven goals and 29 points in 71 career AHL games. Prior to turning pro, he spent four years at Western Michigan University and served as team captain during his senior season.

Walker Duehr Heads to Calgary

The Flames are another team who has been busy as they just traded goaltender David Rittich to the Toronto Maple Leafs. On Sunday, general manager Brad Treliving signed Duehr to a two-year entry-level contract.

The 23-year-old right winger’s college career at Minnesota State-Mankato just came to an end with a loss to St. Cloud State at the Frozen Four. He had 10 goals and 17 points in 28 games during the 2020-21 season.

Duehr, 6-foot-3 and 211 pounds, scored 25 goals and 51 points in 102 games during his four seasons in college. Before college, he jumped around the USHL scoring 27 goals and 64 points in 145 games split between the Sioux City Musketeers, Tri-City Storm, Chicago Steel and Bloomington Thunder.

Connor Zary Dishes Them Out

We will stick with the Flames pipeline and give you an update on some actual hockey played on the ice over the weekend. The Kamloops Blazers swept a three-game series from the Victoria Royals to improve to 6-1-0 on the season.

Zary factored into all four goals in the Blazers’ 4-3 win on Sunday. The Blazers outshot the Royals 60-18 and got goals from Caedan Bankier, Logan Stankoven, Josh Pillar and Inaki Baragano. Zary had assists on all four scoring plays; two primary and two secondaries.

The 24th overall pick of the 2020 NHL Entry Draft now has three goals and 11 points in seven WHL games. He had three goals and seven points during his nine-game stint with the Stockton Heat in the AHL.

Staying in the WHL, Tristen Robins of the Saskatoon Blades was named the Player of the Week after putting up four goals and nine points in four games. Robins was drafted by the San Jose Sharks in the second round (56th overall) of last October’s draft. He has 10 goals and 23 points in 16 games.