The NCAA’s Frozen Four Tournament between Boston College, Boston University, Denver and Michigan is set to kick off on April 11 with the national semifinals. With the Frozen Four teams set, and a number of top NCAA teams out of contention, Frank Seravalli highlights a handful of top college players who have gained interest from NHL clubs for an entry-level contract. Among those is Qunnipiac standout Collin Graf. The 21-year-old scored 22 goals and 49 points in 34 games this season.
Tyler Yaremchuk: The Frozen Four is set. What can you tell us about players or a couple of names of players that are gaining interest from NHL clubs?
Frank Seravalli: Yeah so for the teams that aren’t moving on to the regional semifinals, you look specifically at the Quinnipiac Bobcats and they [aplyed a hell of a game on Sunday against the No. 1 ranked team in the country Boston College. It was on the ropes, it needed overtime to get it done. But Collin Graf is undoubtedly the No. 1 NCAA free agent to be signed. I’m told that this is certainly in the works and could potentially happen as soon as today but teams that are interested and in the mix have been told this morning do believe he is headed out east to the Eastern Conference.
Frank Seravalli: Some sources are speculating the Boston Bruins, Don Sweeney and the Bruins executive staff were at the game yesterday in Providence to watch these two teams. They got a first-hand viewing of Collin Graf where some would say he had a tough regional tournament. It’s probably easier to list the teams who haven’t been in on Graft and a lot of Western Conference teams as well like the Colorado Avalanche, Arizona Coyotes, and San Jose Sharks. The Edmonton Oilers have spent a long time watching Graf and another team in the East is Pittsburgh. Graft is from Massachusetts, he’s a Boston Jr. Bruins player so that makes a lot of sense.
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