The Chicago Blackhawks have dipped into the college free agent market, signing goaltender Collin Delia out of their development camp to a two-year entry-level contract. Delia attended the 2016 camp as well, and as Scott Powers of The Athletic writes, the team was impressed with him even then.
The 23-year old goaltender has played the last three seasons for Merrimack College, and had a huge junior season as the 1A in the team’s tandem. A .927 save percentage kept his goals against average way down at 2.15, apparently impressive enough for the Blackhawks to bring him in on a professional contract this summer. He’ll head to the minors, but whether that stop is Rockford (likely) or Indianapolis is still to be determined. The Blackhawks already have Jeff Glass, Anton Forsberg and Jean-Francois Berube under NHL contracts, at least one of which was poised to take the starting role in the AHL.
Delia though may hold more potential than either Glass or Berube, and should get his fair share of starts somewhere in the system. Though the Blackhawks lost Scott Darling this summer to the Carolina Hurricanes, they’ve built some solid depth behind starter Corey Crawford in recent weeks.