While there has been plenty of speculation that Brady Tkachuk was leaning towards staying at Boston University for next season, he told Fluto Shinzawa of The Athletic (subscription required) that a decision won’t be made until after the draft. He wants to sit down with whichever team drafts him to get a sense of what they would like him to do. It’s likely that whoever the school hires as their next head coach (as David Quinn has gone to the Rangers) will also play a role. Tkachuk is expected to go in the top five later this month.
Other prospect news and notes from around the hockey world:
- Although the Flames opted not to sign 2014 sixth-rounder Adam Ollas-Mattsson by Friday’s deadline, they may still offer him an AHL deal down the road, reports Postmedia’s Eric Francis. The 21-year-old has actually spent a bit of time with their minor league affiliate already, having played in 23 games over the last two seasons.
- Speaking with reporters at the combine, including The Hockey Writers’ Mark Scheig (Twitter link), forward Isac Lundestrom stated that he is likely staying in Sweden for next season. While he is under contract with Lulea of the SHL already, a team selecting him in the first round has the option to supersede that deal. Lundestrom is presently expected to go near the middle of the first round in the draft later this month.
- While the Sharks let 2016 draft pick Mark Shoemaker go yesterday, they did extend a bona fide offer to 2017 sixth-rounder Jake McGrew, notes Curtis Pashelka of the Bay Area News Group (Twitter link). Teams must give their selections a bona fide offer within one year of their being picked or they lose their rights. Typically, the process is a formality but there have been players who struggled enough in their post-draft year to be let go. McGrew had a pretty quiet post-draft season and seemed like a candidate to be released a year early but evidently, San Jose thinks he could rebound in 2018-19.