Snapshots: Trivigno, Miller, Officiating

One of the most interesting college free agents this spring is UMass-Amherst captain Bobby Trivigno, who put up 49 points in 37 games for the Minutemen and was named a top-ten finalist for the Hobey Baker award. The undersized forward has quite a few suitors, according to Mollie Walker of the New York Post, who reports that Trivigno has already met with some of the New York Rangers front office and has received interest from at least the New York Islanders, Florida Panthers, and Nashville Predators as well.

The 23-year-old forward stands all of 5’8″ 162-lbs but has been an outstanding player for UMass last four years and will get his choice of where to start his professional career. Of note is that Brett Peterson, an assistant GM in Florida and former VP of the Wasserman hockey wing, was previously Trivigno’s advisor–a stand-in agent for college athletes.

• As J.T. Miller continues to try and drag the Vancouver Canucks back into playoff contention, some have started thinking about what his next contract will look like. While speaking with Rick Dhaliwal of CHEK TV, Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman suggested that it will be similar to the one Mika Zibanejad signed with the Rangers. Zibanejad inked an eight-year, $68MM ($8.5MM AAV) contract extension in October, at age-27, to keep him off the open market; his career-high in points is currently 75, though he will likely pass that this year. Miller, 29, has already blown past that mark, recording his 80th point of the year on Saturday night.
• The GM meetings have begun in Florida, and one of the things being discussed is a rule change for penalties that could come into effect next season. Darren Dreger of TSN reports that the committee discussed a change that could see officials review a five-minute major penalty and choose to remove it entirely. Currently, they can only reduce it to a two-minute minor after review. Dreger adds that there will also be a renewed focus on line changes down the stretch, stressing that the player going off the ice has to be within five feet of the boards when the change is made.