Walsh and Castagna nominated for Hobey Baker

[stereax]

Presumably increases the likelihood of him leaving after this season?

Or he can play his senior season and become a free agent (unless the rules changed in the new cba)

Or play his senior season and sign to Calgary anyway. Depends what they want to do with him and what he thinks of it.

[VIEWfromK]

Presumably increases the likelihood of him leaving after this season?

Or he can play his senior season and become a free agent (unless the rules changed in the new cba)

Or play his senior season and sign to Calgary anyway. Depends what they want to do with him and what he thinks of it.

Calgary got Coronato to leave Harvard after only two years but he was a 13th overall pick so not an equal comparison.  They weren't in a rebuild then so that could change how they conduct business with their prospects present day

[stereax]

Presumably increases the likelihood of him leaving after this season?

Or he can play his senior season and become a free agent (unless the rules changed in the new cba)

Or play his senior season and sign to Calgary anyway. Depends what they want to do with him and what he thinks of it.

Calgary got Coronato to leave Harvard after only two years but he was a 13th overall pick so not an equal comparison.  They weren't in a rebuild then so that could change how they conduct business with their prospects present day

Yeah. It all depends. (Also, pretty sure it was Treliving's FO, not Conroy's, that got Coronato to sign. Plus, Coronato only spent half a year in the A.) We'll have to see how things go, really.

[stereax]

Scouting projection for Castagna.

I miss the Coyotes.

[Beeeej]

Scouting projection for Castagna.

I miss the Coyotes.

And that doesn't even mention his preternatural faceoff numbers.

[marty]

Scouting projection for Castagna.

I miss the Coyotes.

And that doesn't even mention his preternatural faceoff numbers.

And probably doesn't realize injury was a factor last year.

[stereax]

Scouting projection for Castagna.

I miss the Coyotes.

And that doesn't even mention his preternatural faceoff numbers.

And probably doesn't realize injury was a factor last year.

Yeah, it definitely doesn't take things like injuries into account - mostly just points, as it's an NHLe-based thing.

If he can have even a 60% FO% in the NHL, he'll be employed for a pretty long time, I bet, not even talking about other skills and intangibles.

[BearLover]

Scouting projection for Castagna.

I miss the Coyotes.

And that doesn't even mention his preternatural faceoff numbers.

And probably doesn't realize injury was a factor last year.

Yeah, it definitely doesn't take things like injuries into account - mostly just points, as it's an NHLe-based thing.

If he can have even a 60% FO% in the NHL, he'll be employed for a pretty long time, I bet, not even talking about other skills and intangibles.

There are only seven centers in the NHL this season at 60% or above:
https://www.statmuse.com/nhl/ask?q=nhl+face+off+win+percentage+leaders+2025-2026

[stereax]

Scouting projection for Castagna.

I miss the Coyotes.

And that doesn't even mention his preternatural faceoff numbers.

And probably doesn't realize injury was a factor last year.

Yeah, it definitely doesn't take things like injuries into account - mostly just points, as it's an NHLe-based thing.

If he can have even a 60% FO% in the NHL, he'll be employed for a pretty long time, I bet, not even talking about other skills and intangibles.

There are only seven centers in the NHL this season at 60% or above:
https://www.statmuse.com/nhl/ask?q=nhl+face+off+win+percentage+leaders+2025-2026

Precisely my point. If he can develop into a faceoff specialist, high-motor bottom six C, teams will always need someone like that. (Case in point, the Devils groups I'm in still bemoan "losing" Michael McLeod - one of the defendants in the 2018 WJC case - because he was THAT good in the dot 😭)

[Pghas]

Hate the idea of Walsh and Castagna leaving after this year.

Doesn't work out for most guys - even Malinski finished his senior year here.  Dalton Bancroft probably would have been better off staying another year.But Castagna is pretty dominant at this level at this point.  Wish he could have been traded to the Rangers.

[BearLover]

Hate the idea of Walsh and Castagna leaving after this year.

Doesn't work out for most guys - even Malinski finished his senior year here.  Dalton Bancroft probably would have been better off staying another year.But Castagna is pretty dominant at this level at this point.  Wish he could have been traded to the Rangers.

Almost everyone in recent history who has left Cornell before their senior year had basically zero NHL career. Barron's hand was forced by COVID so not counting him. 

[stereax]

Hate the idea of Walsh and Castagna leaving after this year.

Doesn't work out for most guys - even Malinski finished his senior year here.  Dalton Bancroft probably would have been better off staying another year.But Castagna is pretty dominant at this level at this point.  Wish he could have been traded to the Rangers.

Malinski and Bancroft are different, as neither was drafted. When you're drafted, your NHL club takes an active role in your development and all that - like, there was a Walshy article by McNally early this year where he references being in active contact with Bruins scouts who tell him what to focus on and stuff like that. So if the NHL club wants Casty or Walshy after this season - while they do have the power to not sign - it's difficult to assert that, especially when the clubs are actively working with the prospects. Bancroft didn't have that type of thing going on - he kinda just had to play his minds out to get scout attention and get the AHL/NHL deal. And you can run the calculus on signing early vs staying another year at college (risk of career-altering injuries, breaking out in senior year, monetary things) and it's really not as clear as it seems to a fan.

[BearLover]

Hate the idea of Walsh and Castagna leaving after this year.

Doesn't work out for most guys - even Malinski finished his senior year here.  Dalton Bancroft probably would have been better off staying another year.But Castagna is pretty dominant at this level at this point.  Wish he could have been traded to the Rangers.

Malinski and Bancroft are different, as neither was drafted. When you're drafted, your NHL club takes an active role in your development and all that - like, there was a Walshy article by McNally early this year where he references being in active contact with Bruins scouts who tell him what to focus on and stuff like that. So if the NHL club wants Casty or Walshy after this season - while they do have the power to not sign - it's difficult to assert that, especially when the clubs are actively working with the prospects. Bancroft didn't have that type of thing going on - he kinda just had to play his minds out to get scout attention and get the AHL/NHL deal. And you can run the calculus on signing early vs staying another year at college (risk of career-altering injuries, breaking out in senior year, monetary things) and it's really not as clear as it seems to a fan.

The flip side is that when you're a FA you have multiple teams bidding for you, as Bancroft did.

Biggest difference between Bancroft and Castagna though is that Bancroft was 24 when he signed; Castagna is only 20.

[stereax]

Hate the idea of Walsh and Castagna leaving after this year.

Doesn't work out for most guys - even Malinski finished his senior year here.  Dalton Bancroft probably would have been better off staying another year.But Castagna is pretty dominant at this level at this point.  Wish he could have been traded to the Rangers.

Malinski and Bancroft are different, as neither was drafted. When you're drafted, your NHL club takes an active role in your development and all that - like, there was a Walshy article by McNally early this year where he references being in active contact with Bruins scouts who tell him what to focus on and stuff like that. So if the NHL club wants Casty or Walshy after this season - while they do have the power to not sign - it's difficult to assert that, especially when the clubs are actively working with the prospects. Bancroft didn't have that type of thing going on - he kinda just had to play his mind out to get scout attention and get the AHL/NHL deal. And you can run the calculus on signing early vs staying another year at college (risk of career-altering injuries, breaking out in senior year, monetary things) and it's really not as clear as it seems to a fan.

The flip side is that when you're a FA you have multiple teams bidding for you, as Bancroft did.

Biggest difference between Bancroft and Castagna though is that Bancroft was 24 when he signed; Castagna is only 20.

Depends on your talent level, too, though. If Castagna was a FA, he'd definitely be part of a bidding war. (Perhaps it's a good thing he isn't.)

That's what I always come back to tbh - Castagna is still pretty damn young. Making the hop out of NCAA at 20/21 is usually seen among your more blue-chip prospects (think your Leonards, your Hutsons, that kind of player). I can't think of a guy, off the top of my head, who signed to the NHL at late 20/early 21 and wasn't that kind of blue chip guy. Closest I can get is Shane LaChance (who did sign with the Devils after his second year at BU), but he basically started at BU when he was Castagna's age now.

The other thing I'm checking - the Calgary Wranglers (the Flames' AHL affiliate, where they'd presumably put Casty fresh off signing) are abysmal right now and probably won't qualify for the Calder Cup playoffs. Something to keep in mind there.

Also will note that a center depth of Kadri-Backlund-Frost-Pospisil isn't the worst in the league and I wouldn't say Castagna would realistically be a better option than any of them (assuming they develop him into a C, which I think only makes sense given his toolset). Of course, Kadri is in trade rumors and Frost I've heard as well, so we'll see how that shakes out by Friday.

[stereax]

Flames article on Casty after the trade!