2006 draftees who still need to be signed by 1/6

For people in deep pools

final update 16/6/08 - i've omitted players who I managed to find out that they have been signed and have just left players unsigned or players I know nothing about with explanations of their situation.

Unsigned and gone back into the draft:

38 2 Bryce Swan R (ANA)
113 4 Ben Wright D (CBJ)
129 5 Bobby Nyholm R (CBJ)
142 5 Maxime Frechette D (CBJ)
159 6 Jesse Dudas D (CBJ)
40 2 Ondrej Fiala L (MIN)

Unsigned and available as free agents:

174 6 Eric Hunter C (NYR - drafted twice already)
168 6 Dane Crowley D (TBL - age)


I can find no info on whether they were signed or released (they're not on nhlscap.com, but are still listed as property of their teams in the forecaster):

207 7 Benjamin Breault C (BUF)
149 5 Juuso Puustinen R (CLG)
187 7 Devin DiDiomete L (CLG)
95 4 Ben Shutron D (CHI)
90 3 Aaron Snow L (DAL)
48 2 Joey Ryan D (LAK)
199 7 Cameron Cepek D (MTL)
208 7 Kyell Henegan (NJD)
121 4 Pierre-Luc Lessard D (OTT)
151 5 Ryan Daniels G (OTT)
109 4 Jakub Kovar G (PHI)
175 6 Michael Dupont G (PHI)
152 5 Jordan Bendfeld D (PHO)
122 4 Luke Lynes L (WAS)
127 5 Maxime Lacroix L (WAS)


European prospects drafted out of North American junior who since went back to Europe or disappeared - not sure if they were supposed to be signed or not:

206 7 Viktor Sjodin L (NAS)
204 7 Lukas Zeliska C (NYR)


Did not need to be signed yet - drafted as college or college bound players and then switched to the CHL:

51 2 Nigel Williams D (COL)
10 4 Kevin Montgomery D (COL)
178 6 Tony Romano C (NJD)
52 2 Keith Seabrook D (WAS)


Did not need to be signed yet - drafted out of, and playing in, Europe:

165 6 Jonas Enlund C (ATL)
209 7 Per Jonsson F (CLG)
76 3 Tony Lagerstrom C (CHI)
150 5 Max Warn L (DAL)
114 4 Niclas Andersen D (LAK)
164 6 Constantin Braun L (LAK)
132 5 Niko Hovinen G (MIN)
162 6 Julian Walker W (MIN)
105 4 Niko Snellman R (NAS)
141 5 Kim Johansson W (NYI)
173 6 Stefan Ridderwall G (NYI)
104 4 David Kveton R (NYR; drafted out of the Czech league, then came over to the QMJHL, and went back again after a year)
101 4 Joonas Lehtivuori D (PHI)
185 7 Timo Seppanen D (PHO)
106 4 Reto Berra G (STL)
111 4 Korbinian Holzer D (TOR)
180 6 Leo Komarov C (TOR; Estonian, playing in Finland)


Did not need to be signed yet - drafted out of, and playing in, Russia:

37 2 Yuri Alexandrov D (BOS)
33 2 Igor Makarov R (CHI)
170 6 Alexander Bumagin W (EDM)
58 2 Alexander Vasyunov L (NJD)
67 3 Kirill Tulupov D (NJD, see below)
77 3 Vladimir Zharkov R (NJD)
55 2 Denis Bodrov D (PHI)
205 7 Andrei Popov R (PHI)
198 7 Denis Kazionov L (TBL)
163 6 Sergei Shirokov W (VAN)

Tulupov, however, as a Russian prospect signed out of North American junior, may have to be signed - I don't know.

Clarifications on the above list:

1) In principle, the rights to all North American players drafted can be held for two years, so such players drafted in 2006 have to be signed by their teams by June 1st 2008. The only 'in principle' exception is players who were drafted out of college or who enter college after being drafted, whose rights can be held until August 15th following their graduation, as long as they remain in college.

So, essentially, I took the list of players drafted per team in 2006, and deleted from it those players who are already signed, those who are in college, and those who were still in the USHL this year but have college commitments for next year.

Several special cases:

1) players who leave college early - if they were drafted at age 18 or 19 and leave college in their first year, the club has 4 years (June 1st) to sign them. If they leave college in their second year, the same rule as for college players applies. If they were drafted at age 20 or more and leave college before June 1st 2 years after being drafted, that's the date that applies to them. I listed the two players I am aware of in this situation separately.

2) European prospects -

2a) The rules above definitely apply to prospects of every country that signed the IIHF transfer agreement and who are playing in Canadian major junior, so they have to be signed by June 1st 2 years after the draft. Such players were left on the list.

2b) I am pretty sure, but not 100% sure, that such prospects who come to play in college have the same rule as North American college players apply to them. I took such players (there are only a few) off the list.

2c) I was under the impression the same rule applies to IIHF country players still playing in their home countries, but randomly checking some 2005 draftees in this situation, I found several who were not signed but whose rights were retained (e.g., Toronto's Johan Dahlberg, Devil's Alexander Sundstrom). I left such players in the list but noted them with an (*). If anyone knows anything – the answer is likely in the transfer agreement – please enlighten us. A test case I’d be following in this regard is Chicago’s Tony Lagerstrom, a player who from what I’ve read is talented enough for the Blackhawks to want to retain, but not yet ready enough to come over to North America.

2d) I therefore also don't know what the rule is for European players drafted out of the WHL who go back to Europe within the two years after they are drafted (there are 2 such players in the 2006 class, Preds' Sjodin and Caps' Osala). Nor do I know what the rule is for a player drafted out of Europe and currently playing in Europe but who spent one year in major junior in the interim (Rangers' Kveton).

3) Russian prospects - Russia didn't sign the transfer agreement so I don't know what if any rules apply to Russian prospects. There are several 2005 Russian prospects whose rights were retained without signing them, but since there are also non-Russians in that situation, that may not mean much. I also don't know, therefore, whether Russian prospects playing in Canadian major junior have to be signed within the 2-year span (there is only one such player in the 2006 class, Devil's Tulupov). I listed Russian prospects separately.

Hope this helps people in deep pools. If anyone knows of a link to the transfer agreement (i couldn't find it on nhl.com, nhlpa.com, or iihf.com) post it here.

awesome info! thanks fzusher!

Great post dude! Informative.

Just updated the list with today's signing of Bryan Pitton, so I figured i'd bump this up in the queue so that people know it is there ...

i cannot believe that frolik is not signed yet... surely that must be coming any day now!

Does anyone expect Frolik to sign with Florida and if so will he be with the big club or get some AHL seasoning?
Is he a sure fire 1st liner?
He is a throw in on a possible deal and I'm not sure if he's worth a spot.

Frolik will be given a shot as a top six forward.. Its up to him to keep that.. So he is either a homerun type player or a bust..

I think he is going to be a top six forward... not sure he gets his shot this upcoming year but next year he will for sure

BDog wrote:
Does anyone expect Frolik to sign with Florida and if so will he be with the big club or get some AHL seasoning?
Is he a sure fire 1st liner?
He is a throw in on a possible deal and I'm not sure if he's worth a spot.
He could very well be a star in the league. He'll likely need some AHL seasoning but don't be surprised if he's thrown into the fire like other Florida prospects have been.

Question to moderators - is there a way to pin this topic, so that I don't have to bump it up every time I update the list?