A Couple of WCHA Departures

Jason Gregoire is leaving North Dakota to turn pro, and thanks to him playing a year in the USHL after being drafted he will be a free agent 30 days after withdrawing from school. Not that he won’t sign with the Islanders anyways, but New York has some good young forwards (Tavares, Grabner, Okposo, Moulson, etc.) so I imagine Gregoire will be searching out an NHL team where he could get some top 6 time. He might spend a year in the AHL but I think he is ready for the NHL right now and has turned himself into a complete player over his three years at UND. One thing to potentially watch is that with Atlanta being rumored to move to Winnipeg, that franchise doesn’t have many great options up front, and Gregoire is a Winnipeg native.

The other news is that Max Gardiner has left Minnesota. Gardiner came right out of high school and struggled in his first season with the Gophers, scoring 3 points in 17 games. For the non-elite guys a year in the USHL seems to be mandatory before playing in college. Gardiner will now probably play for Dubuque, who just took him in the USHL draft, but could go to the WHL as well. His rights are owned by Tri-City, and the Pipeline Show is reporting that is a strong possibility.