The season of college free agents is upon us, as we’ve seen several names already go to teams around the league. When the Washington Capitals signed Kristofers Bindulis and Hampus Gustafsson, the frenzy was on. Today, Ryan Kennedy of The Hockey News reports that as many as 15 teams have shown interest in Northeastern’s Zach Aston-Reese. 
The juggernaut of a winger has been dominating the college scene all year, scoring 30 goals and 62 points through 36 games in his senior season. Already 22, Aston-Reese uses his physicality and strength to create room for himself and teammates, scoring goals mostly from the front of the net on rebounds and tips. His game is almost pro-ready as he likely won’t ever move past a team’s bottom-six at the next level.
Like with any other college free agent, he does come with his share of weaknesses. His foot speed has long been an issue, and may be exposed at the professional level against other players who are just as strong as him. He lacks the high-level creativity that scouts look for, but makes up for it with work ethic and body positioning. In a stationary battle he’s as good as anyone in the college ranks right now, but that won’t be true when he suddenly has to take on fully-grown men.
There is upside however, as with an NHL skating coach he could get that extra jump to help him keep up and his shot release is already fairly quick. Likely he’ll be looked at to add immediate depth to an AHL squad and NHL bottom-six, with the opportunity at some point to see some powerplay time if his net-front play continues.
He does play with several prospects from around the league, even skating full-time with Blues’ prospect Nolan Stevens (when he has been healthy). Adam Gaudette and Dylan Sikura—of Vancouver and Chicago respectively—also spend time with Aston-Reese, and are each better than point-per-game players for Northeastern. It will be interesting to see if one of these teams brings on the big winger, as they would be very familiar with him.
What makes these guys not eligible for the draft? Or did they previously go unstaffed?
Undrafted. Sorry. Autocorrect.
Generally they go undrafted and it’s usually due to their lack of size(think Martin St. Louis). Not really the case for Bindulis or Gustafsson, they just didn’t play at a high enough level during their draft years to be noticed. Both were in leagues below junior level. In Aston-Reece’s case, he simply underwhelmed during his draft years.
Ah ok thank you.