College free agent winger Spencer Foo will turn pro and forego his senior NCAA season, his college team announced. However, it remains unlikely that he will sign with an NHL team before the end of the current season, meaning his entry level deal wouldn’t start until 2017-18. Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman reports (Twitter link) that part of the reasoning for the decision to wait to sign is that it will allow him to finish up his current classes. The 23 year old will be a highly sought after player as yesterday, Jon Rosen of LA Kings Insider suggested that pretty much the entire league has already shown interest in signing Foo.
This past season, Foo was second on Union College in scoring with 26 goals and 36 assists (the most in a single season in Dutchmen history) in just 38 games and was one point shy of tying three others for the most points in all of the NCAA’s Division I. He had a program-record 21 game point streak during the season and was held off the scoresheet just four times all season.
Recently, Foo was named a finalist for the Hobey Baker Award, given to the top NCAA player. He was also named to the All-ECAC Hockey First Team.
Unlike last summer’s mini-frenzy with Jimmy Vesey, who eventually signed with the Rangers, there won’t be a need to wait until mid-August for Foo to sign; as he is an undrafted free agent, he’s free to sign at any time. His entry level pact will be limited to two years in length and given the expected level of interest, he should be able to capitalize on a favorable bonus structure as well.