Monday: Anaheim has confirmed the pair of signings, announcing that Badini and Drew are the latest to join the franchise. Both contracts are set to begin in the 2020-21 season.
Saturday: The Ducks have agreed to terms with a prospect for the second straight day. CapFriendly reports that they’ve signed forward Jack Badini to a two-year, entry-level contract. They’ve also inked defenseman Hunter Drew to a three-year, entry-level pact, also per CapFriendly. Badini’s deal carries an $805K cap hit and contains $20K in performance bonuses for the 2020-21 season. Meanwhile, Drew’s contract carries an AAV of just over $793K and contains no performance bonuses.
Badini was a third-round pick of the Ducks back in 2017 (91st overall) and recently wrapped up his third season at Harvard. His production actually tapered off somewhat this past season as his six goals and 14 points in 31 games were actually the lowest of his NCAA career. Nonetheless, he showed enough to get Anaheim to sign him now over returning for his senior year.
Drew, meanwhile, was a sixth-rounder in 2018 (178th overall) and actually spent all of this season in Anaheim’s minor league system. He played in 29 games with AHL San Diego and another five with ECHL Tulsa. While he only had seven points with the Gulls, he was more productive with the Oilers at the lower level with four assists in his five contests with them. The Ducks had until June 1st to sign him or let him become an unrestricted free agent.
Brian – AHL Tulsa s/b ECHL Tulsa…(otherwise, good work, as usual!)
Good catch, thanks. It’s fixed now.
Badini and Drew will be nice depth pieces in the system. Badini might have some untapped potential, although his Junior year wasn’t so great. Drew did a good job in San Diego and Tulsa… good enough to convert that AHL contract into a 3 year ELC. Drew might have the better chance of becoming a 6/7 dman