Sept. 1: Vass has made his college commitment official as Boston University recently announced (Twitter link) that the blueliner will indeed suit up for them this season. He’s their final addition to a class that saw them add multiple NHL draft picks including Ryder Ritchie, Haoxi Wang, and Sacha Boisvert, among others.
Aug. 9: It’s not very often that a player will leave a professional team to go to college but it does happen periodically with international players. It appears that Blue Jackets prospect Malte Vass will be one of them as Varmlands Folkblad’s Johan Ekberg reports (subscription link) that the blueliner is leaving Sweden to play in the NCAA next season. Which school he has chosen to go to yet remains unknown but Boston University is a school that is believed to have shown interest in him.
Vass was a third-round pick by Columbus last month, going 76th overall. However, he was rated much higher on their draft board as Brian Hedger of The Columbus Dispatch relayed after the draft that the Blue Jackets had Vass within the top 15 in their rankings, a sign that they clearly viewed him as being first-round-worthy.
Vass spent last season in Farjestad’s system, playing predominantly with their junior team where he had 11 points and 53 penalty minutes in 40 games. However, he also got into five games with their SHL club where he was held off the scoresheet. It’s likely that he would have had a chance to get some more action at their top level in 2025-26 but that’s no longer in the cards.
Vass noted that the recent change to allow CHL players to play in the NCAA expedited his decision to come to North America as the spot that’s being made available to him now might not have been available next year, given the number of junior players now seeking a school to play at. It will be interesting to see if other international players start to feel that same pressure and up the urgency to pursue an NCAA spot as well over the next couple of years.