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Robert Mastrosimone

Robert Mastrosimone Signs AHL Contract With Toronto

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One of the more intriguing names that saw his exclusive rights expire on August 15th, Robert Mastrosimone, has signed a one-year AHL contract with the Toronto Marlies, per a team release. It’s a fairly surprising outcome for the young forward, as many theorized that he may be in line for a two-way NHL contract after his impressive season at Arizona State University last year.

In 2019, Mastrosimone capped off a solid 2018-19 season with the USHL’s Chicago Steel by being drafted in the second round of the 2019 NHL Draft by the Detroit Red Wings. Having already committed to Boston University for his collegiate career at the time, the Red Wings initially thought it would be the best step forward for his development.

Unfortunately for Mastrosimone, his situation did not pan out well in Boston. Over the next three seasons, playing in 83 games for the Terriers, Mastrosimone would only score 21 goals and 29 assists overall, with his best season coming during his Junior year in 2021-22. Without much of a path forward in Boston, Detroit seemingly underwhelmed by his development, Mastrosimone would take his talents to Arizona State University to cap off his collegiate career.

In 38 games for the Sun Devils during the 2022-23 NCAA season, Mastrosimone scored 11 goals and 31 assists, showing off his true skill level with new access to more playing time. As the season came to its conclusion, there was no word on Mastrosimone’s future with Detroit until March. Towards the end of the year, in speaking with reporters, head coach of Arizona State, Greg Powers said, “He’s playing the waiting game and seeing what’s going to be available as a free agent. There’s a lot of teams that are interested in him, but it doesn’t look like Detroit is going to happen. It’s just a waiting game, but he has the option to come back. It’s a good option and he’s open to it”.

Now, moving forward for Mastrosimone, he will have the opportunity to prove his worth at the AHL level next season, potentially earning a two-way NHL contract if his development shows promise. Over the past several years, largely due to their cap situation, the Maple Leafs have been one of the better teams in bringing in young, cheap talent to fill out the bottom of their roster.

Snapshots: Toews, Mastrosimone, Allen

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For the next calendar year, the Colorado Avalanche and defenseman Devon Toews will be circulating in the rumor mill, as Toews is set to hit unrestricted free agency next summer. Finishing out the last season of a four-year, $16.4MM ($4.1MM AAV), the Avalanche have received incredible surplus value from Toews on this contract. Pairing up nicely with star-defenseman Cale Makar, and becoming one of, if not the best defensive defenseman in the organization, Toews will undoubtedly be looking for a much higher salary on his next contract.

In an article by Peter Baugh of The Athletic, he writes that Evolving-Hockey has projected an eight-year, $64.4MM contract for Toews on his next deal. Within the last three years, Dougie Hamilton, Seth Jones, and Charlie McAvoy have all signed max term extensions, all making north of $9MM a year. In a similar list, MacKenzie Weegar, Hampus Lindholm, and Morgan Rielly have signed similarly long contracts, but are making between $6.25MM-$7.5MM a year. Given the quality of these defensemen, somewhere between $7.75MM-$8.25MM seems right for Toews, but not at a maximum length deal.

At 30 years old already, Toews will be hard-pressed to find an eight- or seven-year deal on his next contract, or will at least have to lower his price to get an interested team to bite. In Colorado, with Mikko Rantanen, Alexandar Georgiev, and Bowen Byram all needing new deals within two years, the Avalanche will have a difficult time financially fitting Toews into their long-term plans, even with the salary cap set to increase by a larger degree than in years past.

Other snapshots:

  • Speculation has begun to increase on the landing spots for the college free agents that saw their exclusive rights expire yesterday. One of the most popular players on the list, Robert Mastrosimone, may be an interesting fit for the New York Islanders, at least according to Stefen Rosner of The Hockey News. Currently holding 44 of a possible 50 contracts heading into the season, Rosner notes that Mastrosimone would be a great fit for the Islanders and that Mastrosimone even grew up an Islanders fan. Struggling in his first three years in the NCAA with Boston University, Mastrosimone took it to the next level for Arizona State University last season, scoring 11 goals and 31 assists in 38 games.
  • In more unfortunate news, the Guelph Storm announced that defenseman Cameron Allen will miss a significant chunk of next season due to shoulder surgery. In the 2023 NHL Draft, Allen was drafted in the fifth round by the Washington Capitals, coming off a down year by his standards. Allen saw his goal-scoring numbers dip by eight between his freshman and sophomore year and will have limited time this upcoming season to continue improving.

Update On This Year’s August 15 Free Agents

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Most NHL free agent business is dealt with in the early summer months. There is one important date later each year, however. August 15 marks the date when NHL teams lose their exclusive signing rights to most college-drafted players if they’ve graduated (or completed without graduating) college and are not yet signed to an entry-level contract.

Earlier this month, we published a list of players slated to hit the UFA market yesterday if not signed to an ELC within the coming days. However, the guidelines the NHL uses to determine a college graduate are some of the most complex sets of rules relating to contractual obligations in pro sports. That means it’s often impossible to glean a full list of players whose rights have expired (or not expired) until after the August 15 deadline has passed.

This year was no different, as CapFriendly issued multiple updates today on their X account regarding the list of August 15 free agents they’d made public earlier in the month. Three players who were slated to expire actually remained on their team’s reserve list: Calgary Flames 2018 fourth-round pick F Demetrios Koumontzis, Ottawa Senators 2018 seventh-round pick F Jakov Novak, and Senators 2018 second-round pick D Jonny Tychonick.

On the flip side, 12 players they expected to remain on teams’ reserve lists hit the free-agent market yesterday. With that in mind, we have a revised, accurate list of players who became unrestricted free agents yesterday. Asterisked players were not originally expected to come off their team’s reserve list.

Anaheim Ducks

*F Trevor Janicke (2019 fifth round, 132nd overall)

Arizona Coyotes

F John Farinacci (2019 third round, 76th overall)
*F Anthony Romano (2019 sixth round, 176th overall)

Boston Bruins

*D Dustyn McFaul (2018 sixth round, 181st overall)

Calgary Flames

*F Joshua Nodler (2019 fifth round, 150th overall)

Carolina Hurricanes

F Kevin Wall (2019 sixth round, 181st overall)

Chicago Blackhawks

F Jake Wise (2018 third round, 69th overall)

Colorado Avalanche

*F Matt Stienburg (2019 third round, 63rd overall)

Columbus Blue Jackets

D Robbie Stucker (2017 seventh round, 210th overall)

Detroit Red Wings

F Robert Mastrosimone (2019 second round, 54th overall)
*F Ethan Phillips (2019 fourth round, 97th overall)

Edmonton Oilers

F Skyler Brind’Amour (2017 sixth round, 177th overall)

Minnesota Wild

*D Marshall Warren (2019 sixth round, 166th overall)

New Jersey Devils

*D Case McCarthy (2019 fourth round, 118th overall)
*F Patrick Moynihan (2019 sixth round, 158th overall)

New York Islanders

D Christian Krygier (2018 seventh round, 196th overall)
F Jacob Pivonka (2018 fourth round, 103rd overall)

New York Rangers

*F Eric Ciccolini (2019 seventh round, 205th overall)
*F Riley Hughes (2018 seventh round, 216th overall)

Ottawa Senators

*F Luke Loheit (2018 seventh round, 194th overall)

Philadelphia Flyers

F Jay O’Brien (2018 first round, 19th overall)

San Jose Sharks

D Arvid Henrikson (2016 seventh round, 187th overall) Originally drafted by the Montreal Canadiens

Toronto Maple Leafs

D Ryan O’Connell (2017 seventh round, 203rd overall)

Winnipeg Jets

G Jared Moe (2018 sixth round, 184th overall)

Of the list above, Krygier and Pivonka are remaining in the Islanders organization on confirmed AHL contracts for 2023-24, although they remain eligible to sign with another NHL team should one come calling. All others are either returning to school for 2023-24, have contracts signed in other leagues, or are not signed for next season.

Notably, this is the official confirmation that the Flyers’ exclusive signing rights of O’Brien have lapsed. As compensation for not signing a first-round pick to their entry-level contract, the Flyers will receive a compensatory second-round pick from the league in the 2024 NHL Draft.

Robert Mastrosimone Unlikely To Sign With Detroit

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Generating the production of an average forward for Boston University, forward Robert Mastrosimone turned things around upon joining the Arizona State Sun Devils. In his first career season at Arizona State, Mastrosimone scored over a point per game, putting up 42 points in 38 games. Unfortunately, for the third straight season, he was unable to help the Sun Devils reach the NCAA tournament.

Mastrosimone was drafted 54th overall in the 2019 NHL Draft by the Detroit Red Wings, hopefully, to become one of the better forwards on the next contending Red Wings’ team. However, Greg Powers, the head coach of Arizona State, relays that Mastrosimone may not be joining the Red Wings altogether.

“He’s playing the waiting game and seeing what’s going to be available as a free agent. There’s a lot of teams that are interested in him, but it doesn’t look like Detroit is going to happen. It’s just a waiting game, but he has the option to come back. It’s a good option and he’s open to it.”

If Detroit and Mastrosimone are unable to come to a contract resolution, the young prospect should nevertheless find his way onto an NHL team. Including his standalone year with Arizona State, Mastrosimone has played in 121 regular season games, scoring 32 goals and 60 assists. Mastrosimone will have one more season of eligibility due to the Covid-19 pandemic, and should he play out his final season with Arizona State, he will likely be joining a new organization around this time next year.

Snapshots: Kane, White, Red Wings

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With the Blackhawks clearly embarking on a large-scale rebuild, there has been an expectation that long-time star winger Patrick Kane will be on the move.  However, Daily Faceoff’s Frank Seravalli reports (audio link) that the veteran isn’t interested in being traded this offseason.  Instead, if a deal is going to happen, it will come closer to the trade deadline.  From a cap standpoint, that would be more palatable for contending teams when three-quarters of his $10.5MM will be paid off.  Kane has full control over where he moves but it appears that move won’t be coming for a while yet.

Elsewhere around the hockey world:

  • Panthers center Colin White told Ian Mendes of The Athletic (subscription link) that his preference this summer was to sign a one-year contract over pursuing a multi-year agreement on the open market. Some had speculated he’d follow long-time agent Kent Hughes to Montreal and while White mentioned he gave some consideration to doing so, he decided that it was more important to go to a winning team.  While White is coming off a pair of injury-plagued seasons, the 25-year-old could be an upside signing for Florida on his one-year, $1.2MM deal.
  • While extension talks between the Red Wings and Dylan Larkin clearly haven’t resulted in a new deal yet, MLive’s Ansar Khan believes an agreement, whenever it does get reached, should give the Michigan native maximum term and an AAV in the $8MM range. The 26-year-old isn’t the prototypical number one center from an offensive standpoint as he has never reached the point-per-game mark but he has logged more than 20 minutes a game on average over the past five seasons.  If a deal does get done in that price range, it would represent a roughly $2MM increase on what Larkin is making now.
  • Robert Mastrosimone’s decision to leave Boston University for Arizona State University raised some eyebrows but Khan notes in a separate column that the Red Wings were on board with the idea of him transferring. The 21-year-old was a second-round pick in 2019 (52nd overall) and was coming off a good season with the Terriers that saw him put up 25 points in 34 games but he should have an opportunity for a bigger role with the Sun Devils next season in the hopes that a good showing will give him an entry-level deal.

Robert Mastrosimone Enters Transfer Portal

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If Detroit Red Wings fans were hoping to sign Robert Mastrosimone to an entry-level contract this spring after his junior season at Boston University, it looks like they will be disappointed. According to Brad Elliott Schlossman of the Grand Forks Herald, Mastrosimone has entered the transfer portal and will change schools.

Importantly, Mastrosimone’s rights are only held by the Red Wings through August 15, 2023. At that point he could become an unrestricted free agent and sign anywhere in the league. Originally selected 54th overall by the Red Wings in 2019, he has spent the last three seasons at BU, including putting up 25 points in 34 games this season.

The school recently fired head coach Albie O’Connell after a dreadful season and will now lose one of their best players. Mastrosimone was third on the team in scoring and was one of the few pure goal-scorers in the group. His departure may leave room for players like Montreal Canadiens draft pick Luke Tuch to step up, though it certainly won’t improve the overall depth of the program.

For Mastrosimone in particular, a transfer to a program with its sights set on a National Championship certainly could improve his stock if he’s looking to become a UFA next summer or even if he’s still committed to Detroit. Of note is that he will not have to sit out a year like under old transfer rules; Mastrosimone is allowed to transfer once and still be eligible to play the following season.

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