Breaking: Free agent college star Patrick Newell close to signing with NHL team.

Details inside.

HockeyFeed
HockeyFeed
Published 4 years ago
Breaking: Free agent college star Patrick Newell close to signing with NHL team.
Russell Hons/CSM/Zuma

It seems like one National Hockey League franchise has been able to procure the services of a highly coveted National Hockey League prospect.

According to a breaking news report from Sportsnet's National Hockey League insider Elliotte Friedman it appears that 23 year old forward Patrick Newell is on the verge of signing his first ever National Hockey League contract. According to Friedman his sources have informed him that Newell will be signing that deal with the New York Rangers organization, yet another excellent move from that organizations management as they continue to work towards their roster rebuild.

Newell was likely in high demand at the NHL level after his very strong performance during the 2018 - 2019 regular season and for that reason it is a huge coup for the Rangers to have convinced him to join their line up. If I had to warrant a guess I would imagine that the likelihood that the Rangers will have a spot for him on their full time roster next season played a major role in Newell selecting them over some of the other potential candidates for him. 

Although Newell has had a steady career in collegiate level hockey representing St. Cloud State, his game exploded this season when he took things to an entirely new level. Newell seems to have fully hit his prime in his 39 games this season with a very impressive 21 goals and 26 points for a total of 47 points over that stretch. That kind of production in a season would be enough to turn the heads of even the most skeptical of NHL scouts and it seems that is exactly what happened with the Rangers winning out in the end. 

When you consider that the Rangers' season is already coming to an end, with them having long since been eliminated from possible contention in the 2019 Stanley Cup Playoffs, this is a deal that will likely only impact them starting in the 2019 - 2020 NHL regular season. I would expect that Newell will immediately compete for a spot on the Rangers NHL roster, likely part of the pitch that the Rangers made to him in their efforts to entice him to come to New York.

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