The Canadian surprised several by deciding to keep the rights of the Ty Smilanic striker last summer after a first professional season which did not seem to justify him.
• Read also: Here are the exact choices that Canadians will hold in the draft
Less than a year later, this decision of the organization has something to make an eyebrow. Smilanic did not play at all in 2024-2025. He simply disappeared from the radar on the hockey planet without ever having been able to initial an entry contract with CH.
In 2023-2024, the player who was now 23 years old was satisfied with a harvest of a goal and seven points in 31 games with the Lions of Trois-Rivières in the ECHL before putting an end prematurely in his season for personal reasons.
We have not seen him since in the entourage of the team, even if the tricolor confirmed in August 2024 that he decided to keep his rights indefinitely.
-Recovered in the third round of the 2020 auction by the Panthers, Smilanic was an interesting piece of the transaction of Ben Chiarot on a few days before the deadline in 2022. He had just known two seasons of more than 20 points at the Quinnipiac University and was recognized for his excellent skating.
However, at the end of the 2021-2022 season, he decided to change university to finally join the badgers of the University of Wisconsin. However, mental health problems have forced him to play only 14 games with them.
He subsequently gave up his eligibility in the NCAA to take the jump among professionals after only three seasons in the university ranks.
A surprising decision for a player who had not yet established himself as an impact player in the NCAA. We now know the rest …
In collaboration with our partners
