D Casey Nelson
Minnesota State University’s Casey Nelson is another right-handed star defenceman in the NCAA. According to Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman, Nelson is listening to NHL offers, but he might still return to Minnesota State for his senior year.
The 23-year-old was recently named the Western Collegiate Hockey Association’s defensive player of the year and a first team all-star. So, it comes as no surprise that several NHL teams are showing interest in him. Right-handed defencemen are hard to come by, especially when you are looking for good ones.
After recording seven goals and 33 points in 40 games last season, Nelson finished the 2015-16 campaign at six goals and 22 points in the same amount of games. While MSU’s offence was worse than last season as a whole, it is still a bit of a red flag for Nelson. Instead of carrying his team to greater success, he stumbled with them.
Now, simply based on the fact that right-handed D-men are highly sought-after in the NHL, Nelson will certainly find a team this year if he wants to. If the Canucks fail to sign Troy Stecher, Nelson should be a great backup plan.
However, as opposed to Stecher, Nelson has zero connections to Vancouver or the Canucks, so signing him should not get any easier than signing Stecher.
Next: LW Jimmy Vesey