Merrimack’s season ended last night the same way Ottawa’s Cup Finals appearance ended: with a boneheaded defensive play putting the puck in the back of their own net. That means it’s open season on Merrimack’s players. It’s likely that forward Stephane Da Costa will sign with an NHL squad and leave Hockey East behind.
Da Costa is a late 1989 birthday from Paris, France and attracted a lot of attention last summer but ultimately returned to school to continue working on his game.
Year | Age | Team | GP | G | A | Pts | NHLe G | NHLe A | NHLe Pts |
09-10 | 20 | Merrimack | 34 | 16 | 29 | 46 | 23 | 42 | 65 |
10-11 | 21 | Merrimack | 33 | 14 | 31 | 45 | 16 | 36 | 52 |
Pretty impressive numbers. Suggesting that an NCAA free agent could jump into a lineup next year and clear 50 points would likely put that player in the Calder race.
As a quick comparison here’s a table of some notable NCAA free agents and some high draft picks from the NCAA in their age 21 seasons:
Player | Year | Age | Team | GP | G | A | Pts |
Tyler Bozak | 08-09 | 21 | Denver | 41 | 18 | 16 | 34 |
Bobby Butler | 08-09 | 21 | UNH | 38 | 9 | 21 | 30 |
Christian Hanson | 07-08 | 21 | Notre Dame | 47 | 13 | 9 | 22 |
Tyler Brenner | 09-10 | 21 | RIT | 33 | 15 | 11 | 26 |
Most of these players returned to college for their age 22 seasons before making the jump. Stephane Da Costa is pretty clearly a cut above most of the NCAA free agents we’ve seen recently.
I wanted to see how Da Costa stacks up to some recent first rounders and found two players who I think are much better than Da Costa and two that might be decent comparables:
Player | Year | Age | Team | GP | G | A | Pts |
Zach Parise | 03-04 | 19 | UND | 37 | 23 | 32 | 55 |
Colin Wilson | 08-09 | 19 | BU | 43 | 17 | 38 | 55 |
Drew Stafford | 05-06 | 20 | UND | 42 | 24 | 24 | 48 |
Nate Gerbe | 07-08 | 20 | SUX | 43 | 35 | 33 | 68 |
Colin Wilson and Zach Parise have remarkably similar age 19 seasons to each other and Colin Wilson actually has higher PPG than Parise’s rookie NHL season. Ultimately they both look better than Da Costa and that should make sense to us. They were drafted in the first round for a reason. Drew Stafford and Nate Gerbe’s numbers look very similar to Da Costa’s and I think that’s a decent target. Gerbe’s 23 and has 15 goals this season in the NHL and Stafford is 25 and is sitting at 28.
The Leafs can make another nice addition to their NCAA free agent prospect pool by signing Stephane Da Costa. Let’s hope they do.
Chemmy – Any reason for you to think the Leafs would sign Da Costa, or is this just wishful thinking? I know Burke loves to stockpile talent through the undrafted NCAA route, but other teams are also starting to look to pillage this market.
Mostly just because of Burke’s track record in signing NCAA talent. The Leafs offer him a pretty good opportunity to crack the NHL roster quickly which could be an advantage.
According to Eliotte Friedman, the Leafs are interested.
He’d be a great signing.
Also, this is a great article – I was wondering how Da Costa compared with Bozak, and now I don’t have to look π
Do you feel he would get a better shot with the leafs or the wild as far as actually making the team out of camp next year
Looks like Da Costa has singed with the Sens. Not really surprising when you look at the Toronto depth chart compared to what little competition they have in Ottawa.
The Leafs have depth? Oh you must mean like Tyler Bozak π
He went to a team with a future….
From a SENS fan to Leafs (not a real word) nation.
HA HAAAAAAA!
Dustin Penner, Jesse Winchester, Chris Kunitz, Bobby Butler.
Methinks Brian Murray might have a little more talent than Burkie at signing these college free agents, though it doesn’t prevent Burkie from taking the credit for his work. (Might have something to do with him not being a self aggrandizing ego-maniacal a**hole)
BonjourFan69
Bonjour le Da Costa pour le Ottawa Senators!
http://www.newgrounds.com/portal/view/140820