NHL teams have until August 15 to sign college players to entry-level contracts once they graduate, otherwise those teams will lose their exclusive contract rights.

The Canadian has already confirmed that he will not offer him a contract Rhett Pittlett who was a fifth-round pick in 2019 and according to information from Marc Dumont by Montreal Hockey Now he will not be the only one, because Ty Smilanic would not be in the plans of Kent Hughes neither.

Smilanic was a third-round pick of the Panthers in 2020. He was acquired as part of the trade Ben Chiarot in Florida. However, he was not the central element of this transaction, but rather the first choice of the Panthers, who landed in Colorado in the transaction Alex Newhook.

Smilanic didn’t have much success in the NCAA. He still managed 44 points in 70 games with Quinnipiac, but things got a little worse after that.

In his senior year, playing for the University of Wisconsin, he played in just 14 games, scoring 2 points. Then last year with the Trois-Rivières Lions of the ECHL, he collected 7 points in 31 games, including just one goal.

Given the quality of the Swiss bench of prospects, which is one of the best in the league with a lot of depth, this seems obvious Kent Hughes will not be able to justify offering one of its remaining contracts to a player who appears to have no future in the NHL.

Everything indicates that the future of Ty Smilanic will not pass through Montreal.