In the 2023 Entry NHL draft, the Vancouver Canucks made two surprising overage draft picks. The first is Ty Mueller out of the University of Nebraska-Omaha who recently signed an NHL contract near the end of last season and looks to be a big part with the Abbotsford Canucks for the 2024-25 season. The second was center Matthew Perkins who went undrafted in his first year of eligibility in 2022 but was selected by Vancouver in the fourth round the next year. Perkins was selected out of the Youngstown Phantoms of the United States Hockey League (USHL) in 2023, committed to the University of Minnesota-Duluth, and played there for the 2023-24 season, totaling 15 points in 35 games.
Perkins’ Path To Minnesota-Duluth
Born in Balgonie, Saskatchewan, Perkins played his minor hockey in his home province playing for the Prairie Storm in Saskatchewan’s minor hockey league and eventually played for the Moose Jaw Warriors U18 AAA team. “I think Saskatchewan’s midget AAA league is a very very good league,” Perkins told The Hockey Writers while reflecting on his minor hockey years. “That league was a major opportunity for me.”
Perkins decided to take the NCAA route instead of playing in the CHL (Canadian Hockey League) which has become an increasingly-popular route to take for players in Canada. Perkins decided to take the college route because he felt he “was always a late bloomer” in terms of growing when it comes to both his on and off-ice game. With that distinction, college is the perfect spot for him because players have more time to sign with an NHL team than if they were to play in the CHL.
CHL players need to sign entry-level contracts (ELCs) with NHL teams within two seasons of being drafted whereas NCAA players can wait longer than two years to sign an ELC. Some wait even as long as five seasons before they sign their contract. Perkins can now develop his game more and more at the university level and once he turns pro, he can be NHL-ready and skip the AHL like Matthew Knies did with the Toronto Maple Leafs and Frank Nazar did with the Chicago Blackhawks.
With him taking this path, he needed to play Junior “A” and could not play in the Western Hockey League, so he stayed close to home and played for the Humboldt Broncos of the Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League. The Broncos became a story six years ago after their tragic…
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