Oilers Prospects: College Defenseman Damien Carfagna Signs Contract
Damien Carfagna. (Ohio State Athletics)The NCAA hockey season is wrapping up, which means it's college free agent season.
While all the headlines go to the big prospects signing with the teams that drafted them (Jimmy Snuggerud in St. Louis and Ryan Leonard in Washington, to name just two), there are plenty of quality players to be found among the older cohort.
The Edmonton Oilers picked up one on Monday, announcing the signing of Ohio State defenseman Damien Carfagna to a two-year entry-level contract.
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The undrafted defender has spent the past two seasons at Ohio State, scoring 28 points in 38 games this season and helping the Buckeyes to their third Big-10 final, where they lost in double overtime to Michigan State.
Carfagna's scouting report from his draft year (2021) describes him as a defensive defenseman who's skilled at preventing zone entries. Despite that, the 22-year-old was second among Buckeyes defensemen in points this season and fifth overall. He also led the team with a +16 plus-minus.
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The Oilers know their way around college free agents. They of course signed Justin Schultz out of the University of Wisconsin in 2012, and have plucked Drake Caggiula, Vincent Desharnais, and Michael Kesselring out of the NCAA in recent years as well.
Seems, then, like the trouble with Carfagna will be less turning him into something useful, and more keeping him in Edmonton.
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