Colorado Avalanche: 4 Possible College Free Agents

Austin Cangelosi

College: Boston College
Class Year: Senior
Height: 5’7”
Weight: 173 pounds
Age: 22
Position: Center

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Last month Joe Sakic made waves when he attended some college games in Boston, including the Bean Pot Tournament. It was thought he was scouting a trade with the Boston Bruins. That’s still a possibility, but he could have been checking for potential free agents.

If that’s the case, center Austin Cangelosi probably caught his eye. He’s small and skilled, which is the new Colorado type. Right now he leads his college team with 30 points (17 goals, 13 assists). Boston College is getting ready to host Vermont in the Hockey East Tournament.

According to BC Heights, Cangelosi is an agile goal-scorer who’s great at winning in faceoffs. He has solid two-way play.

Naturally Cangelosi’s size is nowhere near ideal for the NHL — he makes Tyson Barrie look downright beastly. However, Cangelosi skated at BC with the NHL’s currently most celebrated diminutive forward, Johnny Goudreau. Austin isn’t the next Johnny Hockey, but he could definitely add forward scoring depth.

Like I said, Sakic may well have been checking the senior out at the Bean Pot. Here are a couple plays in which we can see his skill for ourselves:

Here’s something we might like to see Candelosi try during a shootout:

Let’s look at a player of more traditional NHL size.