Prospect Update: Sam Colangelo

By Thomas Harrington

The Anaheim Ducks chose forward Sam Colangelo in the second round of the 2020 NHL Entry Draft, 36th overall. He finished his college career this past season and made both his AHL and NHL debuts.

This was Colangelo’s fourth season of NCAA hockey, but his first with Western Michigan University. He had transferred last summer in the hopes of getting a bigger role with his new team. Things went well for Colangelo with Western Michigan, as he appeared in a career-high 38 games and scored a career-high 24 goals and 43 points. His 24 goals led the team and the 43 points were third. In the entire NCAA, he finished 25th in points and tied for eighth in goals. Colangelo also had three hat tricks during the season.

When Colangelo’s college season ended, he signed a PTO and joined the San Diego Gulls. He played in four games and scored a goal and four points. Colangelo played in San Diego’s top six while he was with them. He then signed his entry-level deal with the Ducks and joined them for the rest of the year. Colangelo played in three games with Anaheim and scored against Calgary in his NHL debut. He played in a career high 16:11 against Vegas in the final game of the season.

I had two expectations for Colangelo this past season, and he made both. First, I wanted him to match his offensive totals from his sophomore year, when he scored 12 goals and 27 points in 29 games. While those are modest totals, his numbers had taken a dip in his junior year. Combined with being on a new team, I was hoping for a better year than his junior season but didn’t want to put things too high for him. Second, I wanted him to play in every game for his new team, which he was able to do.

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Colangelo will probably play for both the Ducks and Gulls this coming season. If he wants to spend more time in the NHL than the AHL, he’s going to need to have a great training camp and preseason. Last year, the Ducks acquired Nikita Nesterenko from Minnesota, and he played in nine NHL games to end the year. It looked like he was primed for a full-time NHL job this year, but he spent most of the year in the AHL, getting only three NHL games. It remains to be seen if Colangelo follows a similar path or is able to spend more time with the Ducks than the Gulls.

With his destination currently unclear for next season, I have two sets of expectations for Colangelo, one for when he’s in Anaheim and one for when he’s in San Diego. When he’s with the Gulls, Colangelo simply needs to be one of their better forwards. When he’s with the Ducks, Colangelo doesn’t need to be one of the league’s top rookies, or even Anaheim’s top rookie. But, he does need to show that the offensive skill he showed in his final season of NCAA hockey is translating to the NHL. As a four-year college player, Colangelo is already 22, and should be a little more physically mature than most NHL rookies.

Colangelo has one year left on his entry-level deal. As long as he doesn’t have a terrible year, the Ducks will extend him next summer. Even if he ends up being one of the best rookies in the NHL, I still don’t think Anaheim would give him a long term deal, but he certainly would have earned a one-way deal and a sizable raise. If he ends up splitting time between the NHL and AHL or spending most of the year in the AHL, then he’ll probably get a one- or two-year two-way deal and another shot to prove that he belongs in the NHL.

The next prospect update will be on defenseman Konnor Smith.

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September 16th, 2024