It came out last night that Blue Jackets 2014 1st round pick Sonny Milano will not attend Boston College and instead will be signing his entry level deal with the CBJ soon.
Because of being drafted from the USHL, Sonny is eligible to play in Springfield but more than likely he is heading to Plymouth of the Ontario Hockey League. This somewhat shocked many of the people I follow (one I think was gonna need talked off a ledge) as Sonny was expected to fill the hole left by Hobey Baker Award winner Johnny Gaudreau.
Here’s a quote from BC coach Jerry York about Sonny deciding not to attend BC “Sonny has informed me he will sign a contract with Columbus. They will dictate his path as he embarks upon his pro career.” A lot of people are getting on Sonny for decommiting after saying he would go to BC at the US World Junior Camp but I think it would have been highly unlikely for him to decommit in the middle of a US event. Like Mike McMahon from College Hockey News said there are many roads to the NHL.
I think the best option for Sonny is to head to Plymouth where he’ll probably be the Whalers go to offensive weapon as the teams leading returning scorers are 18 year old Francesco Vilardi and import Victor Crus Rydberg who had 38 points. A trade that some think may have helped get Sonny to the Whalers was trading for Matthew Campagna who had 74 points with Sudbury last season.
It was a down year for the Whalers last year. they finished 8th in the Western Conference – going 28-33-0-7 which included being swept by Memorial Cup Runner Up Guelph. The Whalers also lost GM/coach Mike Vellucci to the Carolina Hurricanes (who use Plymouth as their OHL affiliate-they have the same owner). One asset that is returning is OHL top goalie and Parma native Alex Nedeljkovic (who Sonny shares an agent with).
So Sonny will head to Traverse City joining last year’s three first round picks which likely sets a new tournament record (I can’t think of any team ever sending more than two). Sonny also seems to be a lock for Team USA at the World Juniors after leading the evaluation camp in scoring.
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