NHL teams ‘already lining up’ to sign Predators prospect Vesey

Damien Cox and Elliotte Friedman go through the latest news in the NHL, including Mike Richards and Nikita Nikitin’s situation, an update on the Sabres goalies and more.

Jimmy Vesey might not be a household name to most hockey fans, but the Harvard senior has caught the eye of many NHL teams.

According to Sportsnet’s Damien Cox, Vesey is expected to become a free agent in April and teams are “already lining up” to sign him.

Vesey, 22, was a third-round pick of Nashville in the 2012 NHL Draft.

He scored 32 goals and 26 assists in 37 games with Harvard in 2014-15 and was rewarded with a top-10 nomination for the Hobey Baker Award.

One team that could have an inside track at signing Vesey is the Toronto Maple Leafs, who hired his father Jim as a scout this past summer and drafted his brother Nolan in the sixth round of the 2014 NHL Draft.

Friedman brought up Vesey’s status in his Oct. 7 edition of 30 Thoughts:

12. (David) Poile would not delve deep into predicting the future of Harvard senior Jimmy Vesey, a 2012 pick who could also arrive later this season.

“All I will say is we have a great relationship and supported his decision to go back to school.” Vesey, who scored 32 goals in 37 games in 2014-15, has the option of free agency next summer.

His father, Jim, was recently hired as a scout by Toronto, a move that raised eyebrows, to say the least. Pretty sure I was at the game where the father scored his first NHL goal, an empty netter at Maple Leaf Gardens.

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