The Buffalo Sabres are adding more kids from the NCAA to their roster. Andrew Oglevie has signed a two-year entry-level contract worth $925,000. The undrafted 23-year-old spent the past three years at the University of Notre Dame, the last two as an alternate captain. He becomes the second Irish player in the past two days to sign an entry-level deal with an NHL team. On Monday, captain Jake Evans officially joined the Montréal Canadiens.
Buffalo Sabres Sign Andrew Oglevie
Jason Botterill and the Sabres are looking to get younger. Another season spent in the basement of the League, this time dead last, Buffalo’s long rebuild continues. Lately, they’ve been looking more towards college players to bolster their prospect pool.
Oglevie joins fellow college prospects Linus Weissbach (University of Wisconsin), Jacob Bryson (Providence College), and Christopher Brown (Boston College) in the Sabres organization. The most anticipated prospect in the Sabres system is last year’s first-round pick, Casey Mittelstadt (University of Minnesota). Mittelstadt signed a three-year entry-level contract with the Sabres in March.
The former Fighting Irish centerman will join the Sabres organization at the beginning of next season. He hopes to bring the same lethal scoring ability he had in South Bend to the team.
We've signed forward Andrew Oglevie to an entry-level contract.
Welcome to Buffalo, @AOglevie!
As a junior at @NDHockey, Oglevie served as alternate captain & ranked 2nd among Fighting Irish skaters with 39 points (15G, 24A), leading the team in goals for the 2nd straight year. pic.twitter.com/5WTu4uOKvu
— Buffalo Sabres (@BuffaloSabres) April 11, 2018
Get to Know the Newest Prospect
Andrew Oglevie is coming off leading Notre Dame to their first NCAA National Championship game since 2008. They ended up losing 2-1 to Minnesota-Duluth but it was a memorable season nonetheless. The Fullerton, California native led the Irish with 15 goals this season. He came in second on the team in assists and points with 24 and 39 respectively.
Oglevie was crucial to the Irish offence during the NCAA Tournament. In the first game, he logged two assists versus Michigan Tech. The next round against Providence, he posted both a goal and an assist. He did it again during the Frozen Four against Michigan. Even in their disappointing loss in the final game, Oglevie was the lone scorer. Through four games of the tournament, he racked up 3-4-7 which is much more impressive given how tight scoring each game was. Several times throughout the year, he gave Notre Dame the momentum they needed to swing the game back in their favour.
Take a look 👀 at Andrew Oglevie's sweet wrister to put the Irish on the board!#GoIrish | #BeatWolverinespic.twitter.com/vIGRI4fY9J
— Notre Dame Hockey (@NDHockey) April 6, 2018
The 5’10 junior is an offensive workhorse. He’s fast on the rush and never gives up on plays. Oglevie’s lightning quick wrister is something to marvel at and should excite both fans and his future linemates. Equally deadly, his passing can throw any defender off, especially on the power play. Notre Dame’s special teams unit was one of, if not the best in the nation. Though not afraid to engage in physical battles, he sometimes struggles to cover the opposition in the defensive zone. As long as Oglevie works on using his stick to break up passes, he should be able to crack an NHL lineup in no time. No matter what though, he should be a fantastic addition to the Buffalo Sabres organization.
