Incoming Penn State freshman forward Kevin Wall was selected by the Carolina Hurricanes in the sixth round, 181st overall during Saturday’s final stages of the NHL draft.
Unlike the NFL or NBA drafts, players selected during the NHL draft are still eligible for NCAA competition with NHL teams simply holding the signing rights for later in a player’s career. The NHL Entry Draft only includes North American players from 18-20 years old and European skaters 18-21 years old.
Players older than 20/21 years of age are effectively free agents, able to sign to an NHL team as those opportunities arise.
Wall is the 11th Nittany Lion to be drafted, and will join Evan Barratt, Nikita Pavlychev, Aarne Talvitie and Denis Smirnov as NHL affiliated players on Penn State’s 2019-20 roster.
A product of the British Columbia Hockey League’s Chilliwack Chiefs, Wall scored 31 goals and added 33 assists in 49 games and will join an already talented forward corps this coming season.
Hall joins a handful of new faces skating into Hockey Valley this season as fellow freshmen Tyler Gratton, Connor McMenamin and Mason Snell, Connor MacEachern just a few days ago.
Penn State is also looking to land the services of Minnesota Gophers defenseman Clayton Phillips, who would be required to sit out a season per NCAA rules.
