Dale Tallon made a move today to boost his team’s rather dismal goaltending depth chart by inking undrafted free agent Colin Stevens to an entry-level contract. The young netminder will report to the club’s AHL affiliate in San Antonio.
Stevens, 21, played for Union College for three years. He won a national championship with the team in 2014, and attended Florida’s development camp along with teammate Mike Vecchione during the offseason. Over the course of his NCAA career, Stevens posted a .923 SV% in 90 games played.
The team was certainly better in 2013-2014, when Stevens went 28-4-2 with a .929 SV% and six shutouts. This year, despite things being worse in front of him, he still managed a 16-15-0 record with a .920 SV% and two shutouts.
When he attended development camp during the offseason, he clearly impressed the team enough for them to keep an eye on him this season, where he continued to perform well. An excerpt from LBC’s coverage of development camp:
G Colin Stevens doesn’t “wow”; he just seems to win. He won with Union, and when he and Cowley switched, the Red Team had a 3-0 lead. Winners tend to stay in organizations, and for one that’s been generally a losing proposition for so long, adding a winner like Stevens might be a smart move.
Overall, this is a great move by Tallon. Stevens did a fine job at the NCAA level, and has the experience of winning a National Championship on his resume. The team needed young goaltenders, and now they’ve added one.