A year ago, Rhett Gardner was slogging out his senior year for the North Dakota Fighting Hawks. During his freshman year, the team won the Frozen Four, but by his third year, they’d fallen out of the NCAA playoffs, a trend that continued last year.
With no playoffs, Gardner got a jump on his professional career, playing 11 games down the stretch with the Texas Stars. During that stint, he went on an uncharacteristic scoring spurt, potting four goals to go with one assist as the season wound down.
Gardner’s reputation is as a defensive, cerebral center, and his career numbers from college bear that out.