Over the past few years, the University of Massachusetts (UMass) has become a factory of NHL defenders. Mario Ferraro, Cale Makar, and Zac Jones stand out, and there are a few more making their way, including Milwaukee’s Marc Del Gaizo.
With a fourth-round pick in the 2021 NHL Entry Draft, the Nashville Predators might have found one of the next blue-chip blue-line prospects to come out of UMass in Ryan Ufko.
Standing at just 5’10”, Ufko has already outperformed his 115th overall selection at the NCAA level (I had him ranked 54th on my final board).