Nancy Haggerty, Rockland/Westchester Journal News via Imagn Content Services, LLC

Report: Aidan McDonough signing with the Canucks is continuing to trend in a positive way

Originally posted on Canucksarmy | Last updated 3/11/23

The Vancouver Canucks top NCAA prospect season is nearing a close and the word is that the Canucks’ chances of signing McDonough are trending in a positive direction.

We’ve been on the McDonough trail for quite a while and wrote about positive news just four days ago in THIS ARTICLE.

I’ll breakdown the timeline for signing McDonough soon but first, here’s what Rick Dhaliwal of Donnie & Dhali had to say on the situation.

“The Aidan McDonough decision could be close folks,” said Dhaliwal on Friday morning. “His season could be over Sunday if they lose — [it] depends on how other teams do. As of right now NCAA sources told me the expectation is that McDonough will sign with the Vancouver Canucks. Multiple sources indicate it is trending in the right direction for the Canucks. Vancouver has been talking daily with the McDonough camp for the last two, or three weeks. Everything’s been positive, not hearing anything negative.”

We are hearing similar things but do not believe that a decision will come until at least March 19th.

Let’s hit the timeline.

This weekend kicks off the Hockey East Tournament.

Northeastern will play Saturday at 4:00 pm PT and the semifinals take place on March 17th with the Hockey East final going on March 18th.

Currently, Northeastern is sitting outside of the top-16 in the PairWise NCAA rankings and that means that Northeastern will have to go on one heck of a run in the Hockey East Tournament to secure a spot in the NCAA sweet 16 group.

That group will be determined on Sunday, March 19th during the Men’s Hockey NCAA Selection Sunday.

McDonough certainly has a chance to get his Northeastern team into the Sweet 16 but the odds are against his Huskies.

If Northeastern loses on Saturday, it’s almost impossible for them to get into the Sweet 16.

If McDonough signs, we’re told that the expectation is he will report to the NHL and not the AHL. McDonough would sign a two-year entry-level contract and burn a year of that by playing in the NHL this season.

Our view on the situation is that a contract will not be completed until March 19th or 20th and that is if Northeastern doesn’t win the Hockey East tournament. We will know more in the next 10 days.

This article first appeared on Canucksarmy and was syndicated with permission.

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