The Everett Silvertips’ chances of getting one of their MVPs back for the 2020-21 season just increased significantly.
Winger Cole Fonstad, one of Everett’s co-Most Valuable Players in 2019-20, is not signing a professional contract with the NHL’s Montreal Canadiens, meaning there’s a greater chance he will return to the WHL for his overage season.
Fonstad, who just completed his 19-year-old campaign, played a big role in Everett finishing the season 46-13-3-1 for the second-best record in the WHL. Acquired from Prince Albert early in the season, Fonstad tallied 13 goals and 52 assists in 51 games with the Tips. He was named the team’s co-MVP along with goaltender Dustin Wolf.
Fonstad was a fifth-round pick by Montreal in the 2018 NHL draft. The deadline for NHL teams to sign their 2018 draft picks from the WHL is Monday. On Wednesday the Canadiens confirmed they will not extend a contract offer to Fonstad. Fonstad thus becomes eligible for the 2020 NHL draft.
Fonstad not being signed by Montreal means it’s more likely he’ll return to Everett next season. Everett has six players who are candidates for the team’s three overage roster spots next season: forwards Fonstad, Ty Kolle, Ethan Regnier, Dawson Butt and Justyn Gurney and defenseman Gianni Fairbrother.
Tips ink Ng
Everett received a commitment from a talented American prospect, announcing Wednesday it signed 16-year-old forward Matthew Ng to a WHL standard player agreement.
Ng, who hails from Cupertino, California, was a fifth-round pick in the 2019 bantam draft. He spent last season with the Culver (Indiana) Military Academy’s U16 team, with whom he compiled 11 goals and 25 assists in 36 games. The diminutive Ng, who was listed at 5-foot-2.5 during the 2019 bantam draft, impressed during Everett’s training camp last August with his quickness and ability to generate offense.
Ng is the fifth 2004-born forward to sign with the Tips, joining third-round picks Ben Hemmerling and Austin Roest, eighth-rounder Beau Courtney and undrafted Max Graham.
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