CHICAGO -- When a player is drafted in the NHL, the NHL team only holds the exclusive signing rights to a player for so long.
How long a team has to decide whether they want to sign one of their drafted players to an entry-level contract depends on a number of factors -- primarily the player's age when he was drafted and where he was drafted from.
A full explanation with a number of tables explaining all of the different scenarios that affect the timelines for teams to retain a player's exclusive signing rights can be found on CapFriendly's website.
If a player goes unsigned by his deadline, he then becomes a free agent and is free to sign with any team.
The Penguins currently have three prospects whose rights will be expiring this summer and will be looking to earn contracts.
Two forwards -- Raivis Ansons and Lukas Svejkovsky -- have until June 1 to be signed.
Ansons, a 19-year-old winger, was the Penguins' fifth-round pick in 2020. In the season leading up to his draft year, he finished No. 4 on the QMJHL's Baie-Comeau Drakkar in scoring with 13 goals and 22 assists in 60 games. The players who ranked No. 1 and No. 3 on that team in scoring -- Nathan Legare and defenseman Chris Ortiz -- are already in the Penguins' system.
After Ansons was drafted, current Penguins assistant general manager Patrik Allvin said that the Penguins had a lot of staff members watching the Drakkar that season because of Legare, and that they were intrigued by Ansons' "size (6-foot-1, 190 pounds), speed, and we do think that there is more production to come for him."
With the 2020-21 QMJHL season being delayed as a result of COVID-19, Ansons started that year playing in his native Latvia, where he scored four goals and five assists in 10 games. He scored two goals and four assists in nine QMJHL games after moving over from Latvia.
Ansons' season this year got off to a rough start. He missed Penguins' development camp, training camp, and the start of the QMJHL season with an undisclosed injury. Despite missing the Drakkar's first four games of the season, he currently ranks No. 2 on the team in scoring with two goals and 11 assists in 10 games.
Svejkovsky, 19, was the Penguins' fourth-round pick in 2020, and right now seems to be the biggest lock of the three to earn an entry-level contract.
Svejkovsky is undersized as a 5-foot-9, 170-pound forward who is capable of playing both center and wing.
Svejkovsky had a decent year last year, scoring 12 goals and 10 assists in 20 games with the Medicine Hat Tigers in the WHL. This season, he's reached another level. He ranks No. 4 in the WHL in scoring, and has seven goals and 13 assists in 11 games.
Penguins director of player development Scott Young called Svejkovsky "a little slight" in size but "loaded with talent" during the Penguins' recent prospect development camp.
"His skill level is something we're really excited about," Young added.
Defenseman Clayton Phillips, because he is a college prospect, has until Aug. 15 to be signed. He was the Penguins' third-round pick in 2017.
Phillips, 22, is in his fifth NCAA season, taking advantage of the extra year of eligibility granted to winter sport athletes as a result of the COVID pandemic. He's a left-handed defenseman listed at 6-foot, 195 pounds.
Phillips started his college career midway through the 2017-18 season, when the University of Minnesota brought him in earlier than anticipated hoping to provide a spark to their offense, since Phillips is an offensive-minded defenseman. After playing out that season and another full one for Minnesota, Phillips transferred to Penn State, and he's currently in his third season with the Nittany Lions.
Phillips is on pace to set career-high offensive numbers this season. He's up to three goals and four assists in seven games, matching his offensive output from last season in just over a third of the games. His three goals ties that career high, and he's five assists shy of his career high.
The Penguins typically operate close to the 50-contract limit for all the players in their system, and are currently at 47 contracts. The contract limit leads to some tough decisions when it comes to which prospects get offered NHL contracts, and which ones get AHL contracts (which don't count toward the limit) or hit free agency.
Ansons, Svejkovsky, and Phillips have the rest of the season to fight for one of those spots.
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Here's how the Penguins' prospects in junior, college, and Europe did this week.
FORWARDS
Raivis Ansons
Position: Right wing/left wing
Size: 6-1/190
Shoots: Left
Drafted: 2021, fifth round
Team: Baie-Comeau Drakkar (QMJHL)
Season totals: 10 games, 2 goals, 11 assists
Ansons recorded three assists in three games this week, with one in each game. His total of six shots on goal in Wednesday's game was a new season-high.
Tristan Broz
Position: Center/wing
Size: 6-0/179
Shoots: Left
Drafted: 2021, second round
Team: University of Minnesota (NCAA)
Season totals: 10 games, 2 assists
Broz was scoreless in two games.
Judd Caulfield
Position: Right wing
Size: 6-3/207
Shoots: Right
Drafted: 2019, fifth round
Team: University of North Dakota (NCAA)
Season totals: 9 games, 3 goal, 5 assists
Caulfield played in two games and recorded two assists
Liam Gorman
Position: Center
Size: 6-3/199
Shoots: Left
Drafted: 2018, sixth round
Team: Princeton University (NCAA)
Season totals: 3 games
Gorman was scoreless two games.
Lukas Svejkovsky
Position: Center/right wing
Size: 5-9/170
Shoots: Right
Drafted: 2020, fourth round
Team: Medicine Hat Tigers (WHL)
Season totals: 11 games, 7 goals, 13 assists
Svejkovsky earned one assist in the only game he played this week. He was scratched for Medicine Hat's game Saturday. No reason was provided for the scratch, but given that he ranks No. 4 in the league in scoring, the reason for the scratch was presumably not performance-based.
Kirill Tankov
Position: Center/wing
Size: 6-2/190
Shoots: Left
Drafted: 2021, seventh round
Team: SKA-Neva (VHL)
Season totals: 20 games, 6 goals, 5 assists
Tankov was scoreless in one game this week.
Chase Yoder
Position: Center
Size: 5-11/185
Shoots: Left
Drafted: 2020, sixth round
Team: Providence College (NCAA)
Season totals: 11 games, 2 goal, 2 assists
Yoder was scoreless in two games.
DEFENSEMEN
Santeri Airola
Size: 5-9/163
Shoots: Right
Drafted: 2019, seventh round
Team: Ilves (Liiga), KOOVEE (Mestis)
Season totals: 2 games (Mestis)
Airola missed the start of the Liiga season with a lower-body injury. His team announced on Oct. 14 that Airola underwent surgery and is expected to be sidelined for 6-8 months.
Isaac Belliveau
Size: 6-2/185
Shoots: Left
Drafted: 2021, fifth round
Team: Gatineau Olympiques (QMJHL)
Season totals: 13 games, 6 assists
Belliveau scored two assists in two games.
Daniel Laatsch
Size: 6-5/190
Shoots: Left
Drafted: 2021, seventh round
Team: University of Wisconsin (NCAA)
Season totals: 10 games
Laatsch was scoreless in two games.
Ryan McCleary
Size: 6-2/180
Shoots: Right
Drafted: 2021, seventh round
Team: Portland Winterhawks (WHL)
Season totals: 8 games, 1 goal, 1 assist
McCleary played two games and scored his first goal of the season.
Clayton Phillips
Size: 6-0/195
Shoots: Left
Drafted: 2017, third round
Team: Penn State University (NCAA)
Season totals: 7 games, 3 goal, 4 assists
Phillips recorded one assist in two games. He was named the Big 10 first star of the week for his two goals against North Dakota the week before.
“I think he’s been very consistent, and his game has had less valleys,” Penn State head coach Guy Gadowsky said of Phillips. “We’re used to seeing a lot more peaks from him, but we’re seeing a lot less valleys and him being more consistent.”
GOALTENDERS
Joel Blomqvist
Size: 6-1/183
Catches: Left
Drafted: 2020, second round
Team: Karpat (Liiga), Hermes (Mestis)
Season totals: 4 games, 0.57 GAA, .973 SV% (Liiga), 3 games, 2.07 GAA, .902 SV% (Mestis)
Blomqvist played in one Liiga game, a relief appearance after Karpat's starter allowed three goals in 8:27. Blomqvist finished the game, stopping 21 of 22 shots faced. This season he's played a little over 210 minutes total and has only allowed two goals.
Calle Clang
Size: 6-2/176
Catches: Left
Drafted: 2020, third round
Team: Rogle (SHL)
Season totals: 5 games, 2.63 GAA, .890 SV%
Clang returned from injury and played on Saturday, making 29 saves on 33 shots in an overtime loss.
