For two years, the NHL draft came and went without defenseman Francesco Dell’Elce hearing his name called.
Still, he wasn’t ready to just accept the fate of being an undrafted free agent.
“I’ve been confident in my abilities and just trusting the process,” Dell’Elce said. “This year was definitely the most successful of the three. I answered a lot of the questions that were around with my first two years. So yeah, I was confident this time going into it.”
After not getting selected following his final year at St. Andrews College, a prep school north of Toronto, or when he had a successful season with the Penticton Vees in the BCHL, Dell’Elce had a strong freshman season at the University of Massachusetts.
And the Colorado Avalanche acquired a third-round pick in the 2025 NHL draft during the first day of the event.
The Avs have been willing to take prospects passed over before during the draft process. Ilya Nabokov had also missed out twice when Colorado selected him in the second round of the 2024 NHL draft. Same for Nikita Prishchepov, who was the 217th player selected and the third in his draft class to play in the NHL.
So, when the Avs were set to make their first pick in the 2025 draft at No. 77 overall, the Dell’Elce family gathered at home in Ontario had something to celebrate.
“I think with Fran, (he is) an older guy that we feel he’s not far off if his game keeps progressing in the right direction,” Avs scouting director Nick Prior said. “That’s exciting for us.”
Dell’Elce, who turned 20 years old a few days before the draft, led the Minutemen defense corps with seven goals and 24 points in 40 games, earning a spot on the Hockey East All-Rookie team. He had a goal and an assist to help UMass knock off Minnesota in the first round of the NCAA tournament.
Dell’Elce also had a special situation he believes helped make him successful: He was paired with another freshman, Larry Keenan, a 2023 draft pick by the Detroit Red Wings. Those two also played together the year before with the Vees in the British Columbia Hockey League.
The last three freshmen to lead the team’s defense corps in scoring have all reached the NHL — Scott Morrow, Zac Jones and a pretty well-known guy in Denver, Cale Makar. The school’s list of NHL players isn’t as long as many of its Hockey East counterparts, but the group of defensemen also includes Justin Braun, Brandon Montour and Mario Ferraro.
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At 6-foot-1 and 179 pounds, Dell’Elce will spend the next year or two at UMass working on his body and continuing to strengthen the defensive side of his game. He’s going to try to be the next UMass defenseman in the school’s NHL pipeline, and the Avs hope they found a late bloomer who could help the big club much sooner than an 18-year-old drafted in that slot would.
“We’re not fast-tracking him, but he’s a little bit farther along than some of the CHL (Canadian Hockey League) players we’ve taken,” Avs director of player development Brian Willsie said. “We’re excited to work with him. He’s in a really good program there at UMass. Obviously we’ve had some players come through there, so excited to see him keep developing.
“A good first impression, for sure.”
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