The University of Maine has eight current, former and incoming men’s hockey players who will be participating in NHL Development camps this summer.
Some of the camps are already under way, while others begin later this week or early next week.
Three former Black Bears are working to further entrench themselves with their NHL organizations at the camps. Those players include Brady Keeper of the Florida Panthers, Chase Pearson of the Detroit Red Wings and Nolan Vesey of the Edmonton Oilers.
Keeper, who was undrafted, played two seasons for the Black Bears and registered seven goals and 15 assists last winter. The defenseman signed with the Panthers on March 18 and appeared in one NHL game.
Pearson is a fifth-round pick of the Red Wings who played at UMaine from 2016 to 2019. The center posted 16 goals and 13 assists last season before scoring two goals in 10 games for Grand Rapids of the American Hockey League.
Vesey, a sixth-round pick of Toronto who played at UMaine from 2014 to 2018, split last season between Bakersfield of the AHL and Wichita of the East Coast Hockey League. The forward logged three goals and seven assists in 32 contests at Wichita after being traded to Edmonton.
Among UMaine players who will be back on campus in the fall, Jeremy Swayman (Boston), Eduards Tralmaks (undrafted) and Patrick Shea (Florida) are involved in NHL development training.
Swayman, a Bruins fourth-round choice, is coming off a sophomore campaign during which he posted a 14-17-4 record with a 2.77 goals-against average and a .919 save percentage.
Tralmaks is a left winger who provided eight goals and nine assists in 36 games for UMaine last season. He is working out with the Pittsburgh Penguins.
Shea, a seventh-round pick of the Panthers, is a center who provided four goals and 10 assists in 35 games last season as a junior for the Black Bears.
Two players who will begin their UMaine careers in the fall also are participating at development camps. J.D. Greenway is with Toronto and Matthew Thiessen is with Vancouver.
Greenway, a defenseman who spent two seasons at Wisconsin, was a third-round selection by the Maple Leafs. Thiessen is a goalie who was a seventh-round pick of the Canucks.