Minnesota Wild: Sam Anas Won’t Let Size Stop Him
Many have said that the Minnesota Wild took a chance when they signed undersized and undrafted free-agent Sam Anas from Quinnipiac University. Take a closer look and you can see that undersized or not Anas is primed to be an impact player.
The Minnesota Wild are starting to see the value in scouting a signing undrafted free-agents as a way bring in excellent talent. One of their most recent ventures into this market is the Wild’s signing of Quinnipiac forward Sam Anas to a two-year entry level contract. The Wild saw value in the undersized forward and decided to make the decision to sign him even though many had passed on drafting him previously because of concerns over his size. Anas may only be 5 foot 8 inches tall but that hasn’t stopped him yet.
Anas began his hockey career in the Washington DC metro area playing for Little Caps of the Metropolitan Junior Hockey League. In 2010-11 Anas would show excellent promise playing for the Caps and would catch the eye of powerhouse NCAA program Quinnipiac University who he committed to for the 2013-14 season.
Before making his college début, Anas would stop into the USHL for two seasons in 2011-12 and 2012-13. There he would gain a reputation as a straight scorer amassing 54 goals in two seasons with the Youngstown Phantoms. His 37 goals in his second year in the league were good enough to tie him for second overall in the USHL.
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Anas would join Quinnipiac for the 2013-14 campaign and pickup right where he left off in the USHL. He earned a spot on the top line and would finish as the team’s high scorer on the season with 43 points (22 goals and 21 assists). Anas would go onto be the leading scorer for the Bobcats in his Sophomore and Junior years as well tallying 39 points and 50 points respectively.
In his Junior year the Bobcats went to the NCAA title game but would fall to North Dakota 5-1. Anas caught the eye of many NHL franchises as he played through a shoulder injury suffered early in the tournament and showed his true grit and potential. That still was not enough to get the undersized forward drafted.
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With those numbers the Wild could not ignore that the potential was there so they signed Anas as a free-agent to an entry-level contract on April 15th of this year. As he forgoes his senior season to join Iowa in the AHL there is no doubt that he’ll be adding an infusion of scoring to their roster.
Still doubts persist about Anas’ size and many think that it will be a challenge for him to continue to be productive even at the AHL level. But the NHL is full of small sized forwards that found themselves being successful despite being largely counted out. If Anas continues to develop you could see him in a Wild sweater easily next season.
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Anas is a fighter and the Wild will certainly need and want that attitude from him. As obstacles continue to be put in his way he continues to overcome them. A player like Anas sees the issues and then finds a way around it. He’ll find his way around what ever gets in his way to get to the Minnesota roster as soon as he can.