Rangers sign Mat Bodie out of Union College

Apologies for the delay on this one. Yesterday was one of those rare days where all of us got dumped on at work, and none of us could post on this.

The Rangers signed undrafted free agent defenseman Mat Bodie out of Union College yesterday, just days after leading his team to a National Championship. As a senior at Union, Bodie put up a line of 8-31-39 in 40 games. In his college career, Bodie put together a line of 28-96-124 in 154 games, impressive numbers for a kid who entered college at 6’0 and 165 lbs.

His size is why he went undrafted, but Julie Robenhymer notes that he is at least 15 pounds heavier since he entered college. Chris Peters, one of the best US hockey bloggers out there, compared him to Torey Krug of the Bruins.

Bodie’s signing adds a true offensive defenseman to the prospect pool for the Rangers. With Bodie, Conor Allen, Brady Skjei, and Dylan McIlrath in the system, the Rangers have done quite the job of restocking their defensive prospects after seeing so many graduate to the NHL.