SOUTH BEND, Ind. – University of Notre Dame senior forward Graham Slaggert has signed a one-year contract for the 2022-23 season with the Toronto Marlies, the AHL affiliate of the Toronto Maple Leafs announced (March 31). Slaggert will join the Marlies on an ATO for the remainder of this season.
As a senior captain at Notre Dame, he helped lead Notre Dame to the 2022 NCAA Albany Regional Final. He scored the overtime winner in the first round of the NCAA Tournament as the Irish advanced past North Dakota, 2-1. Slaggert will be joining his former Notre Dame teammates Alex Steeves and Matt Hellickson in Toronto’s organization.
Slaggert skated in 39 games this past season while registering 25 points on a career-high 12 goals and 13 assists. He was named to the NCAA’s All-Regional Team (Albany) after notching a goal and an assist against North Dakota (March 24).
Slaggert, a South Bend, Indiana native who played for his father/Associate head coach Andy Slaggert and with his brother, sophomore forward Landon Slaggert, finished the season with three power-play goals, two game winners and one shorthanded tally. He was a key component of Notre Dame’s top-ranked penalty kill unit as well.
A Management Consulting major and Africana Studies minor, Slaggert is also a 2021-22 Senior Class Award Finalist and was a 2021-22 Hockey Humanitarian nominee.
AS A SENIOR
- One of the team’s Student-Athlete Advisory Council Representatives.
- Named one of three team captains for the 2021-22 season.
- Scored his first goal of the 2021-22 campaign against RIT (Oct. 21).
- Tallied one goal at Minnesota to extend his point streak to three games (Oct. 21-29; 2-1-3).
- With two goals, recorded the first multi-goal game of his career in a home win over Holy Cross (Nov. 4).
- Tallied a first period goal en route to road overtime victory over Michigan (Nov. 20).
- Notched an assist in each game of the home series against Ohio State to reach the three-game point streak mark for the second time this season (Nov. 20-Dec. 4; 1-2-3).
- Record a second period goal in 3-2 overtime win at Ohio State (Jan. 14).
- Earned third three-point game of his career with a goal and two assists in Notre Dame’s 8-2 win over Boston College (Jan. 19).
- Tallied two assists, including one on the overtime game-winner to knock off Minnesota (Jan. 29).
- Notched the first goal in a 7-2 win over Penn State (Feb. 4).
- Recorded an assist in the 2-1 victory over Michigan State in East Lansing (Feb. 18).
- Finished the Big Ten Tournament quarterfinals series against Wisconsin with two goals and three assists (Mar. 4-6).
- Had the overtime game-winning goal in Notre Dame’s 2-1 overtime win against North Dakota in the first round of the NCAA Tournament after assisting on Landon Slaggert’s game-tying goal in the second period (March 24).
#IrishInTheNHL
- Fourteen former Fighting Irish players have played in the NHL this season: Anders Bjork (Buffalo Sabres), Ian Cole (Carolina Hurricanes), Jake Evans (Montreal Canadiens), Steven Fogarty (Boston Bruins), Jordan Gross (Colorado Avalanche) Vinnie Hinostroza (Buffalo Sabres), Anders Lee (New York Islanders), Kyle Palmieri (New York Islanders), Andrew Peeke (Columbus), Cal Petersen (Los Angeles Kings), Bryan Rust (Pittsburgh Penguins), Riley Sheahan (Seattle Kraken), Alex Steeves (Toronto Maple Leafs) and TJ Tynan (Los Angeles Kings).
- Steeves made his NHL debut for the Toronto Maple Leafs on Dec. 7 against Columbus (and former Notre Dame teammate Andrew Peeke) in a 5-4 Toronto win.
- Steeves, who earned Second Team All-Big Ten honors in 2020-21, became the 25th former Irish player under head coach Jeff Jackson to reach the NHL and the Notre Dame program’s 39th NHL player overall.
- Prior to Steeves, the most recent Notre Dame players to make their NHL debuts were Jordan Gross, Peeke, Jake Evans and Thomas DiPauli during the 2019-20 season.
- Former Fighting Irish All-American goaltender Cale Morris (Chicago) and former captain Cal Burke (Colorado) inked NHL deals around the first of the year and were recalled to their teams’ respective taxi squads.
- Morris, who played from 2016-20 and led the Irish to the 2018 NCAA Championship game, signed a one-year entry-level deal on Dec. 31.
- Burke, who also played from 2016-20 with the Irish, signed a one-year contract with Colorado on Dec. 16 and later was recalled to the taxi squad.
- Former Irish captain Steven Fogarty made his Boston debut late in January to become the 14th former Fighting Irish player to appear in the NHL this season.
– ND –