It was announced today that the Minnesota Wild have signed University of Denver sophomore Jason Zucker to an entry level contract. Zucker's signing was pretty much a foregone conclusion after the Wild made it quite clear that signing him was a top priority this summer.

In other signing news:

It's not an early departure, but the Washington Capitals signed Miami graduating senior defenseman Cameron Schilling to a free agent contract. Schilling put together an incredibly solid career at Miami, and it wouldn't be a surprise to see him playing for the Caps sometime in the future.

Western Michigan defenseman Dan DeKeyser was considered one of the top free agents in college hockey, but announced yesterday that he would be returning to Kalamazoo for another season.

Minnesota-Duluth's JT Brown is another top free agent prospect drawing interest from nearly every NHL team and has reportedly trimmed his list of teams he's looking at to Boston, Philadelphia, and Tampa Bay.