While there are a few undrafted college hockey free agents set to hit the market in the coming weeks as college teams close their seasons, none are expected to make an immediate impact on NHL rosters.

Once a player’s collegiate season ends, he can opt for the pros if he went undrafted during his draft-eligible year.

“It’s a little thinner group, to be honest,” Wild assistant general manager Brent Flahr said. “The last couple years there have been a couple notably higher end guys. This year, there’s a few young guys that will be signed, but no impact guys that we feel have a chance to play right away.”

Last year, the Wild signed the best available college free agent, defenseman Christian Folin of UMass-Lowell, who has played in 39 NHL games this season, recording 10 points and a plus-4 rating.

Players who could sign with teams in the coming weeks: Colgate forward Kyle Baun, Boston University goalie Matt O’Connor, Boston University forward Evan Rodrigues, North Dakota defenseman Troy Stecher, Western Michigan defenseman Kenney Morrison, Penn State forward Casey Bailey and Miami forward Austin Czarnik.

“There are a couple guys that you could put in your system and hope to develop them,” Flahr said. “But it’s a bit of a lighter crop in comparison to years past.”

Talks will wait

After signing Charlie Coyle, Jonas Brodin and Marco Scandella to long-term contracts earlier this season, the Wild likely will wait until the offseason before negotiating new deals with their pending free agents.

By the time NHL teams are this far into the season — only 10 Wild games remain — they generally refrain from opening negotiations.

At the end of this season, Folin, Mikael Granlund and Erik Haula are restricted free agents. The four players the Wild have acquired by trade this season — Devan Dubnyk, Chris Stewart, Sean Bergenheim, and Jordan Leopold — are unrestricted free agents, as are Nate Prosser, Kyle Brodziak and Ryan Carter.

“In a lot of cases, it’s just better to hold off so it’s not weighing on the players’ mind during the games,” Flahr said. “Things always sort themselves out. We try to get them done prior to the year or early in the season. Obviously, if there were something simple that could be done, we would certainly consider it, but I think otherwise (general manager) Chuck (Fletcher’s) decision would be to wait until after the season.”

Supporting the Mavs

Carter, a former Minnesota State Mankato star, wore a purple tie to the Wild’s game to show support for his alma mater.

Carter took in the Mavericks’ 4-0 win over Ferris State in a WCHA tourney semifinal Friday at the Xcel Energy Center and planned to catch some of MSU’s matchup against Michigan Tech in the championship game after the Wild’s win over St. Louis.

“They work hard, and it seems like they play an honest game,” Carter said of the Mavericks, who could earn a top seed in the NCAA hockey tournament.

“At the same time, it’s not like they’re underskilled and they have to play that way.

“They have skill, but they play a good, hard, honest game, and that’s from top to bottom. Over the course of the game it seems like they wear teams down with their work ethic.”

Carter played for the Mavericks for two seasons, amassing 58 points in 76 games.

Carter, signed by Minnesota in October, said he has followed the Mavericks more closely this season. On a Wild team that features former Gophers and a former Minnesota-Duluth Bulldog, that has yielded plenty of positives.

“They’ve given me ribbing rights in the locker room,” Carter said.