Mick Hatten

mhatten@stcloudtimes.com

Lindgren's 2-way deal runs through the end of the 2016-17 season

Kossila signs 2-year, 2-way deal with Anaheim after having career-best season

Lindgren is 1 of 5 finalists for the Mike Richter Award for top college goaltender

Jimmy Murray will join David Morley after signing with ECHL's Atlanta Gladiators

Charlie Lindgren is headed to the NHL and needs to brush up on his French.

Lindgren will bypass his senior season with the St. Cloud State men's hockey team after signing a two-year, two-way deal with the Montreal Canadiens on Wednesday. Lindgren made the road trip to Florida and will be in uniform for the Canadiens when they play the Tampa Bay Lightning at 6:30 p.m. Thursday.

Also on Wednesday, former St. Cloud State center Kalle Kossila signed a two-year, two-way deal with the Anaheim Ducks, and former St. Cloud State wing Jimmy Murray signed an amateur tryout contract with the Atlanta Gladiators of the ECHL.

The Canadiens, who have been eliminated from the playoffs, have five games left in the season and the plan is to have Lindgren with the team until the end of the season. He will back up Mike Condon, who has played in 50 games this season as a rookie.

"I just saw my No. 35 Canadiens jersey and it's surreal," Lindgren said. "I couldn't believe it. It's something special.

"I think it's a really exciting position to be in right now. I think playing in a game is definitely a possibility."

SCSU goalie Lindgren to sign, bypass senior year

Lindgren said Tuesday that it came down to three NHL organizations making him an offer. But Lindgren, who has former Canadiens goalie Ken Dryden as some of the artwork on his facemask, said that going to the Montreal organization was one of the deciding factors. The Canadiens have won 24 Stanley Cup titles, 11 more than any other NHL franchise, and was his dad's favorite team growing up.

"They showed tremendous interest in me from the start and, when you think of hockey, Montreal is all about hockey," Lindgren said. "Being in the city for 12 hours, you can already tell. It's great to get a taste of what I've always dreamed about.

"There's no doubt that Montreal is a bit of a pressure cooker. As a goalie, I've always kind of enjoyed the pressure. Montreal is a prestigious organization with fans who are passionate about their team. They're the New York Yankees of hockey."

While Lindgren will be backing up Condon the rest of this season, he will likely be headed to Montreal's American Hockey League team to start next season, the second in his contract. Carey Price, who won the NHL's MVP award (Hart Memorial Trophy) last season, has missed most of the 2015-16 season because of injury.

"I think Price is the best goalie in the NHL and Mike Condon has really stepped in and done a really good job for the Canadiens," Lindgren said. "There's not many drafted goalies in the Canadiens system. My goal is to go into training camp and do as good a job as I can and see what happens. My goal is to play a lot of games next year, probably in the AHL."

One of the drafted goalies, though, is Zachary Fucale, a 2013 second-round pick who is completing his rookie season with the AHL's St. John's IceCaps.

"We are very happy to have reached an agreement with Charlie Lindgren," Montreal General Manager Marc Bergevin said in a news release on the team's website. "Lindgren was in our minds the best free agent goaltender available coming out of the U.S. college level.

"He made the decision to join the Canadiens organization and will complete the season with the team. Lindgren is a top goaltender coming out of college and becomes an excellent prospect for our organization, bringing some depth at this position."

Lindgren, 22, was undrafted and able to sign with any NHL team. With the Huskies this season as a junior, Lindgren played in 40 games, set a program record for NCAA Division I wins in a season (30), had a 2.13 goals-against average, .925 save percentage and had five shutouts. He was named NCHC Goaltender of the Year and is one of five finalists for the Mike Richter Award, which is given annually to the nation's top college goaltender.

The Richter Award will be given at an event at Champions Sports Bar at 6 p.m. April 8 in Tampa, Florida. Candidates for the Mike Richter Award were determined by nominations from all 60 NCAA Division I men’s hockey head coaches. The finalists and winner are selected by a committee of coaches, scouts and members of the media.

Lindgren is the third straight St. Cloud State starting goalie to sign a pro deal after his junior season.

Ryan Faragher signed with the Anaheim Ducks organization in 2014 and was sent to the American Hockey League. He has split the last two seasons between the ECHL and AHL and has not been called up to the NHL. Mike Lee signed with the Phoenix Coyotes in 2012, split time between the team's ECHL and AHL's affiliates, battled injuries and did not play pro hockey this season.

Lindgren was the team's No. 1 goaltender the past two seasons and played on three straight teams that made the NCAA tournament. In 88 college games, Lindgren was 51-29-3 with a 2.21 GAA and .921 save percentage. The 2.21 career goals-against average sets a program Division I era record. The .921 save percentage is second at the school (Bobby Goepfert, .924, 2005-07) and the 51 wins are third.

Before joining St. Cloud State, Lindgren was named the USA Hockey Junior Goalie of the Year in 2012-13 after helping the Sioux Falls Stampede reach the United States Hockey League's Clark Cup playoff finals. In high school, he helped Lakeville North reach the Class 2A state tournament.

Kossila signs with Anaheim

SCSU's Kossila is a defensive forward with flashy skill

Kossila's two-year deal with the Ducks starts next season, but he has signed an amateur tryout contract to finish this season with Anaheim's AHL team, the San Diego Gulls.

"I was talking to three or four teams throughout the season and Anaheim was No. 1 all the time," Kossila said of his negotiations. "When we lost, I got a good offer from them and I decided it is what I wanted to do. It developed pretty quickly."

Kossila is coming off the best season of his college career. He was an All-NCHC second team pick and was one of two finalists for the NCHC Defensive Forward of the Year award. He is second in the nation in assists (40), tied for fifth in points (54) and tied for eighth in plus/minus (plus-29) in 41 games. For his career, he is second on St. Cloud State's Division I era in assists (105) and his 153 points are the sixth-best career mark.

Anaheim has the fifth-best record in the Western Conference and has made the playoffs four straight seasons.

"They don't have that many high picks who are centers or wings and they just had the best package for me," said Kossila, who is from Kauniainen, Finland. "It wasn't like a deal breaker to go somewhere where it's a bad team.

"But Anaheim is a great organization and they've been winning a lot of games every year, so they're doing something right."

Kossila said that he has mixed feelings as he moves on to professional hockey.

"This is sad and exciting," Kossila said. "The best four years of my life have been at St. Cloud State and it's coming to an end.

"It's a new challenge. I remember moving to St. Cloud and that being a big challenge for me. It's exciting to get there and I love playing hockey and it's always fun to know that there are more games."

Kossila said that he has made arrangements with his professors to finish his classes and he is on schedule to graduate with a degree in international finance in the spring semester.

"I might have to fly back for finals week, but that's not a big deal," Kossila said.

Murray signs with Atlanta

Forward Jimmy Murray, who recently completed his senior season with the Huskies, will be rejoining his linemate from the end of the college season.

Murray, 24, has signed a pro contract with the Atlanta Gladiators of the ECHL, joining former Huskies center David Morley. Morley signed a deal with Atlanta on Tuesday.

Murray and Morley will both fly to Florida to join the Gladiators, who play games Friday and Saturday against the Florida Everblades.

"I was looking to play some games and see where my head's at with hockey and the Atlanta coach (Andy Brandt) and I talked and they booked me a flight to Florida," Murray said.

Murray had his best season with the Huskies as a senior. He had 13 goals, 26 assists, 39 points, 24 penalty minutes and was a plus-2 in 40 games. His assists and points were career-best marks. He played in 155 college games and had 36 goals, 61 assists and 97 points.

Murray said that he is hoping that he and Morley can play on a line together again this season.

"We're really good friends and it will be nice to be down there with each other the next couple of weeks," Murray said. "We played together on a line a fair amount this year. Hopefully, we can continue that when we're down there."

Atlanta has five games remaining in the regular season and is 31-29-5-2 and in fourth place in the South Division of the Eastern Conference.

Follow Mick Hatten on Twitter, Instagram and at Facebook.com/sctimesmick. Reach him by phone at 259-3621.

Husky hockey chat with Murray, Lindgren