NHL Rising Stars: Wyatt Bongiovanni

Today in the NHL farm system, players who played in the United States Hockey League (USHL) and/or the NCAA- or in Wyatt Bongiovanni’s case both- are starting to become prevalent in the American Hockey League (AHL). Take Wyatt Bongiovanni, for example. 

      The 22-year-old product of Birmingham, Michigan has done it all. The 6’0 left-shot defenseman played 3 years in the USHL (all with different teams) and 4 in NCAA Division I with Quinnipiac University prior to signing a two-year, two-way entry-level contract with the Winnipeg Jets on April 16, 2022. Bongiovanni is an excellent hockey player with a great ability to read plays and predict where they are going. He is also a very strong skater and puck handler but struggles with his passing. He’s physical when he needs to be but otherwise he’s mostly doing his job in front of the net. Bongiovanni’s path to the pros was long but will be worthwhile for the young forward.

      Today for the sixth installment in my NHL Rising Stars series I will be breaking down Wyatt Bongiovanni’s path to the pros. Let’s waste no more time and get right into it, shall we?

      During the 2012-13 season, Bongiovanni’s 13-year-old season, the young forward was a member of the Little Caesars 14U AAA team in Detroit, Michigan, a program that is widely known for producing the most talented hockey players in Michigan. During the season, Bongiovanni played in 23 games, recording 11 goals and 3 assists for a total of 14 points whilst playing with Columbus Blue Jackets prospect Nick Blankenburg and New York Islanders prospect Collin Adams. 

      The next season, Bongiovanni would play for yet another program known for producing some of Michigan’s best hockey players. That season, he would play in 28 games, recording 10 goals and 19 assists for a total of 29 points. This season, he would be playing with a whole new group of talented players in Alexander Chmelevski, a San Jose Sharks prospect, Brandon Kruse, a Vegas Golden Knights prospect and Kyle Keyser, a Boston Bruins prospect.

      In 2014-15, Bongiovanni played with Honeybaked 16U AAA, where he played in 26 games, recording 5 goals and 3 assists for a total of 8 points. Not his best but not the worst either as he was playing with older, talented players like Collin Adams, Max Ellis, a Toronto Maple Leafs prospect, Alexander Chmelevski and Dylan St. Cyr, who surprisingly hasn’t been signed to a professional contract and just happened to be one of Bongiovanni’s teammates at Quinnipiac for a season. 

   The next season was a very big year for Bongiovanni as he would be going into his 16-year-old season with the Des Moines Buccaneers, where in 57 games, he would record 14 points (3 goals, 11 assists). 

During the off-season, Bongiovanni signed on to play with the Tri-City Storm, where he played in 59 games, recording 30 points (12 goals, 18 assists). In Tri City, he played with tons of talented players like Linus Weissbach, a Buffalo Sabres prospect, Josiah Slavin, a Chicago Blackhawks prospect, Odeen Tufto, a Tampa Bay Lightning prospect who would become Bongiovanni’s teammate at Quinnipiac, Ronnie Attard, a Philadelphia Flyers prospect, and Nate Clurman, a Colorado Avalanche prospect.

The next season, Bongiovanni would be on yet another new team, the Muskegon Lumberjacks, where in 36 games, he recorded 35 points (17 goals, 18 assists) and played alongside Buffalo Sabres prospect Matej Pekar, Calgary Flames prospect Mathias Emilio Pettersen, Nashville Predators prospects Marc Del Gaizo, Jachym Kondelik, and Yegor Afanasyev, Pittsburgh Penguins prospect Clayton Phillips, Arizona Coyotes prospect John Farrinacci, and New York Rangers prospect Hunter Skinner. That season would conclude Bongiovanni’s 3 seasons in the USHL. 

      In 2018-19, Bongiovanni began his freshman year with Quinnipiac University where he was fortunate enough to play under head coach Rand Pecknold, who is going into his 29th season as head coach at Quinnipiac. Bongiovanni, who quickly became affectionately known as “Bonjo” by Quinnipiac fans, played in 38 games, recording 23 points, and would play alongside Odeen Tufto, Florida Panthers prospect Chase Priskie (if you haven’t already, check out his NHL Rising Stars profile-he was the first installment of my 32-part series), Anaheim Ducks prospect Brogan Rafferty, and Vegas Golden Knights prospect Peter Dilibritore. He would also be named to the Eastern College Athletic Conference’s (ECAC) All-Rookie team. 

      In the fall, Bongiovanni entered his sophomore season at Quinnipiac which would unfortunately be cut short due to the COVID-19 pandemic, but he had a good season despite the season’s ending, recording 25 points (15 goals 10 assists) in 34 games. Quinnipiac’s roster didn’t look a ton different but you could definitely tell that where Chase Priskie was in the lineup, there was a big hole to be filled. The only new addition to the Bobcats roster that is worth mentioning was Skyler Brind’ Amour, son of longtime NHLer and head coach of the Carolina Hurricanes, Rod Brind’ Amour. Despite the unfortunate end to Quinnipiac’s season, the Bobcats were the regular season champions. 

      The next fall, Bongiovanni entered his junior year with Quinnipiac, where he was named an assistant captain under senior Odeen Tufto’s captaincy. However, due to a season-ending injury sustained in December of his junior year, he would only play in 9 games, recording 5 goals and 3 assists for a total of 8 points. An unfortunate end to Bongiovanni’s season, but Rand Pecknold was confident in Ty Smilanic (Montreal Canadiens prospect), a freshman who by that point was probably close to being NHL-ready. 

      In the fall of 2021, Bongiovanni entered his senior year with Quinnipiac and was unanimously chosen as the captain. Fully recovered from his injury, he proved to NHL scouts that he was ready to advance in his hockey career. The 22-year-old gave it his all, and ended the season with 34 points (16 goals, 18 assists) in 42 games, playing alongside Ty Smilanic, Skyler Brind’ Amour, and Chicago Wolves defenseman Griffin Mendel, who is looking to win the Calder Cup and was a graduate transfer student on the Bobcats roster. Quinnipiac would have a deep playoff run, losing in the semifinals to University of Michigan. Bongiovanni would end his college career with the NCAA Lowes Senior Class All-Americans 1st team and ECAC Third All-Star Team. 

     I would just like to take a moment to reflect on Bongiovanni’s captaincy. I can’t stress enough how great of a leader Wyatt Bongiovanni was for Quinnipiac. He was probably the best captain the Quinnipiac men’s hockey team has seen in years; possibly ever. He lead by example, and reflected on Pecknold’s values in a different way than former captains have. Wyatt captured the image of what it really means to be a Bobcat. He was extremely active in the Hamden community, and I think that captaincy is all about showing that you really, truly care about your community. 

      After the season ended, Wyatt Bongiovanni signed a two year entry level contract with the Winnipeg Jets. He was sent down to the Manitoba Moose shortly afterwards (at that point, everyone knew that the Jets’ season was over). He played in 3 games, unsurprisingly not getting a single point. 

      Wyatt Bongiovanni will continue his career with the Manitoba Moose next season, and of course, for the remainder of his contract. I think that after he becomes a restricted free agent, Winnipeg will sign him to a bigger deal, potentially 4 or 5 years. They have driven themselves into a deep hole, and I think in 3 or 4 years Bongiovanni will help get the Jets out of that hole, slowly but surely. Until then, he’ll continue his development with the Manitoba Moose, where fans can expect to see many great things from him.