Anaheim Ducks forward Roger McQueen has committed to play at Providence College for the upcoming 2025-26 NCAA season the teenager announced Wednesday.
McQueen, who was selected by Anaheim 10th overall in this year’s NHL Entry Draft, is the latest high profile junior player to make the jump to the NCAA. Earlier this year, Gavin McKenna, Porter Martone, Cole Reschny and Malcolm Spence all announced their intentions to leave the CHL and head south of the border to pursue NIL sponsorships.
The Saskatoon native appeared in 127 career WHL games with the Brandon Wheat Kings between 2021 and 2025. A 6’5″ right handed centre, McQueen instantly becomes one of the most high profile recruits in Providence College history. He’s the program’s first top-10 pick, and will be the 6th player for the college to have been selected in the first round of the draft.
The college announced that McQueen will wear number 29 for the Friars. As recently as July, the 18 year old indicated that if he didn’t make the Ducks roster out of training camp this fall, that he intended to return to the Wheat Kings. However, it would appear as though he had a change of heart, as he will play out at least his freshman season with Providence, and possibly sign his first NHL contract once the season wraps up.
McQueen had missed most of his draft season due to injury, which is why a return to Brandon would have made a sense from a development standpoint. A healthy regular season and playoff run could push junior players north of the 80-game mark whereas in college, most teams struggle to reach even half that many games.
In all likelihood, the Ducks front office probably weighed in with their preferred development route, which is why McQueen ultimately opened up his recruitment. Being afforded the opportunity to play against older competition, while having additional time between games to add muscle to his frame may have been GM Pat Verbeek & Co’s suggested route.
McQueen is expected to head to the States in the coming days to begin preparing for the season, forgoing Anaheim’s training camp.
Photo: Kenneth C. Zirkel. This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International license.