Golden Knights prospect Jack Dugan to play in Las Vegas event

Jack Dugan tried to get out of serving as tour guide for the Providence men’s hockey team this weekend.

Despite his best efforts, the standout right wing got suckered into the job, anyway.

“I tried to tell them when we come out here (for development camp) there’s not a lot we can do other than play hockey,” Dugan said.

Dugan and the Friars are in town for the Fortress Invitational at T-Mobile Arena, granting locals a rare in-season look at a top Golden Knights prospect.

No. 14 Providence faces 20th-ranked Army at 5 p.m. Friday, followed by second-ranked Cornell and No. 6 Ohio State at 8:30. The championship game is at 9 p.m. Saturday and the consolation game at 5:30, following the Knights’ game against St. Louis.

Dugan leads the nation with 35 points and 29 assists in 19 games after finishing second in points among all NCAA freshmen. That production prompted Knights general manager Kelly McCrimmon to say last month he thought the sophomore was “ready to turn pro.”

The Knights selected Dugan in the fifth round in 2017 and hold his rights for the duration of his college career.

Dugan turns 22 on March 24 — for comparison, he is a year older than Knights rookie Cody Glass — and would be eligible to sign a two-year, entry-level contract.

“When the timing’s right, I’ll make that decision and we’ll see where it goes from there,” Dugan said. “That’s really nice to hear obviously from the organization that drafted you. … It’s been a really good relationship so far, and I expect it to continue to be that way.”

The 6-foot-2-inch, 194-pound Dugan is a leading candidate for the Hobey Baker Award, college hockey’s equivalent of the Heisman Trophy for the nation’s top player.

Recent winners include Colorado’s Cale Makar, the front-runner for NHL rookie of the year, Vancouver’s Adam Gaudette, New Jersey’s Will Butcher and Buffalo’s Jimmy Vesey.

Friars coach Nate Leaman said Dugan faded during the second half of his freshman season, and his challenge for the remainder of the season will be to produce when games get tighter and teams increasingly focus on him defensively.

“Jack has to keep earning offense,” Leaman said. “If he’s involved and he works for the offense, he’s going to have the puck a lot more in the second half (of the season).”

Support for Lindblom

Cancer affected the Knights this summer when defenseman Shea Theodore was diagnosed and treated, and the Philadelphia Flyers, who played Vegas on Thursday at T-Mobile Arena, similarly were touched by the disease last month.

Forward Oskar Lindblom was diagnosed with Ewing’s sarcoma, a rare type of bone cancer, and is expected to miss the rest of the season.

Since the announcement Dec. 13, players across the league have shown support for the native of Gavle, Sweden, by wearing “Oskar Strong” T-shirts. Almost $200,000 has been raised for the NHL’s “Hockey Fights Cancer” initiative from sales of the shirts.

“The hockey world is one big family, and it truly shows when something like this happens,” said Knights center William Karlsson, who does not have a friendship with his countryman Lindblom. “Everyone rallies around him, and hopefully he feels it and will fight.”

Dansk honored

Oscar Dansk of the Chicago Wolves was named the American Hockey League’s goaltender of the month for December.

Dansk went 7-0-0 with a 1.57 goals-against average and one shutout. He stopped 183 of 194 shots (.943 save percentage) and allowed two goals or fewer in six of his seven appearances.

The 25-year-old is 11-6-0 with a 2.75 GAA, .903 save percentage and two shutouts in 18 appearances for the Wolves.

Baby Nose

Forward Tomas Nosek announced the birth of his son, Patrik, on his verified Instagram account Thursday. Nosek did not play against Philadelphia and was replaced in the lineup by Nicolas Roy.

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Contact David Schoen at dschoen@reviewjournal.com or 702-387-5203. Follow @DavidSchoenLVRJ on Twitter.