What We Know About the Newest Recipients of a PTO from the Blue Jackets: Roman Ahcan, Cole Clayton, and Cole Fonstad

By Coby Maeir on July 29, 2022 at 10:15 am
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This is the second piece I've written about players the Jackets have signed to PTOs. Last week they signed forward Owen Sillinger and defenseman Olivier Leblanc.

This week, they signed left-wingers Roman Ahcan and Cole Fonstad as well as defenseman Cole Clayton. What do we know about them?

Roman Ahcan, LW, 24 Y/O, Burnsville, Minnesota, United States

Ahcan appeared in 24 games for the Cleveland Monsters, Columbus's AHL affiliate, in 2021-22 and scored three goals and seven points. Before joining the Monsters, he played four years at the University of Wisconsin and scored 34 goals and 74 points in 130 games. This season at Wisconsin, he was teammates with Corson Ceulemans, who the Jackets selected 25th overall in the 2021 NHL Draft. Before playing at Wisconsin, Ahcan spent the 2017-18 season playing for the USHL's Cedar Rapids RoughRiders and posted 15 goals and 38 points in 59 games. In the 2016-17 season, he played in 10 regular-season games for the NAHL's Brookings Blizzard and notched two assists while adding a goal and three points in four playoff games.

Cole Clayton, D, 22 Y/O, Strathmore, Alberta, Canada

Clayton, unlike Ahcan, spent the entirety of the 2021-22 season with the Monsters. On Wednesday, the Monsters announced they signed Clayton to a two-year extension. In 55 games this season with the Monsters, he registered two goals and 16 points. Before making his pro debut in Cleveland, he spent the previous four seasons with the Medicine Hat Tigers of the WHL. In 210 regular-season games with the Tigers, he posted 17 goals and 87 points in addition to a goal and two points in 12 playoff games. Clayton was teammates with Blue Jackets forward Cole Sillinger during the 2018-19 and 2019-20 seasons. However, that was not Clayton's first stint in Medicine Hat. He appeared in four games during the 2015-16 season for the Tigers and registered an assist. Sandwiched between his two stints in Medicine Hat was the 2016-17 season, where he played two games with the Fort McMurray Oil Barons of the AJHL.

Cole Fonstad, LW, 22 Y/O, Estevan, Saskatchewan, Canada

Fonstad is the only one of the three players in this piece that was drafted. The Montreal Canadiens selected him with the 128th pick in the 2018 NHL Draft. He has spent parts of the last two seasons with the Monsters, scoring nine goals and 21 points in 47 games, 45 of which came in the 2021-22 season. He also has two different stints playing for the SJHL's Estevan Bruins, appearing in one game in 2015-16 and six games in 2020-21, scoring six goals and 11 points in those seven games. Additionally, between the 2015-16 and 2020-21 seasons, he's played in 293 WHL regular-season games and 28 WHL playoff games, with 219 of the regular-season games and all of the playoff games coming with the Prince Albert Raiders, scoring 92 goals and 281 points in the regular season while adding six goals and 11 points in the playoffs. 

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