Jul. 29—GRAND FORKS — Rocco Grimaldi is working out in Ralph Engelstad Arena, waiting to learn where he will play this upcoming season.

Grimaldi is an unrestricted free agent after spending the last four seasons with the Nashville Predators organization. He spent most of last season in the American Hockey League, where he was dominant for the Milwaukee Admirals.

While some are still searching for their next destination, nearly 50 former UND players have already signed for the 2022-23 season.

The contract count is currently at 48.

The newest additions are Aaron Dell to the San Jose Sharks, Christian Wolanin to the Vancouver Canucks, Colton Poolman to the Calgary Flames, Cole Smith to the Predators, Keaton Thompson to the Admirals (AHL), Cam Johnson to the Charlotte Checkers (AHL) and Andrew MacWilliam to Salzburg (Austria).

A few of them will be rejoining with old UND teammates.

Wolanin will play alongside Brock Boeser as he did in the 2016 NCAA national championship game. MacWilliam will play with Chay Genoway in Austria. They were teammates for two seasons in Grand Forks.

UND figures to easily eclipse the 50-contract mark once again. There are still several unsigned players, including Ben Blood, Shane Gersich, Grimaldi, Casey Johnson, Luke Johnson, Jordan Kawaguchi, Jackson Keane, Paul LaDue, Westin Michaud, Wade Murphy, Andrew Peski, Carter Rowney, Jordan Schmaltz and Hayden Shaw.

UND currently has players signed to play in 15 different countries — the U.S., Canada, Northern Ireland, Poland, Scotland, Sweden, Italy, Austria, Norway, Finland, Russia, Slovakia, Germany, France and Hungary.

Jonathan Toews led the Chicago Blackhawks to three Stanley Cups and has been the team's captain since 2008.

But his incredible run appears to be headed into its final year.

Toews has one year left on his eight-year, $84-million contract. But with the Blackhawks entering a major rebuilding project, the former UND center seems unlikely to remain with Chicago beyond this season.

Toews told The Athletic

this week that general manager Kyle Davidson estimated the rebuilding project would take five years and Toews said sticking around for that "doesn't sound appealing to me at all."

Toews is 34 years old and has played in more than 1,000 NHL games — all for the Blackhawks.

As of July 28, 2022

NHL (27)

Collin Adams, New York Islanders

Jacob Bernard-Docker, Ottawa Senators

Brock Boeser, Vancouver Canucks

Drake Caggiula, Pittsburgh Penguins

Aaron Dell, San Jose Sharks

Derek Forbort, Boston Bruins

Rhett Gardner, Dallas Stars

Tyson Jost, Minnesota Wild

Matt Kiersted, Florida Panthers

Brad Malone, Edmonton Oilers

Zane McIntyre, Minnesota Wild

Grant Mismash, Tampa Bay Lightning

Brock Nelson, New York Islanders

T.J. Oshie, Washington Capitals

Zach Parise, New York Islanders

Shane Pinto, Ottawa Senators

Austin Poganski, Seattle Kraken

Colton Poolman, Calgary Flames

Tucker Poolman, Vancouver Canucks

Jake Sanderson, Ottawa Senators

Adam Scheel, Dallas Stars

Nick Schmaltz, Arizona Coyotes

Cole Smith, Nashville Predators

Troy Stecher, Arizona Coyotes

Jonathan Toews, Chicago Blackhawks

Jasper Weatherby, San Jose Sharks

Christian Wolanin, Vancouver Canucks

AHL (5)

Connor Ford, Henderson Silver Knights

Cam Johnson, Charlotte Checkers

Nick Jones, Manitoba Moose

Dillon Simpson, Cleveland Monsters

Keaton Thompson, Milwaukee Admirals

Europe (16)

Gabe Bast, Belfast (Northern Ireland)

Mike Cichy, Oswiecim (Poland)

Zach Driscoll, Glasgow (Scotland)

Harrison Feeney, Bollnas (Sweden)

Matt Frattin, Bolzano (Italy)

Chay Genoway, Salzburg (Austria)

Ludvig Hoff, Stavanger (Norway)

Joel Janatuinen, Hameenlinna (Finland)

Corban Knight, Omsk (Russia)

Danny Kristo, Michalovce (Slovakia)

Jean-Philippe Lamoureux, Villach (Austria)

Andrew MacWilliam, Salzburg (Austria)

Brendan O'Donnell, Dusseldorf (Germany)

Clarke Saunders, Anglet (France)

Rastislav Spirko, Debrecen (Hungary)

Adam Tambellini, Angelholm (Sweden)