The biggest advertisement for Greg Carvel’s hockey program will be running for free this weekend.

UMass hockey will likely be mentioned prominently when Cale Makar, an almost certain top-10 pick, is selected in the NHL Draft, which runs Friday and Saturday. An ESPN mock draft actually had him at No. 1 Thursday.

The Minutemen will get free publicity again when Mario Ferraro is taken, likely on Saturday.

The two incoming UMass defensemen are certain to be picked. Three other soon-to-be Minutemen could be chosen as well. Forward Philip Lagunov and defenseman Jayson Dobay are ranked No. 116 and No. 216, respectively, among North American skaters by NHL Central Scouting, while goalie Matthew Murray is the No. 29 North American goalie.

Being drafted doesn’t affect a player’s college eligibility. NHL teams retain the rights to their draftees throughout their college career.

No matter where they are selected, all are expected to be on campus next month for the second summer school session.

College hockey has been sending players to the NHL for decades, but the percentage of NHL players who have spent time on campus continues to grow, strengthening it as an option vs. Major Junior Hockey in Canada.

“Every year it goes more and more toward the NCAA. Not just NHL teams being comfortable with guys developing here, but Canadian kids realizing that it’s a viable path to the NHL,” said Carvel, who’s in Chicago for the draft. “When you watch the Stanley Cup finals and they talk about 17 NCAA players in the game, they can’t help but have their eyes opened.”

Among those 17 were Pittsburgh’s Conor Sheary and Nashville’s Matt Irwin, who both played at UMass.

Carvel, who worked in the NHL for Anaheim and Ottawa, said if a player will be ready to play in the NHL at age 20, Major Junior still makes sense, but for most kids, college offers a better development path.

“I tell them all the same thing. If you think at 20 years old, you think you’ll be ready for the NHL, go the Major Junior route. If you don’t think you are, which most kids at 20 aren’t ready, this is easily the better route,” he said. “You’re seeing more and more kids taking this route. Makar is a good example. His stock really rose over the past year, but his family thinks this is the right route for him to grow as a person and as a player.”

Both Ferraro and Makar were confident in their decision.

“I did research into the college path. I thought more years of development and more time in the gym would really help me out,” Makar said in April. “For development reasons, I thought college would be a better way for me. I’ll need to gain some muscle this summer to keep up with some of the older, more physical guys in college hockey.”

Ferraro offered a similar sentiment Tuesday.

“I think four years in college would be great for my development,” Ferraro said. “College focuses a lot on defensive play and the speed of the game. I think that helps me a lot.”

Last year, a record 11 NCAA players were taken in first round. Between 5-8 could go in round one Friday.

According to College Hockey Inc., there were 314 former college players representing 49 schools in the NHL last year, 32 percent of the league.

Carvel said his time in the pros is a selling point both to recruits, who hope to play in the league, and to NHL teams that feel confident in his ability to prepare their draft picks for their future.

“We basically run things here as we did in the NHL. The type of practice. The length of practice,” Carvel said. “The amount of video , the amount of off-ice training are all very similar to what they’ll expect as professional players.”

Carvel said he was in regular contact last year with Buffalo and Edmonton about the development of their respective draft picks, Ivan Chukarov and William Lagesson.

Carvel was hoping his guys would be drafted by someone he’s familiar with.

“Ideally it’s somebody that I have a relationship. Hopefully the teams that draft them is comfortable with me,” he said. “I still have a pretty strong connection with a lot of GMs from my time in the NHL. I’ve had a few calls.”

Matt Vautour can be reached at mvautour@gazettenet.com. Get UMass coverage delivered in your Facebook news feed at www.facebook.com/GazetteUMassCoverage

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