6-Foot-7 Defender Oleg Yevenko Signs Deal With Columbus

The Columbus Blue Jackets have signed monster defenseman Oleg Yevenko to a one-year, two-way contract, the team announced on Thursday.

The 6-foot-7, 235-pound defenseman just finished a four-year NCAA career at the UMASS-Amherst, where he was an alternate captain in his senior season and finished second in the conference with 89 blocked shots.

Yevenko played two preseason games for the Jackets before being sent to AHL training camp. The undrafted defender came into camp on a tryout.

In their announcement, the team also noted that he was a accomplished student at UMASS, being given Distinguished Scholar status in his senior year, just one of eight players in the conference to attain that status. He also qualified for the Hockey East All-Academic Team all four years of his college career.

He has also represented his native Belarus in both the 2014 and 2015 IIHF World Championships.

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