ECHL: Toledo Walleye Sign College Forward

The Toledo Walleye have signed former college forward Dalton Messina. This transaction comes one day after the team had signed defenseman Cole Cameron.

Messina comes to the Walleye after five seasons with the Ohio St. Buckeyes. The 5-foot-11 and 194-pound Messina from Macomb, Michigan, played in 86 games with Ohio St, producing seven goals and 13 assists for 20 points and 53 penalty minutes. He is coming off a career-best of six goals and eight assists for 14 points in 38 games.

Before playing with the Buckeyes, he played for the Youngstown Phantoms from 2017/18-2018/19. While there, he posted 11 goals and 20 assists for 31 points and 112 penalty minutes in 77 games. He also played for the Cedar Rapids RoughRiders from 2016/17-2017/18. His totals include 14 goals, seven assists for 21 points, and 183 penalty minutes in 71 games.

While Toledo did not make any moves during the trade deadline, they did add defenseman Cole Cameron. The 6-foot-0 and 192-pound defenseman native of Johnstown, Ontario, Canada, comes to the Walleye after playing for Toronto Metro University.

From 2016/17 through 2018/19, Cameron played for the Kitchener Rangers and Owen Sound Attack of the Ontario Hockey League (OHL), producing two goals and 26 assists for 28 points in 195 games. In 2019/20, he joined the University of Guelph and played there until the 2022/23 season, where he totaled eight goals and 18 assists for 26 points in 89 games.

The Walleye have added four college products to the roster for depth heading into the playoff push. The Walleye had previously added Noah Prokop and Ricky Lyle to the forward group, along with a trade involving bringing in defenseman Jacob Graves. This will be interesting to see how this plays out heading down to the wire for playoff positioning with all the new additions. Playing time is to be earned for these young players as they adjust to the pro-hockey way of life.