Walleye re-sign forward Kruse for 2024-25 season

Forward Brandon Kruse, who scored 18 goals and added 36 assists for the Toledo Walleye in 2023-24, will return to the team for the coming season, the Walleye announced Tuesday.

Toledo re-signed the Saline, Mich., native and former Bowling Green State University player for a second season at the Huntington Center. Kruse joined the Walleye in 2023 after finishing his first full professional season with the ECHL’s Newfoundland Growlers.

Kruse, 25, played more than 150 games for BGSU from 2017-21, scoring 38 goals with 104 assists. He was selected by the Vegas Golden Knights in the fifth round of the 2018 NHL draft. After a graduate transfer season with national power Boston College, he joined Vegas’ AHL affiliate for three games before moving on to the ECHL in 2022-23.

Kruse tallied four goals and seven assists for the Walleye during this past spring’s playoff run, where the team fell in the Western Conference finals for the second straight season.