Ertel’s second professional season went backward. He appeared in 44 games for Texas and managed just seven points with a minus-10, losing lineup ground as the year went on in a forward group that kept adding bodies around him. The 2022 third-rounder’s calling cards, the long reach, the puck-protection game, the flashes of skill in tight, showed up in stretches but never produced consistent offense, and he was a healthy scratch too often for a player at this stage of his development curve. Dallas retained him through the qualifying-offer deadline, so he remains in the organization, but the depth chart is unforgiving: the Hryckowian, Fitzgerald, and Anderson signings plus the Seminoff and Scott extensions all crowd the same AHL lineup he could not hold this season. At 22 there is still time, and his size-and-skill blend is the kind organizations stay patient with longer than the stat line justifies. The fantasy file stays closed. The practical question for September is whether he wins back a regular Texas lineup spot or starts the season in Idaho, where at least the minutes would come with real usage.

Ertel was one of the last cuts in training camp with the Dallas Stars in the first year of his entry-level contract and, due to a log jam of forwards, has since spent most of the 2024-25 season with the Idaho Steelheads in the ECHL. He was called up to the AHL and made an impression from the jump. He is a solid bottom-six player with some offensive upside that will help him carve out a spot at a higher level. If he can add some finishing to his game along with his play-making abilities, he will find himself a permanent place in the AHL soon. Taylor Newby

In September of 2023, Ertel went the to prospect tournament in Traverse City with the Dallas Stars. Shortly after the tournament started, the Stars had multiple injuries on the blue line. Ertel was one of the players chosen to take shifts on defense, allowing him to showcase his two-way game. Since then, he has been playing in the OHL for the North Bay Battalion. Though he is an overager, Ertel has been stellar for his team, as he is currently a point-per-game player. He has fine tuned his play-making skills but even more so, he has been able to finish his own chances. Ertel is becoming a well-rounded player that can be lethal at both ends of the ice.

Ertel was cut from training camp today, and will be heading to the North Bay Battalion of the OHL for the 2022-23 campaign. Ertel was under-utilized the in NCAA with Cornell University, and will hopefully receive more opportunities and ice time in the OHL. Poised for a strong season, Ertel could see himself on both special team units, as well as in a top-six position.

After several years of dominance in high school at St. Andrews College, and a successful period in the MJAHL with the Summerside Western Capitals, Ertel shot himself up all the way to the third round of the 2021 draft. In his first NCAA season with Cornell, Ertel put up nine points in 23 games, far below expectations set for him after being a third-round NHL draft pick. If Ertel finds his game at the college level, expect him to finish his degree, realistically jumping to the pros for the 2024-25 season.