brianvf

I feel like Schloss always knows a bit more than he can outright say, but his articles sometimes give "hints" to who he might have heard UND is pursuing. He listed the following F/D as potential CHL targets earlier this offseason: Defense: Carels is the most obvious target. He's from nearby Manitoba, where UND has a long history of recruiting. His gameplay style fits North Dakota to a T. He's elite offensively but also has a mean streak and will throw at least one big hit per game. Rudolph is an elite offense producer who will rack up points as a college freshman. Rudolph, an Alberta native, is currently lighting up the WHL playoffs for Prince Albert, the league's second-best team. It wouldn't be a surprise if UND enters the DuPont sweepstakes. DuPont isn't eligible for the NHL Draft until 2027, but he will almost certainly come to the NCAA this fall. He is this year's Verhoeff, a rare player who is good enough to be a college defenseman at age 17. DuPont is an elusive defender who is putting up big numbers. Forwards: There are the Medicine Hat twins, Liam and Marcus Ruck, who are extremely intelligent players and have a sixth sense for where others are on the ice. Everett's Matias Vanhanen is a setup wizard. Spokane's Chase Harrington and Seattle's Matthew Gard are good players as well, though their NCAA timelines are unknown. Uncommitted forwards from the OHL and QMJHL who are candidates to be picked in the first round of this year's NHL Draft include Windsor's Ethan Belchetz, Peterborough's Adam Novoty, Québec's Maddox Dagenais, Sarnia's Alessandro Di Iorio and Niagara's Ryan Roobroeck.

Will be interested to see when the 26/27 schedule gets released if they stopped scheduling games during the Xmas break. I know that Jax alluded to that last year after how short they were. I'm assuming that next season we'll have a decent number of players eligible for both the WJC and the Spengler. Sucks to have a huge break between games, but would rather that than be really short-handed if we're well-represented in both those tourneys.

I’m not even sure if they’re going NCAA. But if they do, I’m sure Bryn will try to get UND in the mix. Like last year…there wasn’t any chatter on Reschny and Verhoeff to UND but that worked out.

Ha, little snippet on Lindberg coming in, and they talk about the nameplate issue.

They have Macbeath coming in from the WHL as well as Lin.

The obvious targets would be Carels, DuPont, Ruck twins, and Belchetz. I would be ecstatic if we're able to land 2 of those 5. Anything more than that is just bonus. I'm guessing the staff has quite a few CHL "fallbacks" of players in case those big timers go elsewhere. Similar to the Ollie signing at the end of last summer...he was a player that no one had talked about before he committed, but he'll end up being a great player for the future here.

Yeah, while it's great to have so many talented forwards on the roster...you'll certainly end up with good players sitting each game which will lead to portal departures at the end of every year when players go searching for more playing time elsewhere. Looking at that F roster right now, it's hard to pinpoint which ones would be sitting...certainly no Andrew-type players that would be an easy one to call.

https://www.grandforksherald.com/sports/und-hockey/four-with-und-ties-land-on-central-scoutings-2026-nhl-draft-rankings

That's good, will be interested to see how he does for a couple seasons in the WHL.

Magnussen added. 2 F and 2 D to go. Guessing that might conclude our portal additions unless an unexpected elite player enters or we don't land our expected CHL players. Forwards (13 of 15): SR - Magnussen, Menghini JR - Croal, Lindberg, Swanson SO - Josephson, Kernan, Reschny, Zakreski, Zellers FR - A.Schultz, B.Schultz, Simpson Defense (6 of 8): SR - JR - Boser, Emery SO - Laurila, Verhoeff FR - Lindberg, MacKenzie Goalies (3 of 3): SR - Sandy JR - SO - Spunar FR - Heil

https://www.grandforksherald.com/sports/und-hockey/bemidji-states-kasper-magnussen-will-transfer-to-und The best part of the article is this: Get Lindberg and Magnussen to fill spots on those 3rd/4th lines, and UND gets even more dangerous as those lines will also be able to chip in more goals. From what I'm seeing, there were three departures that were by players that still had a role next season (Strathmann, Littler, Klee). All three portal grabs are direct replacements & upgrades to fill those three vacant roles. That's a portal win.

Nice. Portal pickups should be complete with that.

You don’t think that team could still win a championship?

They’d be so skilled and fun to watch though

My thoughts exactly. If UND gets Magnusson, then any other portal pickups after that means that a CHL player fell through IMO.

Nice replacement for Hampton.

These are higher end grindazz to replace our departed grindazz. Chippaz will be announced by end of next month.

Right? Easy peasy.

Yeah I'm viewing Lindberg & Magnussen as replacements for the departures of Klee/Littler. If both can provide more scoring punch (and PK skills) from our 3rd/4th lines, that's fantastic and would make them upgrades. If Bryn can lock up two high end CHLers with some scoring punch, our forward group looks stronger/deeper than last year.

That would be great for us…one less suitor for LD

Talk about a mind-blowing visit coming from BSU.

Wonder if he has a DNC tag on his portal entry? Certainly seems like he would already know his destination. Either way, I’ve never been overly impressed…give us Carels and/or DuPont any day over him.