hockeytherapy13

I think everyone is on the same page as you to get a skilled scoring line with each other as soon as possible. But I don’t see a problem with throwing James, the fastest skater, good puck retriever, and defensively intelligent player with a couple younger guys until we know they won’t screw the pooch when the puck isn’t on their sticks in their own D zone. Also Swanson needs to show that he can get more shots on goal than EJ haha

Agreed. I’m still not sold on us having a solid top 6 yet; maybe more like a top 4/5 with Rickwood, Reschny, Zellers, James and hopefully Swanson As stated by others, James isn’t a high offensive player by nature. But he’s our highest returning goal scorer and fastest skater so he’s bound for the top 6 with this group.

Something tells me that some bottom 6 guys like Croal and Zakreski are going to sneak up on teams this season. Croal was a pt/game guy his last USHL season and is a buzz saw. Zakreski was top 10 in goals (technically tied 7th) this regular season in the WHL and seems to be a guy that is the definition of a UND hockey player as he’s skilled with a ruthlessness in his game. Add Kernan to the conversation being #5 in reg season goals in the USHL. Obviously their roles won’t be too scoring roles (at least not early on) but other 3rd and 4th lines in the NCHC will likely be outmatched.

I still think those 3 on the same line is a fair hope because they are going to be the best 3 forwards we have from a combo of playmaking and scoring. But with the size issue, it’s likely not happening for a month or 3. Sounds like Reschny plays bigger than he is so if they all prove themselves to handle the heaviness early on, it would be a really fun line to watch

All of them have a ton of potential and will probably have awesome college seasons this year, but they still have yet to prove themselves at this level, Swanson included. Lack of size could play a factor unless Reschny and Zellers prove they can forecheck heavy because Swanson hasn’t proven that yet.

Yeah with the players we have right now I have Menghini on my 3rd line and Strinden over him. All of Strinden’s goals were even strength (7) or shorthanded (1). Still not a super offensive guy but he might be a hair better than Menghini. But we all know a high end winger coming for somewhere on the earth is what we need the most.

That 3rd line could be sneaky good and scary for other teams to match. Really really really hoping this new staff can get Swanson off the milk carton because he was a shell of his potential last year.

I'm going with what you mentioned as you said you "disagree that a prior injury indicates future result", which is false. Regardless of whether there were 2 completely separate injuries or a flare up of a previous injury, we know he's had at least 1 surgery in his past. Having had an injury that required a surgery, even once it's fully healed, indicates risk for future injury in that anatomical region. That's just objective, orthopedic knowledge that that can't be argued about being injury prone. I'm just being finicky on a semantics issue regarding the difference between how we feel as fans compared to orthopedic data. But really it's all moot and doesn't need to be dwelled upon because we can't actually predict the future and all want him to stay healthy for the sake of the team.

Going with your heart and gut disagree with science and anatomy lol.

The fact that he’s had a hip surgery already makes him injury prone, just based on previous tissue damage that required surgical intervention. Combine that with his style of play and the other fact that he’s missed nearly 2 full hockey seasons in the past few years, it’s safe to say he is very injury prone until proven otherwise. If he can hang the whole season, this may be the deepest 8-defenseman unit in the country.

And a captain who keeps his hands to himself around other guys' lady friends.

100%

Joey Abate from UNO might still be one of the worst the NCHC has seen. He wasn’t even good, he was just cheap and a hack.

Man, what an all-time steal for us. They can have Tychonick all day; give me Stecher 10/10 times.

Idk what you all think, but is anyone else imagining D pairings without Zmolek in the lineup? I find myself doing that simply because he seems destined for injuries. I feel bad for the guy, but something just tells me we won’t have his services for the entire season. If we have him on the regular, that’d mean an embarrassment of riches because then we have 3 really solid RHD every night. If we don’t land another potent forward, it still seems like our back end will be able to more than carry their weight.