Scratch

I agree that Liv is a very good player but for whatever reason I don’t think of him in that elite category like Stecher and Poolman. If freshman year Emery is your #1 d I have to believe there’s no chance you’re making the tournament. But Verhoeff is going to come in as the most skilled d, by far, and with the rare attributes of also being the biggest and perhaps strongest defenseman on the team right from the gate. That assuages my usual apprehensions about freshmen d big time

Agreed. I think Verhoeff is currently either the best D or second best D on the team behind Livanavage. The idea that our D core is stacked doesn't resonate with me. Last year I saw a bunch of middle pairing guys, even Livanavage would have been middle pair in the mid-2010s

Wouldn't be surprised to see a Mankato or Quinnipiac type win this year. All the blue bloods might be particularly young, tiny, and soft - us included.

I used to think the same, but the past couple years listening to the podcast kinda changed my mind to think he is actually oblivious to problems. The way he scoffed at the suggestion of firing berry and ridiculed the masses who held that opinion as clueless twitter morons seemed genuine when he talked about it. Then he invented the "first round picks ensure teams wont win the natty" narrative once it became impossible to deny that Berry hadn't brought in a single talented player his first 4ish years as head coach. That seems beyond toeing the line to me, but I am admittedly jaded about Schloss so idk. To add to the Dupont gossip, my cousins in BC (early twenties, best played 2 years in WHL) tell me the rumor is he's very likely to play college and UND and DU are the frontrunners. Also say kids out west still think of UND when they think of college hockey but Denver becoming more popular quickly, for obvious reasons. I was surprised that they said no one really talks about BU or BC still. I agree with the guy who mentioned the concerns about Verhoeff also being right shot D. Hopefully UND promises Dupont 1st PP and 28 mins a night from day one because based strictly by output compared to his same-age peers Dupont is arguably a better prospect than Crosby and McDavid.

I'll never hate Denver in the same way as Minnesota but all news being good news out of them for the last decade or so is getting annoying

These three are who I had in mind. Of those three, 1 is a high end NHL player. And he's the only high end NHL player UND has developed since the championship. The other blue bloods have had single years recently where they've developed as much NHL talent as UND in a decade.

Unfortunately I suspect those that think of UND as top notch are mostly those that don't pay close attention--UND hasn't been top notch at winning or developing high end players in nearly a decade

Well it looks like I'm wrong about the expectations for next year and agree that "skilled" is a pretty vague descriptor that didn't even make sense in the way I was trying to use it (Swanson is skilled, but at this point is not a player who would add to a team being "loaded" in my mind). To me loaded roughly means 4 players on offense reasonably expected to put up big points-say high 30s+-based on draft status or past college production. For example, 2 freshman that are first rounders or have a resume like Zellers, in combination with at least 2 older players who are also first rounders or have already put up high 30s-ish points at an NCHC, BIG10, or HEA school. I'd say 4 players that are 2nd round or higher could make for a loaded team, especially if the middle 6 is rounded out with other players capable of putting up 25+ points. Hopefully next years team plays D like UMD 5 years ago.

When Michigan is loaded they usually make the frozen four tho, like the loaded BU BC and MN teams lately and most of our teams under Hak. No disrespect to the new guys but at least on paper this team appears to have either zero or one skilled player depending on how Zellers works out. If they were loaded the frozen four would be an expectation. I think most here would agree this team making the frozen four would be somewhere between surprising and miraculous

whoops that was meant to be in response to

If the only reason Sanderson played here is because he was kidnapped and held hostage by the coaches for 2 years I'd take it over not having him. Lots of people are very good at their jobs without liking their companies.

Me too, id love to watch some firepowrr

In my estimation losing Boisvert is the dagger for next season as a whole, much like losing Blake was. It appears the only way this roster will have a single first line talent is if Zellers is lights out from day one. The anticipated forward group to me looks like one second line, two third lines, and one fourth line. Livanavage could be the highest scorer like the Wolanin year, roster reminds me of the 18-19 teams that were depressing. I'd be shocked if this forward group averages more than 3 goals per game. Not sure where the optimism that our D should be good next year is coming from, its the same slightly worse than average D from this year. Hopefully Jackson can get our players to improve as they get older.

I think this is exactly right, but in a bad way. With NIL, UND is now a Western/Penn State type program, where we will never have elite talent and everything has to come together to make the frozen four, which will happen maybe once a decade like it does for all the second-tier programs. The only teams that habitually make the frozen four (BC, BU, Denver, Mich, and MN) now are only going to make it more often when a player like Boisvert is their third line center. To those still denying NIL's impact or even its existence in hockey-do you think Ausmus and Schloss and everyone plugged in to college hockey is making all these numbers up?