Scratch

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?

Will be criminal if Buium doesn’t win the Hobey. Especially if Leonard wins guy has whiffed on at least 3 shots this game

Matt Davis owns BC like Nathan Gerbe owns Joe Finley

I think we've been conditioned to think loaded teams are overrated, but I would bet no with 4+ first rounders has ever missed the tournament.

My concern is that going forward we aren't even considered by first round picks because why would they come here when they are offered six/seven figures elsewhere. Schloss says so what who needs em, and sure you can win with a team of untalented 25 year olds, but who wants to watch that? For me, first round talent is often the difference between a Sioux team I enjoy watching and one that seems to be a chore to watch (then you have option c this years team with first rounders but still painful to watch).