nascar99

Some observations: the USHL is harder to score in obviously, so the guys who do produce well are super impressive, but man, so many guys throughout that league who have pretty brutal junior production. Stacking a lot of the best young talent on one team (NTDP) means that a lot of the other teams/roster spots are filled with pretty meh players. Doesn't mean they can't be good NCAA players, but just means there's less pure offensive talent in that league.

Airey (already in portal), Rud, Begley, Harris, Falloon, McLaughlin are the easy candidates. Others like Townsend, Clark, Ludtke, Pahlsson would be darkhorses to enter, but also wouldn't surprise me.

Would be interesting to see how many are following Larson. Losing any of Burnevik, Thoreson, Hall, Henricks, Urness, Roed, Miettinen, Loftus, Berzins, Shostak plus recruits like Souch, Sivertson, & Stengrim would really hurt the Huskies.

Nice group of teams. UMass becoming a fairly consistent contender in Hockey East, Wisconsin back up & in the mix, Arizona State while inconsistent, is starting to recruit better & better talent, and Northern Michigan a team in the region who I'd like to see be more competitive again

I think a majority/plurality Canadian Minnesota roster would be hilarious, especially to see the insular tribalist Goofers fans "stop watching" or whatever they said they'd do with a very Canadian roster.

Martone*

I am in the minority, but I'm rooting for Michigan against Denver. North Dakota Michigan would be a dream National Championship Game IMHO

Yes he was, but Celebrini exploded beyond belief this year in Year 2. Would expect McKenna to put up 60 points in his rookie season if he turns pro for 2026-27, but bad 5v5, doing most of his damage on the PP. Another year in the NCAA would help him round out his game further

Probably wanted to get their group out there early to avoid distractions on campus with their men's basketball national championship related partying

Do we know how much, if any, Kris Engelstad McGarry is contributing to the University of North Dakota, specifically hockey? Would assume boosters/alums are conversing with her this week in her city during the Frozen Four

More and more of the top North Americans are going NCAA in hockey. Sure, some who just want to (in theory) get to the NHL as quickly as possible will just bypass and sign their ELCs, but the Canadian influx of talent to the NCAA will benefit all forever, especially the blue bloods. You just have to balance your roster properly

August 15th*

Yes, if the NHL team that drafts him doesn't think he's ready for the league yet. But I would only put that at 20%, I think there's an 80% chance he's in the NHL

Went to university about 15 minutes from Ann Arbor: it's a fairly big deal for hockey people in Southeast Michigan but doesn't have casual appeal outside of the hockey/Michigan diehards until or unless they're in the Frozen Four. Still very niche overall if you aren't already into hockey.

He follows Boston College and Penn State on IG last time I checked. Doesn't mean they're in his top 3 or anything, but it's definitely notable

Michigan, Wisconsin, Denver. I don't even hate Denver, it'll just be annoying because I envy their success.

Agree to disagree. Would have Hrabal, Augustine, and then Kotai or Ivankovic in my Mike Richter Award Finalists. Spunar just behind that group IMHO

Terrible. Reward the best/most impressive seasons. Kyle Connor got jobbed when Vesey won it because the committee is dumb.

Hughes would have needed to put up a Hrkac or Kariya esque statline for me to really put him above the younger guys like Hage & Wyttenbach. I also would have had Augustine ahead of Hughes.

I would have Hage and Wyttenbach there WAY BEFORE Hughes. Producing at younger ages in the NCAA matters because it's much more impressive. Hage (2006) had a more impressive season than Hughes (2001) on the same team. The only argument against Wyttenbach (2007) is the ECAC is weak/sucks and he stat padded against weaker teams. Don't know what his non conference splits were. I'd still have above Hughes, but Hage ahead of Wyttenbach.

Michigan Hockey fans are bit of a different demographic than Michigan Basketball fans. The Michigan fans who will be there in Vegas are hockey diehards, the types who are at Yost most weekends and/or show up at road games. In terms of pure number, not completely sure how many they'll have, but it'll still be sizable regardless.

Might have 2 coming next year

Random fun fact of the day: Rieger Lorenz (2024), Austin Poganski (2016), Jeff Rohrkemper (2011), and Tom Gilbert (2006) are the last goal scorers in National Championship Games for Denver, North Dakota, Michigan, and Wisconsin. Wisconsin was shut out in 2010 by Boston College, hence needing to go back to 2006 for their last National Championship Game goal. Denver is Denver, but to quote Staind, it's been awhile for North Dakota, Michigan, and Wisconsin in terms of getting to the National Championship Game.

Bruins will push to sign Zellers after his sophomore year in 2027, which would be 3 years removed from the 2024 Draft. They don't want to risk him running out the clock to UFA in 2028 (unless they get a guarantee he's signing regardless). This is why Blake was signed after his sophomore season. 2021 Draft, 1 year USHL + 2 years NCAA = 3 years removed from draft, Hurricanes didn't want to risk losing him in August 2025

Casey probably needs another year of junior. Bet Larson goes into the portal or recruits an older goalie out of junior