beastandco

From what I have read about Carels, he’s super projectable. He is good, not great, on both sides of the ice. He is a complete player with decent size. The other two have noticeable flaws. Carels would be the ideal replacement for Wiebe next year.

The O’Neill spot will either go to him, Ashton Schultz, or Carter Sanderson. Carter Sanderson has had the best year out of the three and is potentially playing himself onto next year’s team. Hopefully we do not lose Reschny because next year’s forward group could be elite.

If he commits, I doubt it would happen during the season. I doubt he wants to answer questions from the media. He has nothing to gain from announcing an NCAA commitment during the season, imo. I think players are being advised to wait until after the season to commit. Lots of top prospects will come over and almost none are currently committed.

Interesting, I clicked on his account a few days ago and saw that UND was a follower. I guess time will tell. At the very least, it seems like there is some mutual interest. He is the only player that is not associated with UND in some way that they follow. Ollie is the only player that I remember them following before an announcement and that was only a couple of days before. This is a new one for me.

To be fair, I believe he was the youngest player in that league’s history. He was solid playing against players a few years older than him. Tyson Jost was under a point per game in that league when he was a year older than Eli. The start of this season is very concerning. Hopefully he is just getting healthy because there are a lot of players his age that are passing him at the moment.

Does anyone know what is going on with Eli McKamey? Zero points in his first 7 WHL games this year and a minus 5. Looking at their line charts, it looks like he is playing bottom 6. Has he been struggling quite a bit?

It would be problematic if this player gets cleared. The only reasonable point the player could make is if he signed his ELC before college hockey opened up to the CHL. If a team is able to pick up a player like Tij Iginla, that would be crazy. What is also worth noting is that he pretty much stated that every team, including UND, could add players at the end of the semester. Roster caps seemingly mean nothing if you have players on the roster that were recruited prior to opting into the house settlement.

He was essentially saying that if UND loses a lot of defensemen this offseason, these guys would be the first calls for Bryn. At the very least, UND has contacted a lot of these guys. Like you said, most elite programs are doing the same. There are too many good players available for UND to be left empty handed, but that’s just my opinion.

He did the same thing with Roger McQueen. Somehow this is even broader.

Steiner is the only account that UND follows that is not currently committed. Typically they follow players after they officially commit. I do remember them following Ollie a day or two before he announced his commitment. I do not remember them following a player that did not commit. Steiner is not as flashy as a Belchetz, Roobroeck, or Preston, but he still would be a great pick up for next year.

The official UND hockey account has followed Lars Steiner on instagram. He is a projected mid-late first round pick in 2026. He is a winger in the QMJHL. Something to definitely watch…

There is also a short list of uncommitted CHL players that would take ice time from Strathmann or Laurila next season. They were both really good players in the USHL and 2-3 years older than the draft eligible CHL guys. That’s not even mentioning taking ice time from Ethan MacKenzie, who has been one of the best defensemen in the CHL this year.

Every single defenseman has eligibility left on the roster. Will all of them come back? Definitely not. The number of departures has to be 4 in order to stay house settlement compliant, assuming this is the only year that they can have more than 26 roster spots. If they have the opening, I would be surprised if they weren’t able to land one of those 5. Luckily they will know the pro and portal departures before the CHL season ends. They probably already have a good idea right now.

Schloss mentions Ryan Lin, Carson Carels, Landon DuPont, Daxon Rudolph, and Peyton Kettles as potential adds for next year in today’s podcast depending on who signs this offseason. He also stated that Brock Schultz is the only recruit that has to come next year. Lots of flexibility moving forward.