beastandco

Only follows 303 accounts. Does anyone follow him to see if he follows other teams?

Top players want to play top minutes on top programs. NHL teams also want their draft picks playing significant roles. UND has talented players on the wing and have even more talent coming in a year (McKamey, Williams, Simpson, and Schultz). If UND gets the right guy(s) at center in the next couple of weeks, they are not only set up for next year but also set up even better for the year after. Imagine a lineup with Swanson, Gordon, Zellers, McKamey, and Williams with a guy putting up a PPG in the middle. If UND can grt a Boisvert type of recruit for next year, we are in a great position. Reading between the lines on Schloss’ pod yesterday makes me that UND is waiting on a very small group of CHLers to fill their remaining spots. They probably have an idea who it is, they are just working on making sure that player is eligible for next season with the NCAA.

Why is that?

Kids pick UND over a lot of top schools all of the time. Most, if not all, of UND’s offseason acquisitions were heavily perused by teams that have bigger pockets than us. Every kid prioritizes different things. Kids that love hockey are going to love UND. There are just as many reasons why a kid would pick UND as there is for why a kid wouldn’t. The only significant disadvantage in recruiting that UND has is money and I am not sure if those are the type of kids you want anyways. The beauty of college hockey is that a kid like Riese Gaber could be just as, if not more, impactful than a first round pick and do it for a longer period of time. A first round pick sticks around for 1-2 years and leaves while Gaber was an impactful player for 4 years and bleeds green.

Cooper Williams seems like a good get

I have no idea who this is going to be

Last time I checked, I think our 4 guys likely getting drafted (Schultz, Simpson, Laurila, and O’Niel) were in the mid 3rd to 5th round range. It probably would take a player drafted in the first two rounds to make the team next year. If there is a lot of guys coming over to the NCAA, I am sure UND will be able to snag one or two.

McMahon said today that a few teams are intentionally leaving a spot or two open until after the draft for these players. Given what Schloss has said and what our depth chart looks like, UND is obviously one of those teams. It’s also worth noting that UND will have three forwards drafted and worst case scenario they’ll have Schultz or Simpson come in early. I would like those guys play high minutes in the USHL though. I predict they land a CHL 2005 center and one draft eligible player in the first two rounds.

Only a handful of these guys were on UND’s radar. I hope I’m wrong but Zakreski is a guy that won’t see a lot of ice time until he’s an upperclassman and he’s a better recruit than most of these guys. It will be interesting to see how a team like Bowling Green does. The CHL more so helps teams like Bowling Green because instead of getting aged out NAHL players, they are getting aged out CHL players.

There are few players currently committed to a college team that have higher expectations than Zellers. He had a better season than Jackson Blake in the USHL before Blake came to campus. Scoring at the rate that he did this year is rare. Anything less than 30 points would be a disappointment for him next year

There probably is less than 10 freshman next year capable of putting up those numbers and Zellers is one of them.

I do think they will keep a spot open into the summer for any late decommits if they are not able to get any impact players in the next month. Worst case scenario is they bring in one of their recruits early as a depth guy

Steps in the right direction have been made

He would be the best draft prospect to ever play in college hockey. Hes probably the best prospect since Mcdavid

Michigan seems to be pulling way ahead and that is because their football team is largely funded by one billionaire which gives them more money to spend on other sports, specifically basketball and hockey. The Big Ten has revenue sharing, which we don’t, and that is a factor. Minnesota’s NIL budget is much closer to UND’s, if not very similar. UND will likely have to opt into revenue sharing in a year or two and that will give them a boost, in my opinion. They never will come near what the Michigans and Bostons are offering kids though.

Generational talents like Gavin McKenna do.

McKenna will get his money regardless through brand deals but your point is correct. If McKenna takes less money, his advisors get less money.

Scpa, thank you for the kind words. That was a little bit of a “homer” take but my main point is that UND falls in the top 12 programs in college hockey for what they can offer recruits. College hockey has 64 teams, 90% of that would be 12-13 teams. I don’t see there being 5 teams outside of the Big Ten that would provide more to a recruit than UND

UND has more to offer these recruits than 90-95% of college hockey teams. A lot of teams would love to be in UND’s position. We just don’t have big ten money.

He will probably make himself available in the transfer portal halfway through the season again next year

Isaac Howard will be traded at the draft to a team he will sign with. I know the Wild had a trade in place with McGroarty for their 13th pick as long as Buium did not fall to them. I expect the same type of trade to happen for Howard.

UND will still be able to get high end talent. Our high end talent will be guys that are a year or two older than the top ten picks that stay for one year. UND will target guys that will stay for at least 2/3 years and they probably cannot afford the ones that stay for less.

There’s only so many teams throwing money at these kids for the few spots they have open. Most teams only have room for 2-3 guys, like us. We might not get top 5 picks but we certainly can get high end guys. There’s too many players in my opinion.

Congrats to Matt Smaby on being named Head Coach in 2035!