Fratt Mattin

Mismash is a good one. He never lived up to the hype, but that was a big deal when he committed. Can’t remember how involved Minnesota was with him. I’m sure they were very interested, I just don’t remember if it was mutual

I was wondering if Boeser would count, but it sounds like Minnesota absolutely botched his recruitment in every way imaginable. So I'm not sure it's even fair to include that one

When was the last time we won a head-to-head recruiting battle against UMTC for a metro kid? Brad's article said all four coaches went down and visited Fitzhenry recently. That should tell you everything you need to know about where Dane's head is at. He understands that the Xs and Os don't matter unless you've got the Jimmies and Joes. It's been a while since I've felt this good about the direction of the program

The period of time between when the bat signal goes up and when we find out who we got is agonizing

Great news for us as we obviously weren't getting them if they played college this year. Hope we continue recruiting them hard throughout next season

Denver's right side is loaded. Lin, Rudolph, and Fiddler. Not to mention MacBeath and Jameison on the left. They'll be young, but wow is that a lot of talent.

Rumor is that they were on campus recently. No clue if it’s true, but I’ve heard a few people say it

Yes, I think BC makes the most sense for him from an opportunity stand point. Although as a Western Canadian kid, it is by far the farthest from home

Rudolph has apparently narrowed his choices down to Denver, Michigan State, and BC. Him, Lin, and Fiddler all on the right side for Denver would be insane depth if it happens

Was this a problem before offsides review though? I've been watching hockey a long time and I really don't remember this being any bigger of a problem pre-offsides review versus post

I personally would be fine with know offsides review at all, in any situation. Would there be some missed offsides that lead to crucial goals? Of course. But let's be honest, the vast majority of missed offsides calls are off by literal centimeters. It's just not worth the collective breath holding we all have to do after an exciting goal that comes on a close zone entry

I took the 15 schools comment as a tongue-in-cheek thing, because in his previous tweet he told people to message him with any and all rumors, true or not. I think it was just meant to be a comment about how nobody actually knows anything, but everyone wants them at their school. Or maybe I’m giving him too much credit lol

There were a few like that, but the 2018-2019 and 2022-2023 teams stick in my memory. The former because they couldn't score a goal to save their lives and the latter because they couldn't stop one. I still don't understand what the guiding philosophy behind our roster building was supposed to be during the Berry era. Never seemed like the coaches knew what they wanted the final product to look like

I'm sure Verhoeff and Reschny are gone after this year, but I feel like Zellers will be 50/50. The rest I'm sure will stay unless some of them can't crack the lineup consistently

I have no insider info, but the official hockey account is following him. Now that didn't mean anything when it was true for Lars Steiner, but it usually at least means we are recruiting someone pretty seriously

I don't see the argument that Vancouver would want to rush a guy like Verhoeff or Carels into the league. Why would you want to bring your new, top draft pick into a dumpster fire of a situation? Let them grow in college while you bottom out and don't bring them on board until you have some half decent teammates that they can play with. There's so little to be gained developmentally by playing in a bad environment. What good are 20 minutes a night in the NHL when you're spending all 20 of those minutes fighting for your life and learning bad habits?

Agreed. I think Schaefer's success has convinced a lot of people that he's the rule rather than a very rare exception. The vast majority of teenage defensemen who get a shot in the NHL get caved in and quickly sent down to the minors. Levshunov was drafted #2 overall with more hype and pedigree than Carels and he was also known for his physical maturity. Yet he's been a complete liability for Chicago and only dressed 18 games for them as a 19 year old rookie last year. As a general rule, I think most defensemen are better off staying in juniors/college for their first two seasons after being drafted, even when they're a high draft pick.

Yeah the hardest part of predicting the lines was sorting centers 2-4. Reschny is the obvious 1C, but everyone else is quite close in talent and they all possess a lot of the same skills as well. Kernan popped down the stretch, but Josephson was arguably even better until he got injured. Malinoski seems like poised to have a big jump in production in his senior year as well. You could put those 3 in any order and I would not complain

I could see this as well since their games are somewhat complimentary, however I am a big advocate of pairing experience with inexperience wherever possible. That's why I hope the coaching staff gives that Boser-Verhoeff pairing a long look

My way too early lines for next season: Magnussen-Reschny-Zellers Swanson-Malinoski-Simpson Croal-Josephson-Lindberg Menghini-Kernan-Zakreski Ex. Davis, A. Schultz, B. Schultz, Carels-Emery Boser-Verhoeff MacKenzie-Laurila Ex. Lindberg, ?? Spunar Heil ?? Biggest strength is clearly forward depth. Not the most high-end skill we've ever had, but tons of guys capable of putting up 20+ points. Accordingly, I think Malinoski, Josephson, and Kernan are pretty much interchangeable as centers 2-4. All 3 are very solid and capable of playing up or down the lineup. Biggest weakness is inexperience on the blueline. Loads of talent, but a lot of youth. I think MacKenzie or Laurila may actually start the season on the top pair with Emery. My placing Carels there is more of a projection for where we will be by the end of the year and not necessarily how things will look in October.

Love Dumanski as an 8th defenseman. Old, experienced player with leadership qualities. If he's the guy though, we will need to turn our attention to finding some RHD for the 2027-2028 season and beyond. I expect only Lindberg will be back among RHD currently on the roster and our only RHD commit is Zaide Penner, who is still a few years away. Brock Cripps might be a name to watch as a potential target

Oh c'mon now Rhett, don't make us all worry on what should be a great day lol

Forgot about Fiddler going there as well. I highly doubt Denver is in play for Rudolph or DuPont then. They already have two RHD who will be expecting a lot of minutes. Same boat as us really with Emery and Verhoeff

With Reid at MSU, Lin at Denver, and Carels here, I'll take a shot in the dark and say DuPont goes to Michigan and Rudolph to Penn State. I don't have any insider info, just making a guess based on who has the most playing time and NIL money to offer

It’s clear that they’re trying to land one of Carels, Rudolph, or DuPont, but I’m very curious what the plan is for the last spot. Getting 2/3 seems unlikely and honestly maybe ill-advised given how young and inexperienced it would leave the d-core. So assuming they don’t plan to add two of the big three, I wonder what the reason for the delay is in announcing the other defenseman? I assume it will be an older guy with a few years of junior hockey under his belt