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Mildly surprising & somewhat hard to believe that a major school like UND wouldn't already have a marquee CHL name or two lined up by now, effectively leaving UND with just hoping they get a biggie at a later date... With all those talented CHLers/internationals crossing over to the NCAA, figure UND has to be a lock for at least one of them, F &/or D.* Doesn’t make sense to leave it all to chance until after the CHL playoffs. Unless the coaching staff is satisfied for the most part with the talent that is already committed. Like @AJSsaid, it seems like UND is missing one elite forward scorer, especially to make them competitive with a strong B1G Conference next year. *Basing this opinion on the smoke during the WJC that Carels was coming in. Plus that WHL prospects game (or whatever that was) a couple months ago that had the UND logo next to Carel's name on the roster. Hard to believe that was a mistake.

The first sentence in Wodon's tweet.

If a star player is portalling out, a coach would be wise to step back & do his due diligence before pursuing him; because said star player may have been a factor in why his old team didn't do very well (ie, not very teachable, lacks motivation, entitled, etc). Pandolfo said something to the effect that he couldn't connect with his players last year; and if a coach unknowingly brings in a player who doesn't mesh well with the new staff or players, that's the equivalent of throwing a grenade in the locker room. Just because a player is uber-talented doesn't mean he'll be a valuable piece to his new team.

Crack open the checkbooks, teams will be tripping over each other to get to him. If Carels is already slated for UND, UND won't bother putting in an offer for him.

Smaby coached him at Waterloo, so it's not like UND is getting an unknown commodity. Big, physical kid who likes to hit & has a good work ethic. Look at him as being a replacement for Littler (both will be juniors next year) with Lindberg having higher scoring than Littler last year in similar number of games & better mobility, it appears. Upgrade. “He gets to the right areas, he’s got really good timing, he gets to secondary chances, so he scores rebound goals, he creates some chances on odd-man rushes,” he said in mid February. “He’s had some really good looks and it just hasn’t quite popped for him at the level.” -Kris Mayotte, Colorado Gazette, 02/27/25

Two models to consider: A team can either emulate Denver & go for one first-rounder with the rest being very good 3-7 rounders (usually stick around 3-4 yrs); or one can be like Michigan & MSU and be drowning in 1st- & 2nd-rounders (usually 1-2 yr guys). The former owns college hockey & the latter consistently flame out in the postseason.

Have to make room for the 1-2 yr players.

According to Buccigross, Strathmann to Quinnipiac.

This year's UND roster was at 15/9/3, hence why I had stated 9 D. The positive of having 9 D is in case of a spate of injuries, of course. The negative is that UND risks losing a couple of solid D every year due to lack of playing time.

Good point. So if that is true & Carels is coming in, that would make it .... Boser, Emery, Laurila, Verhoeff, Lindberg, MacKenzie & Carels = 7 D, with room for probably 2 more. The only player here that Boser would have a chance at beating out would be Lindberg, & that's not taking into consideration another veteran D that may be added through the portal. Currently it's 2 juniors, 2 sophomores & 3 freshmen (including Carels). Ideally another jr or sr D through the portal.

You mentioned after meeting his parents in LV that they said Bryn had a few aces up his sleeve (paraphrasing, but you said something similar to that). Am assuming that Boser was not one of those aces they were alluding to.

Now those are words you like to hear from your #1 forward: he's committed to being a leader & getting back to the FF. It certainly doesn't sound like he's using UND as just a stepping stone, but rather he actually cares about the program. He clearly trusts the coaching staff & his development at UND.

Good luck trying to prove that. The disappointing thing about losing Strathmann & Jubenvill is that it usually takes until the junior season for a defenseman to start coming into his own at the NCAA level. UND invested 2 years into them, only to have them leave (or be shown the door), right at the time they could be a big benefit to the team their junior & senior years. Now they will take their experience & maturity to another competitor. It's difficult to win titles with a young backend, regardless of how talented they are. And backfilling with portal players can work, but it can also backfire: you know what you've got with your players leaving, but the ones portaling-in are an unknown commodity. A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush. No sense in developing talent but not retaining it when you need it the most: their junior & senior years. May not be much room for Strathmann & Jubenvill at a blue blood school (not sure they'd care to go to BU considering the state of that program), but they could thrive & see a lot of ice time at a really good school like WMU, Quinnipiac, Duluth, etc.

I meant someone portaling out like Littler. Is Jackson allowed to talk with him or any other players about why they want to leave or to try & prevent it, or not?

Are coaches allowed to talk to players once they enter the portal to try & determine their reason for leaving or to see if they can change their mind, or not? (Especially the ones the coach is blindsided by & would like to keep)