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…and would allow us to go after some other top CHL talent next year.

https://www.si.com/college/minnesota/gophers-hockey/is-gavin-mckenna-s-commitment-a-warning-sign-for-the-gophers Maybe Minnesota’s anti Canadian slant is going to start being a bigger issue. Think they will still be competitive, but don’t have the built-in advantages they used to have. Remember when the gopher cheerleaders paraded an “America’s Team” banner around the ice in the old Ralph? That kind of arrogance should be used against them now in recruiting the Canadian CHL studs.

Probably a good thing McKenna is so slippery, as I would bet that a lot of players in the Big Ten will be taking a run at him, especially the losers in the sweepstakes.

…and to think Dubay thought Hakstol was a bad person for flipping someone off! How many chances does this clown get?

If it isn’t one of the big names left, if I were Chyzyk I would wait until all those guys announce before sending out the bat signal, lest everyone seems disappointed in an incoming recruit that isn’t quite at that elite level. Would be nice to get one of those guys though.

Blue bloods knocking the crap out of each other, besides their grueling conference games is a recipe for a lot of lesser conference teams to sneak in by not having to face the challenge of playing them. There are only so many non conference games, but even with the pairwise boost from playing the elite, some are going to be on the outside because there are only so many spots, especially if you get any conference tourney upsets.

Yes, Schlossman especially can vouch for that after picking Western Michigan to finish 7th in the NCHC last year.

My concern is that if some of these guys don’t really want to go to college hockey and only do so at the behest of the team that drafted them, will they be all in and be a great teammate when some adversity strikes, either as a team or individually?

Wrong thread. This is football.

That is the other side of this — the communication with these guys. I know some thought Schultz might bolt somewhere else to start college sooner. I agree, a lot of guys would be better off with the slow development model, but we have seen not everybody and their advisors can be objective enough to see that as the best path forward. Who knows if Cole Spicer’s trajectory would be different if he had played the slow development path. Hopefully the coaches and advisors can communicate the best interests to the players and have them buy in.

Will be interesting to see if they can’t nail down two more studs from the CHL to fill the forward roster for this fall, if they just go with 14 forwards to have room for more studs next year. As it stands, if you don’t lose someone after a one and done, you lose James, Strinden, and Rickwood, with Schultz, ONeill, Simpson and Williams probably set to come in, and Pilgrim still in limbo. Assuming someone like Andrew or someone else not getting playing time transfers out, that still doesn’t leave much room. Coaches are probably having these conversations to best be able to take advantage of the new recruiting landscape. Ideally, you don’t want to keep pushing off players and counting on guys wanting to leave, but I definitely don’t envy the coaches having to make these tough decisions and still keep team unity in tact. Roster management is going to be huge going forward, as you want to have flexibility in having recruits not time out in juniors, or leave because they don’t want to wait longer to make room for stars that won’t be 4 year players. Definitely going to be a juggling act to keep a good base of players from year to year and still have room for guys that will accept certain roles.

Same number Dillon Simpson had when he came to UND at a young age, now he will be mentoring a potential very high draft pick.

If they have another year like last year both Neely and Sweeney are gone, which will likely be the case.

Boeser had 27 goals his first year playing in the championship game and 16 his second, playing with the likes of Schmaltz, Caggiula and Jost, so unless he gets another freshman like Reschny to pop from the get go, 25 might be a little aggressive, but 15-20 might be ballpark, and frankly would be awesome. Who knows, if Swanson takes a huge step forward and can be the set up guy for Zellers like Schmaltz was for Boeser, nothing is impossible, but we saw how Perron had a hard time getting off his shot, and how inconsistent his scoring was when it looked like he would put up crazy numbers after his crazy shooting display with his hat trick against Manitoba.

Would have been nice to keep Gordon, but do we want guys that don’t want to compete with talented freshmen for ice time.

Tiny and soft? I think we lost a lot of our soft and slight players and added the opposite. We might not be huge up front, but not exactly tiny.

You’re missing Cooper Simpson, Carter Sanderson, Caleb Heil and Ashton Schultz.

Hopefully there are two more for UND once some CHL players decide on the college route.

Yeah, if Cale Makar played two years, I don’t think it is a given that many first round picks are going to be one and dones.

Flames up next. Many had them predicted for Reschny.

Buccigross says to Hagens “please come back”, meaning to BC. Don’t tell me he isn’t a homer.

Yeah, just not a replacement for an in person draft, so just get on with the draft without that awkward bit.

Yeah, kind of saw the same thing, and hopefully the team that drafts him and UND coaches can instill in him that he can’t float and neglect the defensive side of the game if he wants to have a career in the NHL. Each step up the chain, you can’t just rely on your skill level, because others can match that. Compete level with a decent skill level sets you up for a nice career with many perks.

I’ll reserve judgement until I see how these guys do in college hockey. I think guys like Menghini might have just as big of an impact as some of the newcomers that will be coming into college hockey. We have seen plenty first round picks that don’t make huge impacts their first year of college hockey.