skateshattrick

I had the same thought. They traded a top 4 defenseman (Bowen Byram) for the opportunity to upgrade for another defenseman. I hope that they let Carels or Verhoeff play at least 1 year before having them come in. The owner of the Sabres is Terry Pegula, who is a huge Penn State booster and alum and was rumored to be the one who paid McKenna to come to Penn State.

Why do you say that? His statistics are not much different than Keith Tkachuk: Zach Parise 1254 Games, 434 goals, 455 assists for 889 points and a +76 Keith Tkachuk 1201 Games, 538 goals, 527 assists for 1065 points and a +33. Additionally, Parise played for defensive minded teams where scoring was not a priority like New Jersey and Minnesota, and Parise is a much better defensive forward than Tkachuk.

NHL Central Scouting Final Rankings has Cooper Williams at #50 and Brayden Klimpke at #74. Williams was the 2nd leading scorer on the Blades, but had more goals.

3rd round pick of the Blackhawks.

Harsh but I agree completely with your position.

I think he is committed for 2027-2028 according to Elite Prospects. Did you see something different?

I thought gfhockey was Drunk Hockey Guy aka Chris Orlett. 😀

If I recall correctly, JT MIller was drafted by the Rangers and then decided to play in the OHL rather than college. Carson Carels is jumping from the WHL to college.

By finally, do you mean for this year? Because Verhoeff, Reschny and Emery are blue chippers.

Who cares? They are both elite and both will be picked in the top of the draft.

No they need a draft like the NFL based on the worst record. Hockey players don’t tank. The lottery is not fair and makes people lose interest in the draft. Look how popular the NFL draft is. If the NFL was dumb enough to have a lottery it would not be as popular. The NHL and NBA can’t get out of their own way

Agreed. Quinn Hughes and Jake Sanderson also played 2 years of college hockey.

It could be proximity, but I find Minnesota professional sports fans to be the most annoying. I know fans of many professional sports teams, but Vikings and Wild fans are easily the worst in my experience. They win a few games and they are Super Bowl bound or Stanley Cup bound and rub it in the faces of other teams' fans, and they lose a few games and they want to fire everyone, blow up the team and complain about how the refs always single their teams out. It is the same every year, and the announcers like Paul Allen and Kevin Gorg are just glorified cheerleaders.

I get your point. I think next year's team is going to be very good, but I am really hoping that we can add a high end defenseman like Carson Carels, Landon DuPont, etc. It is very fun to watch high end players like Jake Sanderson, Brock Boeser, Nick Schmaltz, Zach Parise, TJ Oshie, Jonathan Toews, etc., even if they are only here for 2 years or less. Having said that, I believe that Cole Reschny and Keaton Verhoeff are going to take huge steps this year and will have monster sophomore seasons. Max Plante was not dominant his freshman season at UMD, and I believe these 2 have more upside than Max Plante.

I don't necessarily agree with as15, but his point is not without logic or non-sensical. I believe he is alluding to the fact that we have yet to receive commitments from any of the high end CHL or even high end NTDP players who are projected to be 1st round picks or very high picks. Last year, we got 2 very high end recruits, so perhaps his expectation is that this trend would continue??