I agree with you 100%. Both Michigan and Minnesota have substantial upgrades at head coach (Pearson is a big upgrade from Red and Motzko is a big upgrade from Lucia). It makes sense their recruiting would pick up from what it was. The rest of that conference is nothing special. Also, hockey is 2nd or 3rd at best on the food chain at most of these schools (Minnesota is a notable exception to this). Hockey is not basketball or football. The failure of the current regional system in hockey is the direct result of trying to model the NCAA hockey tournament after March Madness (all neutral sites). Also, NIL won't be the same as for basketball and football, since hockey doesn't draw big media and corporate sponsor attention like the aforementioned sports do.
Bottom Line: UND is not going anywhere, whether Mel Pearson likes it or not. We will not settle for being a plucky little mid-major.