as15

No way this team is .500 next year. They will have the best player in the country in Boeser, an All-American goalie, a potential All-American dman in Poolman, and one of the best leaders and shutdown d-men in the country in Ausmus. Couple that with increased production and growth from Gardner, Poganski, Gersich, Wilkie, Wolanin, and Shaw, as well as bringing in the program's highest drafted player since Jonathan Toews, in Tyson Jost. With Schmaltz, they will be the best team in the country. Without him, they will be top 5.

There is no questioning that, I'm just saying that when you bring in a guy that led the USHL in goal scoring the previous year (Wilkie, tied with Boeser), you expect him to be more than a 4th line player/healthy scratch. Some years that lack of production would cripple this team, this year it didn't because it typically took 3 goals to win a game, and the CBS line was good for that almost every game.

I agree. Most year's we need a freshman player like Gersich or Wilkie to be an impact player right away, but this year, it wasn't really needed as scoring 3 goals in a game typically was a win. A full season under their belts, along with an offseason of training and Grand Forks, and they both should be very good college players as early as next year. I totally expect both to be around 25 points or so next year, with hopefully one taking a bigger step than that.

I don't think anyone could've reasonably predicted that Boeser and Cam Johnson would've had the years that they did. Those two exceeding expectations this year put this team from a 3 seed in the NCAA's to the best team in the country.

Assuming the Stecher and LaDue are the only early departures, I'd go with this lineup for next year: Jost-Schmaltz-Boeser Gersich-Johnson-Poganski Janatuinen-Gardner-Wilkie Olson-Simonson-Hoff T. Poolman-Ausmus Wolanin-Thompson Shaw-C. Poolman/Evers

I'll second that. Of the few you mentioned, I think Leitner, Tatro, and Hartje can play big-time D1 hockey. Tatro was rated a "C" skater by Central Scouting, but he needs to really work on his skating before he becomes that kind of prospect, IMO. Hartje was a second round pick in last year's USHL draft by Des Moines, I expect that he will play there for two years (starting next year) and be ready to step in somewhere as a true freshman in two years. Leitner, a senior defenseman, is arguably the best defenseman in the state this year (criminally underrated) and will make a college team very happy if they take a chance on him. He is extremely smooth and poised with the puck, not flashy, but all-around player, two-way Dman (think LaDue in style of play). I expect he will play at least one year of Junior's before going to college. Just realized that this should probably be in the Prospective Recruits topic, but oh well.

His straight ahead speed is a strength, but getting up to speed, and his stride, are his biggest weaknesses.

I expect LaDue, Stecher and Schmaltz to turn pro for sure. Thompson is UND's clear cut #5 dman, he has all of the physical skills, just too many turnovers and dumb decisions still. Ausmus is close but I think he stays another year. Boeser is an extremely smart player and as we all know, possesses an unbelievable shot. The one thing that is potentially holding him back from stepping into the NHL is his skating. His skating will take some time, and the best place to develop and improve on something like that is in college, which allows for substantially more practice and development time than pro. Because of this, I think he stays one more year after this, plays about 30 games in the AHL in 17-18 and then becomes a full time NHLer after that.

Losses F-Caggiula, Chyzyk, Sanderson, and St. Clair to Graduation, Schmaltz to NHL/AHL D-Stecher, LaDue, and Poolman to NHL/AHL So if the # of player's remains the same, 5 forwards will need to be replaced, and 3 D. F-Jost, Hoff, Yon, Cakebread, and Mattson (if drafted in the 2nd round, will probably come in as true freshman). Sanderson is essentially a walk-on type player, so he could be replaced with a similar player (older, junior veteran), or Cakebread could be deemed this type at this point. D-Poolman, Evers, Kiersted/Johnson/Bast/Peski

It sounds like all of Schmaltz, Caggiula, Wilkie, and Wolanin will be out tonight. While our defense remains almost intact, our forward group is a mess. I know he has been playing extremely well this year, but should Poolman be moved up to account for the injuries at forward? Possibly roll with something like this: Chyzyk-Gardner-Boeser Gersich-Johnson-Poganski Janatuinen-Simonson-Poolman Olson-Sanderson-St. Clair Gornall Stecher-Ausmus LaDue-Thompson Shaw Use Gornall to periodically spell St. Clair if he still needs it. The defenseman should be fine rolling with just 5. Poolman is also there to move back if need be.

LaDue is all but 100% gone after this year, I'm sure Ausmus will have opportunities as well. The biggest problem is that we could potentially have 4 freshman defenseman for 16-17, 3 of which will play significantly.

LaDue and Stecher will both be making an argument for being a top ten defenseman in the country this year, as juniors. If all of UND's defensemen stay for 16-17 (almost no chance, I know), I don't care if you are the first overall pick, you will not be getting top pairing minutes as a true freshman.

I think the top 9 of Caggiula, Schmaltz, Boeser, Johnson, St. Clair, Poganski, Chyzyk, Gersich, and Wilkie are everyday players. The others will be a revolving door until someone stands out from the pack.

Absolutely, I knew I was forgetting someone. Poganski will probably start the year in a third line role, but wouldn't be surprised if he challenges for a top 6 spot by the end of the year.

Caggiula-Schmaltz-Boeser Gersich-Johnson-Wilkie Chyzyk-Gardner-Murphy Janatuinen-St. Clair-Olson Stecher-Ausmus Shaw-LaDue Thompson-Poolman Tomek Johnson If Schmaltz stays, I don't see how Poolman doesn't play forward next year.

I agree. If he can get a little faster over the summer, and maintain the level of play he showed towards the end of the year, he could have a 20 goal/40 points season next year.

Parks and MacMillan never really developed the scoring touch I thought they would after their freshman seasons. In terms of high end production, the last two years for UND have been anomalies. Next year is when we start getting back to having a leading scorer with 45 or so points.

It's really too bad that the injury to Mark ended the season for both him and Parks.

"Need more skill up front"=Mattson at forward. "If it doesn't work" (meaning Mattson at forward) "Panz has more than enough experience at forward". Jake Marto played defenseman basically his whole career, but played 2nd line LW for down the stretch in 2010-2011. Similar situation in the sense that 8 of the top 18 skater's on the team are defenseman. Mattson is our best offensive player right now, something absolutely needs to change with our forward group (either personnel, or play) if this team is going to get out of the regional.

"Need more skill up front"=Mattson at forward. "If it doesn't work" (meaning Mattson at forward) "Panz has more than enough experience at forward".

Hakstol is going to shake things up a bit this weekend, here is the whole lineup he will go with (purely speculation): Mattson-Caggiula-Parks Poolman-Schmaltz-Johnson O'Donnell-Gaarder-Poganski Pattyn-Simonson-St. Clair Schmaltz-LaDue Stecher-Ausmus Thompson-Panzarella Roll 4 lines, ride the two top pairings. Need more skill up front. If it doesn't work, Panz has more than enough experience at forward.

The only thing that could work against him is the lack of shutouts. Really, GAA and shutouts are as much of a team stat as they are a goalie stat, and honestly, I think it is even more impressive that his GAA is so low given the lack of shutouts, it shows major consistency throughout the year (he could have 4 shutouts and give up 4 goals in 4 games and his GAA wouldn't be effected). If there were a stat kept for "shutouts lost in the last 3 minutes of a game", Zane would be the NCAA leader in that category, no doubt. It's almost comical how many shutouts he has lost late in games the past three years.

Poolman-Caggiula-Parks O'Donnell-Gaarder-Poganski Chyzyk-Pattyn-Johnson Olson-Simonson-St. Clair Thompson-Schmaltz Stecher-Ausmus Mattson-LaDue With or without N. Schmaltz, that lineup should sweep CC at the Ralph. Still three very effective lines, fourth line won't play much, St. Clair will probably kill some penalties. With that D and Zane in net, two goals a night should get us to Minneapolis.

No doubt. Hakstol needs to bring the Schmaltz brother's into his office and tell them that they need to bring their games to the next level. I'm anticipating the worst with Mark, huge hit to the team as he plays an invaluable role . First line center, first PK, second PP, and immeasurable leadership (which he can still provide regardless of injury). That being said, the success of UND this year is not because of one player, it's because of team depth. Case in point, this weekend. UND received one goal from it's top-9 forwards. If that happens, most teams easily get swept, instead, we swept a good SCSU team. This team doesn't have one star, it has a bunch of streaky goal scorer's. This whole year, we have usually only had one line clicking at a time. If this team peaks at playoff time and receives consistent scoring throughout the lineup (like they should), they will be almost unbeatable, with or without Mark. They don't blow anyone out, in fact, it is rare for this team to win by more than one goal. This team has heart, and the willingness to sacrifice everything to win. IMO, the highlight of the season so far was that 5 on 3 PK on Saturday. This year's team is probably one of the least skilled UND teams in the last 12 years or so, but after watching that sequence, I might have the most confidence in them just because they have shown that they will do whatever it takes to win. This team has success because of their character, depth at all positions, and the guy that wears #31. None of this has changed, regardless if Mark MacMillan plays another game or not.

It just seems like he is somewhat "forgotten" when it comes to some of our recruits, even though his stats seem to suggest he should be a pretty high caliber guy.