Prospective Recruits

[brianvf]

7 minutes ago, yzerman19 said:

should we just start calling this the WHL thread lol

I'd still take Fitzhenry, despite him not playing WHL (yet)!    

[RhettRingers]

There's a possibility that he waits until after the draft to announce if he's coming here. Guessing Chyz has plan b,c,d if both Verhoeff and Carels sign ELC.

[yzerman19]

2 hours ago, brianvf said:

I'd still take Fitzhenry, despite him not playing WHL (yet)!    

yep.  Fitzy is an unbelievable player and an unbelievable kid.  high demand dude right there.

[franchise]

3 hours ago, RhettRingers said:

There's a possibility that he waits until after the draft to announce if he's coming here. Guessing Chyz has plan b,c,d if both Verhoeff and Carels sign ELC.

[AJS]

We’ll see. On one hand, I don’t know how I would expect him to answer, but sure doesn’t seem like he’s sold on leaving.

[scpa0305]

37 minutes ago, AJS said:

We’ll see. On one hand, I don’t know how I would expect him to answer, but sure doesn’t seem like he’s sold on leaving.

Agree, interesting quote. 

[AlphaMikeFoxtrot]

47 minutes ago, AJS said:

We’ll see. On one hand, I don’t know how I would expect him to answer, but sure doesn’t seem like he’s sold on leaving.

Around 2:30ish the reporter started the comment with "We hope you're coming back next year..." forcing him to address it with a season ending loss fresh in his mind. Had he brought it up on his own it'd be more concerning.

[brianvf]

On one hand, it's hard to gauge the answers to questions asked just a few hours after your season-ending loss.
On the other hand, there were quite a few questions asked about his plans for next year, and next year's PG team that he answered similarly. 

He also mentioned that he didn't want to join the U18 team and that he's not going to be at the draft in person.
Will be interesting to see if he heads NCAA or not.
Sounds like he is really close to his family and deals with their farm a lot.

One advantage GF has over PG...it's about 17 hours closer to his farm.  

[tnt]

Would think his draft team wouldn’t want him to go back to physically dominate in a league he has already proven that.  Would think it would be sign with the NHL team or go to college where he can work on building strength and going against guys closer in physical stature to what he would see in the NHL.

[beastandco]

1 hour ago, AJS said:

We’ll see. On one hand, I don’t know how I would expect him to answer, but sure doesn’t seem like he’s sold on leaving.

He is just saying the right things. He could very well return to PG, but the odds of that happening are slim. 

[.357]

The fact that Strathmann entered the portal right when it opened tells me that UND has a couple of solid (if not elite) d-men already lined up. Don't think Jackson would allow Strathmann to leave so easily if he didn't already know there was someone equal or better than him coming in.

[nascar99]

7 hours ago, yzerman19 said:

should we just start calling this the WHL thread lol

Would like to start getting a few high end OHLers at North Dakota

[Fratt Mattin]

3 hours ago, AJS said:

We’ll see. On one hand, I don’t know how I would expect him to answer, but sure doesn’t seem like he’s sold on leaving.

I think it's the NHL or college for him next year. I don't see what he would have to gain by going back to the CHL. As others have said, probably just trying to say the right thing here and not be disrespectul to PG

[nascar99]

Gavin Hodnett (2006, Edmonton Oil Kings) commits to Nebraska Omaha. Nice addition for the Mavericks

[brianvf]

18 minutes ago, nascar99 said:

Gavin Hodnett (2006, Edmonton Oil Kings) commits to Nebraska Omaha. Nice addition for the Mavericks

Those are the type of players that can excel in college hockey.
Short and fast.  Speed kills.

I'm assuming that he is one of the silent commits for UNO that Schloss was talking about.

[jk]

1 hour ago, brianvf said:

Those are the type of players that can excel in college hockey.
Short and fast.  Speed kills.

I'm assuming that he is one of the silent commits for UNO that Schloss was talking about.

Although I generally agree, and there's room for some small guys on a team, the WI game made me want the team to be sturdier on its skates.

[Siouxdaddy]

22 hours ago, AJS said:

We’ll see. On one hand, I don’t know how I would expect him to answer, but sure doesn’t seem like he’s sold on leaving.

Journalism 101. Never take what an athlete says at face value after a season ending loss. 

[brianvf]

11 minutes ago, Siouxdaddy said:

Journalism 101. Never take what an athlete says at face value after a season ending loss. 

I chuckled at Guy Flaming's post about this on X.
Those CHL guys sure are having a hard time realizing that it is working out for these talented Canadians to go NCAA to further their progression.   

[yzerman19]

If we become a team that is all western canada kids coming from the dub...well, nothing against those guys, but it aint my fandom

[Johnny Five]

2 hours ago, brianvf said:

I chuckled at Guy Flaming's post about this on X.
Those CHL guys sure are having a hard time realizing that it is working out for these talented Canadians to go NCAA to further their progression.   

I think the high-high end Canadian thing is going to be an interesting follow the next few years.  McKenna and Verhoeff have been highly ranked for quite some time for their age group....it's hard to argue whether this year helped, hurt or was indifferent too be honest.  There was a time McKenna was "falling" and Verhoeff was "trending" as the 1, then it kinda flipped again.  Now it seems McKenna is the consensus 1 and Verhoeff could be D 2-3, which is still awesome. 

But what if they had stayed and crushed up north?  Hard to say.  McKenna allegedly got a huge bag from Penn State, but none of those high end NHLers to be really wanna open a book, do they?  None of those guys take school too serious....

But many I've read already have Carels over Verhoeff.  I'd have to go back and see if that was the case a year ago, but if Carels goes top 3 I can't imagine he'll want on anyone's campus, the big show is his dream, unless someone throws a McKenna bag at him.  

The changing landscapes of college hockey.

[I Ranger]

1 hour ago, Johnny Five said:

I think the high-high end Canadian thing is going to be an interesting follow the next few years.  McKenna and Verhoeff have been highly ranked for quite some time for their age group....it's hard to argue whether this year helped, hurt or was indifferent too be honest.  There was a time McKenna was "falling" and Verhoeff was "trending" as the 1, then it kinda flipped again.  Now it seems McKenna is the consensus 1 and Verhoeff could be D 2-3, which is still awesome. 

But what if they had stayed and crushed up north?  Hard to say.  McKenna allegedly got a huge bag from Penn State, but none of those high end NHLers to be really wanna open a book, do they?  None of those guys take school too serious....

But many I've read already have Carels over Verhoeff.  I'd have to go back and see if that was the case a year ago, but if Carels goes top 3 I can't imagine he'll want on anyone's campus, the big show is his dream, unless someone throws a McKenna bag at him.  

The changing landscapes of college hockey.

I agree and have said it all year McKenna and Verhoeff are going to be the case-study for all draft-eligibles moving forward. With potentially Verhoeff falling to the 2-5th D off the board and getting passed by players that ripped it up in the CHL, do you see most/if not all play their draft-eligible year in junior specifically defensemen? I think this could be why you may see DuPont wait until after the draft to make his decision. Does he dominate another year in the W being the best d man in the league and have 80-100 points and solidify his draft stock as the #1 overall or potentially get your deficiencies exposed against bigger/stronger/older competition? 

[brianvf]

If Carels goes straight to NHL and DuPont goes back to the Dub, the options for our final two D spots gets pretty limited for "high end" prospects.