Portal 2026

[AJS]

41 minutes ago, atxsioux said:

Here’s a take - Denver this year will be the exception. I think say 9/10 future title winners will have a 1st round pick on the roster. 

I think it goes without saying that we are in a completely new era of college hockey. One year in. I'm with this take @atxsioux. I would say what worked in the past might not in the future. I think we all agree you still want a mix, different roles, some older players, but the talent level in 2x what it was two years ago. 

[beastandco]

 

[cberkas]

2 hours ago, RedFrog said:

How likely is it that there may be a recruiting cycle where a team recruits a player but they go to an AHA, ECAC, CCHA team for a year or two to get their playing time and earn their stripes before then transferring in?  I know that this would be a hard way to setup a recruiting schedule/cycle as there would be nothing guaranteeing that you get that transfer or that you would want that player, but I have to imagine that some of these portal transfers are playing out that way anyway, if not in a formal or intended fashion.

Then you’ll see those schools push for a development agreement that schools will be sending money for having a player spend a year or two there first. This was brought up by Mercyhursts coach about a year ago.

[stoneySIOUX]

5 hours ago, RedFrog said:

How likely is it that there may be a recruiting cycle where a team recruits a player but they go to an AHA, ECAC, CCHA team for a year or two to get their playing time and earn their stripes before then transferring in?  I know that this would be a hard way to setup a recruiting schedule/cycle as there would be nothing guaranteeing that you get that transfer or that you would want that player, but I have to imagine that some of these portal transfers are playing out that way anyway, if not in a formal or intended fashion.

UND and other schools have been doing this for several years, and I'd expect it to continue to happen, but the pool is SO much deeper now with the CHL. 

[cberkas]

Stockfish to Quinnipiac 

[AJS]

Lindberg from CC is in. He would jump to #2 for my portal wishlist. 3rd on team in scoring. Top 6 FWD as a sophomore. 

[scpa0305]

2 minutes ago, AJS said:

Lindberg from CC is in. He would jump to #2 for my portal wishlist.

Ok depth add I suppose. In this new age, you basically have to grab the obvious top 6/pp guys and everyone else will have to be obvious bottom 6 grinders. The days of working yourself up the lineup are over. 

[cberkas]

🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣

[AJS]

1 minute ago, scpa0305 said:

Ok depth add I suppose. In this new age, you basically have to grab the obvious top 6/pp guys and everyone else will have to be obvious bottom 6 grinders. The days of working yourself up the lineup are over. 

Don’t disagree. You’d think you’d need 2 portal upperclassman adds along with ideally 2 high-end CHL players. Is there only 1 high-end portal F left? After JJ who would you want from the portal before Lindberg? Magnussen?

 

[SpudsSioux]

If Lindberg is a fit, this staff is going to know as well as anybody. Played for Smaby in Waterloo for two years.

[Godsmack]

Lindberg didn’t put up eye popping numbers but just from the eye test watching him play, I thought he was solid. 

[brianvf]

Next year could be sweet.

Two Schultz
Two Lindberg
Two Ruck

[tnt]

15 minutes ago, Godsmack said:

Lindberg didn’t put up eye popping numbers but just from the eye test watching him played, I thought he was solid. 

To be fair, nobody on CC put up eye popping numbers, but like UND, balance can be a good thing.

[Godsmack]

1 minute ago, tnt said:

To be fair, nobody on CC put up eye popping numbers, but like UND, balance can be a good thing.

That is true. A lack of scoring and scoring depth was a huge problem for CC. 

[cberkas]

Arizona State with another portal goalie, Hillebrandt from OSU

Not who I thought they'd go after

[brianvf]

Lindberg from CC is now at UND according to Tyler Young.  

[.357]

5 hours ago, brianvf said:

Lindberg from CC is now at UND according to Tyler Young.  

Smaby coached him at Waterloo, so it's not like UND is getting an unknown commodity. 

Big, physical kid who likes to hit & has a good work ethic. Look at him as being a replacement for Littler (both will be juniors next year) with Lindberg having higher scoring than Littler last year in similar number of games & better mobility, it appears. Upgrade. 

“He gets to the right areas, he’s got really good timing, he gets to secondary chances, so he scores rebound goals, he creates some chances on odd-man rushes,” he said in mid February. “He’s had some really good looks and it just hasn’t quite popped for him at the level.”

-Kris Mayotte, Colorado Gazette, 02/27/25

[Johnny Five]

Nice addition for UND.  

[SuhakiYeahYeah]

 

Seems like its unofficially official at this point and its just a matter of when

[I Ranger]

5 minutes ago, SuhakiYeahYeah said:

 

Seems like its unofficially official at this point and its just a matter of when

So would this mean we are out on Wiebusch? I would think so based on numbers. 

[AJS]

25 minutes ago, I Ranger said:

So would this mean we are out on Wiebusch? I would think so based on numbers. 

Still need 3, so I wouldn’t think this is necessarily true. Of those 3, you’re hoping for a few high-enders. 

[AlphaMikeFoxtrot]

Wiebusch to UW according to Brad's list

[gfhockey]

Any of these guys chippaz

[Fratt Mattin]

6 minutes ago, AlphaMikeFoxtrot said:

Wiebusch to UW according to Brad's list

I wonder if we called Lindberg after it became clear we weren't getting Wiebusch

[Godsmack]

8 minutes ago, Fratt Mattin said:

I wonder if we called Lindberg after it became clear we weren't getting Wiebusch

Is that how it works in the off season? Can programs openly contact players from other programs and see if there’s any interest in coming over? Or does the player/player’s agent need to initiate that? If it’s the former, I could see how annoyed Kris Mayotte might be losing one of his key pieces.