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bonin21 said:
The point is building a pipeline. They have both Heil and this kid with 4 years of eligibility on top of the ASU kid for the year.

Bob has two years left for both goalies, one of which is a pretty clear known average goalie at this point and NO ONE in the pipeline.
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i don't disagree. i'm meaning this kid would do zero to address that given he wants to come in this year. I don't like the strategy of how Bob goes about goalie recruiting either but in theory Heil could certainly be one you poach (gentlemen's agreements need to be done) as i'd envision one of DiPasquo or Airey leaves after this year and he may not want to compete with a guy that will be a 21 year old sophomore and possibly not play for 3/4 years
 

upnorthkid said:
i don't disagree. i'm meaning this kid would do zero to address that given he wants to come in this year. I don't like the strategy of how Bob goes about goalie recruiting either but in theory Heil could certainly be one you poach (gentlemen's agreements need to be done) as i'd envision one of DiPasquo or Airey leaves after this year and he may not want to compete with a guy that will be a 21 year old sophomore and possibly not play for 3/4 years
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This kid could fight for their starting job this year and absolutely would do the same here with how open the battle for starter is.
 

bonin21 said:
This kid could fight for their starting job this year and absolutely would do the same here with how open the battle for starter is.
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why would he? you have 2 guys with college starting experience that are older who will be 1A and 1B and in theory will be here next year. If this was next year (hence the Heil comment), that I could absolutely see. It doesn't change anything about your pipeline unless you're going to boot rising senior Wiese which would be very out of character for Bob
 

upnorthkid said:
why would he? you have 2 guys with college starting experience that are older who will be 1A and 1B and in theory will be here next year. If this was next year (hence the Heil comment), that I could absolutely see. It doesn't change anything about your pipeline unless you're going to boot rising senior Wiese which would be very out of character for Bob
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Because one of those guys, Airey, is just not very good and this kid is a USHL goalie of the year finalist that could be a better hockey goalie than Airey immediately or by the middle of the year.

I'm not saying having three goalies fighting makes sense. I'm saying the two we have for this year and the zero we have lined up is completely pathetic management of the roster.
 

bonin21 said:
Because one of those guys, Airey, is just not very good and this kid is a USHL goalie of the year finalist that could be a better hockey goalie than Airey immediately or by the middle of the year.

I'm not saying having three goalies fighting makes sense. I'm saying the two we have for this year and the zero we have lined up is completely pathetic management of the roster.
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then bob, the guy who seems to think airey is a reasonable starter for next year or at least 1b, should cut airey. I don't think bob thinks that and has more faith in airey than an undrafted Fr which I'd sure say seems reasonable (they are the same size, Airey is older and more experienced)

he should add someone as a recruit coming in for next year. I don't really see this guy coming to UND as precluding that nor a knock on how we recruit goalies
 


Malcolm Spence (OHL; likely mid 1st rounder) supposedly is silent commit to Michigan
 


bonin21 said:
UMN is toast in the NIL game behind the big four + PSU and probably OSU.
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havent heard anything on OSU spending much (as in I'm asking if you have; genuinely curious). They'll certainly have it in the athletic budget. I would like us to spend vastly more on hockey given it is programatically what we're known for and you can field a juggernaut team for arguably much less money than FB or BB where we'll never have the dollars.

We won't because Mark Coyle and being at the forefront of spending is apparently banned, but a guy could dream
 

R-E-L-A-X ... Bob, Ben and Brennan have it under control. We'll be fine! You two need to take a few weeks off, spend sometime with loved ones and wait until the Memorial Cup is over. Plus, Kvasnicka and Mooney are tearing it up at 18U in Frisco.
bonin21 said:
Thinking about it a little more, if Motzko wants to manage the pipeline better next years lineup would be the following with four bolded pickups

Ludtke - Clark - Ziemer - MN line
Zetterberg - Pahlsson - Mooney - "Foreign" line
Hendo - Rickwood - Lamb - Middle sixers
Moore/Falloon - Townsend/JMitt - Pritchard/Nevers - Grinders

Mittelstadt - Thomas
Ashton - Gruba
Whipple - Rombach
Rud/Begley (UGH)

Push Kvasnicka and Phillips a year and dump Grimes and Reid.
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That's why I updated the line chart to have Mooney and Kvas on a line in the middle six. They will probably be okay jumping into college hockey.

Three biggest issues:
- Two way centers with 55%+ faceoffs
- Lack of D men that can start the offense from the back
- Uncertainty at goalie

We can still have hope they somehow find a 1C and an offensive D man.
 

Seems like if the Gophers get any CHLer it'll be Matthew Wood 2.0 in Lakovic and none of Dupont/Misa/Martone/Mckenna/Bear. So maybe

Ludtke - Clark - Ziemer
Lakovic - Mooney - Kvas
Hendo - Pahlsson - Lamb
Moore/Falloon - Townsend/JMitt - Pritchard/Nevers

Mittelstadt - Thomas
Whipple - Rombach
Phillips (Ugh) - Gruba
Rud/Begley (Ugh)

I'd slot the above at between #7 and #9 in preseason, about where 2023-24 team was and ended up. And where the 2024-25 team ended the year.
 
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bonin21 said:
Seems like if the Gophers get any CHLer it'll be Matthew Wood 2.0 in Lakovic and none of Dupont/Misa/Martone/Mckenna/Bear. So maybe

Ludtke - Clark - Ziemer
Lakovic - Mooney - Kvas
Hendo - Pahlsson - Lamb
Moore/Falloon - Townsend/JMitt - Pritchard/Nevers

Mittelstadt - Thomas
Whipple - Rombach
Phillips (Ugh) - Gruba
Rud/Begley (Ugh)

I'd slot the above at between #7 and #9 in preseason, about where 2023-24 team was and ended up. And where the 2024-25 team ended the year.
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Lakovic would be a very good pickup. Has there been any steam for that?

I would still hope we’re still shopping for defensemen, but imagine there will be some decision to be made by Phillips and his family/agent. He would definitely benefit from a year in the ushl. The same way whipple would’ve
 

upnorthkid said:
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Lakovic would be a very good pickup. Has there been any steam for that?

I would still hope we’re still shopping for defensemen, but imagine there will be some decision to be made by Phillips and his family/agent. He would definitely benefit from a year in the ushl. The same way whipple would’ve
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Also curious as I hadn't heard any steam on Lakovic but that would be a huge add.
 



Gophers1992 said:
Also curious as I hadn't heard any steam on Lakovic but that would be a huge add.
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He follows the U which is more of a tie than any of the others have. Just figure if the others load up on the top of the top guys he could still be around for the U.
 

UND gets/tampers and signs Isaac Gordon from Tech. Jumped in the portal 25 days after it opens with a dnc. Second one they have done this with.
 

Oh we're going to call it tampering for any program that goes out and fills massive lineup gaps effectively.

Zellers going to UND is just another nail in the Motzko recruiting coffin. Says the talent in MN is getting weaker but misses on the best ones the last few years.
Zellers
Slukynsky
Bump
Sorta but not really Ike Howard (Hudson and played in MN)
Cullens
Nelsons
West

It's very late stage Lucia where he gets hyped young guys but they don't pan out. Whipple, Phillips, Moore
 

bonin21 said:
Oh we're going to call it tampering for any program that goes out and fills massive lineup gaps effectively.

Zellers going to UND is just another nail in the Motzko recruiting coffin. Says the talent in MN is getting weaker but misses on the best ones the last few years.
Zellers
Slukynsky
Bump
Sorta but not really Ike Howard (Hudson and played in MN)
Cullens
Nelsons
West

It's very late stage Lucia where he gets hyped young guys but they don't pan out. Whipple, Phillips, Moore
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The funny thing is you would have been the first one on here ripping Motzko if Whipple, Phillips or Moore would have committed elsewhere just like you’re doing with those other guys you’ve listed who haven’t even played college hockey yet. Also Zellers parents went to UND he wasn’t ever coming here.
 

mngopher52 said:
The funny thing is you would have been the first one on here ripping Motzko if Whipple, Phillips or Moore would have committed elsewhere just like you’re doing with those other guys you’ve listed who haven’t even played college hockey yet. Also Zellers parents went to UND he wasn’t ever coming here.
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As does his sister. Slukynsky wanted to go to und and they said no, we don’t have room. The Cullens have a relationship for nightingale and have and they were willing to take them all. Bump literally no one recruited and he blew up late. Cripes it’s we get mad for not getting the 16 year olds and if we do and they don’t pan out we get angry. Then when we’re full of younger guys we get mad we don’t get late bloomers.

His goalie recruiting (not having anything in the pipeline and missing on barto and maybe Airey, though jury is still out to an extent) and handling of the low d pairs is the only gripe I have.

The chl remains to be seen what will happen but I think much of this depends on what the monetary resources truthfully look like before I could complain a ton. Would be one of the things I’d be curious to ask Bob if he’d answer honestly at the STH events
 

upnorthkid said:
The chl remains to be seen what will happen but I think much of this depends on what the monetary resources truthfully look like before I could complain a ton. Would be one of the things I’d be curious to ask Bob if he’d answer honestly at the STH events
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Anything that challenges him at those kind of things he deflects or would try to make you look like an idiot for asking.

He would probably say something like "We like the guys we've got" or some BS non answer
 

bonin21 said:
Anything that challenges him at those kind of things he deflects or would try to make you look like an idiot for asking.

He would probably say something like "We like the guys we've got" or some BS non answer
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Hence why I said if he’d answer honestly. You also wouldn’t want it getting out if we don’t have the NIL at all our rivals do, which I’d suspect is likely true
 

upnorthkid said:
Hence why I said if he’d answer honestly. You also wouldn’t want it getting out if we don’t have the NIL at all our rivals do, which I’d suspect is likely true
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What makes people think we don't have the same, or better, NIL pool for hockey than our rivals? That makes zero sense to me.
 

Crosby said:
What makes people think we don't have the same, or better, NIL pool for hockey than our rivals? That makes zero sense to me.
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One would think so. The money rumored to bd being thrown at players ending up at Michigan and BU would beg to differ. I’d sure doubt we’re giving Ludkte or DiPasquo an extra 100k but maybe we are
 

Exactly. A backup goalie and a local kid that was hurt almost the whole year. Those are not big NIL deals. Watch who the big NIL guys bring in.

MSU already has a top 5 draft pick coming in, a Hobey winner staying, and a superstar goalie staying. Different planet.
 

bonin21 said:
Exactly. A backup goalie and a local kid that was hurt almost the whole year. Those are not big NIL deals. Watch who the big NIL guys bring in.

MSU already has a top 5 draft pick coming in, a Hobey winner staying, and a superstar goalie staying. Different planet.
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This is a small nit pick regarding MSU. Howard did not want to stay. He was very public about saying he wanted to sign and that TB can’t figure out the money. I will still be quite surprised if he’s playing at msu this fall as there’s no way in hell he’s sticking around to sign with TB and they aren’t going to want to get nothing out of him.
 


Any chance of flipping some DU commits if Carle leaves for the NHL?
 

mjctrey2 said:
Any chance of flipping some DU commits if Carle leaves for the NHL?
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Carle isn't leaving. He's already turned down the Chicago offer. sure seems like he's staying in Denver with his young family
 

Luke Misa PSU

So ya, Gophers are behind not only the big four but PSU as well. Ouch. If Gopher hockey isn't going to be able to change with the times a lot of the magic is going to be lost.
 

bonin21 said:
Luke Misa PSU

So ya, Gophers are behind not only the big four but PSU as well. Ouch. If Gopher hockey isn't going to be able to change with the times a lot of the magic is going to be lost.
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Misa is only worth a NIL bag if you’re getting his brother. Which I guess they’ve maybe guaranteed that (though I’d suspect whatever team drafts him and his agent will decide that). I’ll be very surprised if Michael misa steps foot on a college campus as he seems ready to step into the nhl. Only kicker is he can’t play AHL so will depend slightly on what team he is drafted by
 

upnorthkid said:
Misa is only worth a NIL bag if you’re getting his brother. Which I guess they’ve maybe guaranteed that (though I’d suspect whatever team drafts him and his agent will decide that). I’ll be very surprised if Michael misa steps foot on a college campus as he seems ready to step into the nhl. Only kicker is he can’t play AHL so will depend slightly on what team he is drafted by
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The brother is still a 5 star recruit that will do extremely well in college hockey for at least two years. He'd very possibly be the best player on the 25-26 Gopher roster.
 

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