Based on what you feel realistically could and should be done between now and next season. You said he needs to blow up the roster or he needs to go. What changes do you feel he needs to make for you to say he should stay?
stop viewing roster management like you need anyone on the roster who is not a D1 caliber player. Players transfer constantly now. That means how you manage the pipeline now is going to full of the possibility you can also take players from other schools (you're a big ten school and a historic blue blood, act like it)
So given that, I'm really over the experiment of not carrying a full roster, especially when you are taking guys who are never meant to play at this level. I get it if one of Rud, Begley, or Harris is on the roster, but I would say you cut/encourage to transfer all 3 of them. That coupled with Thomas, Mitts, Lamb, and Mitts all leaving means you already have 8 spots to fill, which needs to be looked at aggressively for a mix of Freshmen and upper class talent, because you can't rely on 18-19 year old guys to come in and push this team over the top (like he did this year counting on Clark, Pahlsson, and Gruba to take steps like Ziemer and Lamb did to help the freshman)
He took step one proactively already and targeted a high producing guy who can come in and play right away next year in Humphreys. That, to me, shows he realizes this roster needs help on both ends (I disagree with people who said the F group we had coming in plus the returners was fine; you cannot have 1 line that produces and lines 2-4 look like black holes that in total score maybe once a game). This also encourages your upper tier talent to stay. Ziemer is a stud but you can't tell him and Mooney they're going to be all we have again and Moore and Moe will help when they can.
In the back, on top of cutting the above 2 guys (you cannot just have them be scratches due to the roster limits being tight with guys going to the WJC and health now), you need to tell McLaughlin he's a scratch at best. Phillips is not ready so don't rush him. Grimes can come play 3rd pair and Harper is one you don't push if his camp wants him to dev in the Dub (he's a 1st round talent; great to have him but you don't want to kill him as he's young and that's a heavy ask to come in as a 17-18 year old). That means you need to be hyper aggressive in the portal. Tons of MN kids with ties here on other teams so to me, there needs to be 2 portal guys that are juniors/seniors to balance classes.
Ideal world: you also are looking at telling some of the upperclass forwards they are going to be bottom 6 players with how they've performed (Pahlsson, Clark, Ludkte who sadly just doesn't seem to be able to skate after his injuries or whatever caused it). I think that may lead to some of them looking elsewhere, which means you do the same thing with the F group looking for upperclassmen and blue chip (see CHL; you have a role on a 1st line with Mooney-Ziemer? That sounds like a fucking awesome spot to sell to a blue chip guy to come in and score). Ditto on the defensemen as . There are multiple 1st round caliber CHL guys who will get drafted this year. You need to be all over that and flop the list of guys in the last 5 years who are currently playing in the NHL. Want to be a shutdown guy? We made Faber. Want to sign the largest contract in Ducks history? We made Lacombe. Knies, Cooley, Snuggy, Rinzel, Moore, Wood all played here and are cashing NHL checks after coming in as NHL draft picks (and you mention Wood because he's Canadian). Get in the pool and play with the big kids Bob. No more sidelines on the CHL.
In my ideal world, you're pushing that envelope like you just saw Michigan and MSU do where they're having incoming classes that are way overcommitted (UND is doing this as well). Pipeline management lives in the 1-2 year time span
Last part of ideal world, fire (I mean let retire to a consulting role) Miller and hire someone younger who will recruit and will fundraise or someone who will GM and will fundraise. You can't have two old guys who like things the way they were and the PK has ass.
tl,dr; cut the guys who are D3 players (Rud, Harris, Begley) and ACTUALLY FILL THE ROSTER with both some freshmen blue chip guys and some older talent to class balance. we have some of those guys up front already locked in. He needs ample help on the back end
Last random part: if you're going to try play with older heavier guys like he claimed he was going to, you need to actually forecheck and fucking hit someone. Coaching malpractice this year the number of times I watched upperclassmen cruise on by and not finish a check. Freshmen learn that from the older guys. Absolutely unacceptable unless you're playing track style hockey and you're one of the scorers. Knies would've smacked the shit out of a number of these guys if he were around and they were doing that playing the roles they were given.
