All Things Players Coming and Going (26-27 Off-Season)

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Gophers1992 said:
Clark showed some promise early on but never really progressed. Appreciate the time he gave to the program but definitely the type of guy who needs to get processed out for this program to ascend back to the levels we want to see.
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Agreed. After his Freshman season, I thought we really had something here and then he just never really progressed from there.
 

Yeah he couldn’t score on his own and relied on setting up guys like Kurth or Lamb for most of his points. Last year without much help it was pretty obvious that his game wasn’t gonna hit another level.
 

Probably end up at UST, ND, or BC is my guess with zero leads
 

With Hage staying, goes without saying but Michigan will be crazy good again.
 

First rounder Cullen Potter will end up at MSU. Shocker
 




Alex Micheletti says we will all be extremely happy with the players coming in.
 

beatles said:
Alex Micheletti says we will all be extremely happy with the players coming in.
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Going to be hammering the transfer portal refresh all day on GPL lol

But I am much more optimistic with the rumors out there this team will be back in the tourney and maybe we can for omce see the one and done go our way and the boys will be there in DC
 




Not a player, but will impact the movement.

Nick Oliver announced as SCSU coach. Think a very solid choice for them
 


Think tomorrow will be incredibly interesting to watch. You'll get the mix of Larson getting to have more assets to show on the relationships he built prior (both with National teams and on recruiting trail) while at SCSU. I expect the portal plus the CHL teams seasons winding down (and the USHL to a lesser extent) means the competition is going to be very intense. Couple of random things I'm interested to see

Couple reminders/notes:
-transfer portal goes from 4/13-4/25 for entry. That's just for entry and commits can go later than that.
-OHL and CHL playoffs still have multiple weeks left; would envision many of the top programs are going to have guys waiting to leave roster slots open for the high end guys

Obviously the Gophers its going to be fascinating to see how much pull Larson has in bringing his guys with (Oliver is young and played there; would anticipate this is the landing spot for Gruba and maybe a guy like Clark) as well as how many roster slots he leaves open. Think that part will be very telling for how aggressive he'll be elsewhere in the portal and the CHL (and wouldn't surprise me at all to see a bunch of Gopher guys as well as the SCSU guys enter as non-contact).

The Dupont sweepstakes I think will be an interesting one. Seems to be multiple fanbases who think they could be in on him but seems like none of it is from his camp (which I respect given they're playing still).

B10
MSU: unloads pretty much everything besides Lee (who I guess could still sign). Numerous high tier guys slated to come but I'll be most curious to see if they sell out in the portal again, or its a bit more measured of a rebuild. The D core basically brings nothing back and I still don't think we're at the place in college hockey you can bring in a bunch of young guys to play your biggest minutes and be ok (and would say the FF showed that). They're the team I'm 2nd most interested in in conference as it feels a bit like they had their 3 year run and may need a hot minute to reload/get older again
Michigan: Basically this entire team could come back if they wanted. Hage has said he's back, but still have guys like Perron, Horcoff, Moldernauer, and Robertson to decide. They should be a wagon again next year and given another year coming up short, I'm guarantee they will be willing to throw a ton of cash around if that's what it takes. Interestingly though, they have some random things I'm sure the top tier D guys will be wondering as they played a 5 F PP for much of the year. Either way, they're the expected favorite in the B10 (and possibly nationally) with what we know for next year so far.
PSU: something feels off in Happy Valley with everyone leaving (both top tier and depth guys). There's nobody so far that pops in terms of what's coming in that's going to put them firmly in the top tier and I'd expect they're going to need to either kill it in the portal (would surprise me based on what they have coming back and coming in as being a big seller to guys looking to win unless it's stupid dollars they're going to spend). I don't really see any way McKenna is back and outside of Smith their defensemen leave an awful lot to be desired. Will they tolerate a regression in Happy Valley though?
Wisco: I don't think this run will really afford them all that much extra NIL infrastructure given the barn is still impressively empty, but they don't lose a ton (planned) besides Tassy, Fitzgerald and Fitzgerald. If they're all coming back, would not surprise me to see them try snag some scoring and a CCHA dman or two to come log minutes and given it another go
OSU/ND: they unloaded quite a bit. don't really expect much to change and they'll both be teams who try get veteran and have a run every 2 years or so

UND: have lost 4 of top 6 scorers and 5 of top 8. They have some good stuff coming in though. Tons of steam from their fanbase regarding raiding some of the top tier WHL guys (like the Ruck twins).

UMD: They should be like this year only better next year. I'll be curious if they break up the Plante-Plante-Shaugabay line for the Triple Plante line. I'll also be curious if there are some transfers there (Cleveland maybe?) and then what they do in net.
 



MSU will reload. UM will be awesome. UND and UMD will be contenders. DU is always there at the end. BU is a mess. BC is weird.

I predict the Gophers will start the preseason poll between 11 and 15 at best.

From one 2026 mock
Picks by Program (Rounds 1-3)
Boston University- 6
Michigan State- 5
Boston College, North Dakota, UMass, Denver- 3
Michigan, Notre Dame, Providence, Penn State- 2
Minnesota, Minnesota Duluth, Miami, Arizona State, UConn, Ohio State, Harvard- 1
 

bonin21 said:
MSU will reload. UM will be awesome. UND and UMD will be contenders. DU is always there at the end. BU is a mess. BC is weird.

I predict the Gophers will start the preseason poll between 11 and 15 at best.

From one 2026 mock
Picks by Program (Rounds 1-3)
Boston University- 6
Michigan State- 5
Boston College, North Dakota, UMass, Denver- 3
Michigan, Notre Dame, Providence, Penn State- 2
Minnesota, Minnesota Duluth, Miami, Arizona State, UConn, Ohio State, Harvard- 1
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hard part of a 2026 mock is we have no idea which of those players are even going to be on campus (and a 1st is wildly different than a 3rd).

As far as preseason poll, per USCHO prior to the year (with their round 1-3 picks on the team)

4 Denver: 3
11 UND: 5 (will count Verhoeff as will certainly go within that range)
12 Michigan: 8 (counting Valentini for same as above
20 Wisconsin: 2 (but Hensler was hurt)

Teams preseason ranked 2, 6, 7, 8, 14, 15, 16, and 19 all missed the postseason.
For others who surprised a bit, Dartmouth was 31st. Duluth was 26th. Merrimack did not get a single vote.

For MSU, they will reload eventually absolutely. I'm just curious if they try splash for 1st rounder/one and done guys as their roster makeup is going to be really different this coming year.
Add on top of that, and I think through the joy that is NCAA officiating, teams see you need to have those older guys to play postseason hockey to add to your stars and it's not always going to make sense to sell out to take a 1 and done if you need to rebuild additional parts of your team with guys who will be there 3-4 years (see shit show that was BU). Player pool is getting ever deeper and you still see plenty of 1st and 2nd rounders who need to get their feet wet when they eventually hit campus (Lindstrom, Spence, McKinney) and you need that upperclassmen balance there.

That last part is the interesting aspect of what in theory we will play next year (using your list, accepting its speculative and I think we will be pretty active over the next 2 weeks)

Mooney (So) - Humphreys (So) - Ziemer (Jr)
W Cullen (Fr) - Ludtke (Sr) - Kvasnicka (Fr)
Hendrickson (Jr) - Moe (So) - Moore (So)
Hall (Sr) - Roed (So) - Burnevik (Jr)
Townsend (So) - B Cullen (Fr)- Pritchard (So)

Smith (Fr) - Murr (Sr)
Whipple (Jr) - Henricks (So)
Rombach (So) - Huff (Fr)/Lofgren (Fr)
Scratch - McLaughlin (So)

DiPasquo (Sr)

Tbh that's the type of roster you'd absolutely want to try and poach a high flier C (via the portal or targeting say a player the caliber of the Ruck twins) as its full of veteran talent that's gone through the grind and put up points and is not Fr dependent, even if it means Townsend or Pritchard also portal. That the staff has been up recruiting in Canada has me very interested to see where they go, but pretty clear Larson knows the talent there
 

upnorthkid said:
That the staff has been up recruiting in Canada has me very interested to see where they go, but pretty clear Larson knows the talent there
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Wouldn't be surprised if it's just Smith for the upcoming year
 



Rumors that Melvin Strahl is coming to MN. Bonin should be happy. Good sized drafted goalie
 

upnorthkid said:
Rumors that Melvin Strahl is coming to MN. Bonin should be happy. Good sized drafted goalie
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Lmao land of the MSU backup goalies but ya at this stage I'd say that's a really good pickup with three years lefr
 

Begley or McLaughlin as 8th D doesn't matter much in the end. I actually prefer the Minnesotan

And Harris not in the portal might just be him hanging up the skates.
 


bonin21 said:
Begley or McLaughlin as 8th D doesn't matter much in the end. I actually prefer the Minnesotan

And Harris not in the portal might just be him hanging up the skates.
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I’d prefer neither of them. Injuries happen and we’ve ended up skating the 8th d far too often.

But yes comparatively, the two are the same roughly
 

upnorthkid said:
I’d prefer neither of them. Injuries happen and we’ve ended up skating the 8th d far too often.

But yes comparatively, the two are the same roughly
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Its the first few hours of portal. I imagine if he finds a better option he'll let him know this week and he can enter.

Right now the focus is on Murr. Every big gun will want him.
 

JFC

"On the heels of Michael Hage deciding to go back to Michigan it sounds like Kitchener Ranger Cameron Reid (NSH) and Jack Nesbitt (PHI) of the Windsor Spitfires to join him."
 

UND cleaning out the D making room for Carels and others including maybe Dupont
 

bonin21 said:
JFC

"On the heels of Michael Hage deciding to go back to Michigan it sounds like Kitchener Ranger Cameron Reid (NSH) and Jack Nesbitt (PHI) of the Windsor Spitfires to join him."
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Yeah will be firmly next years favorite
 

Begley has money I'm pretty sure. Could be a "designated student athlete" that doesn't count against the roster cap
 

bonin21 said:
Its the first few hours of portal. I imagine if he finds a better option he'll let him know this week and he can enter.

Right now the focus is on Murr. Every big gun will want him.
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basically everything floating right now Murr to mn and supposedly strahl will be confirmed later today
 


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