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

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Gophers1992 said:
Losing Harper of course sucks but the fact that we are in position to process a guy like that out when you look at how bad our D was last year is kind of amazing.
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I mean, he could probably have earned a top four sport by the end of the year as a draft eligible. It's not like the D unit currently lined up is insane especially without Smith yet
 

bonin21 said:
Vegoe is hinting a lot about a first rounder D from CHL.

Maybe he will take Souch and be able to steal Carels. Souch is a center but unfortunately bad on draws which has been the weakness two years in a row.
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Really weird move I agree on the Harper situation, especially if he’s wanting to come in and command pp1 time going to Michigan doesn’t make much sense with Cam Reid coming in and all the forward talent.
 

LJ Mooney is mulling over a $150,000 offer from PSU???
 
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bonin21 said:
Sounds like Harper will end up at Michigan. Cool
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You demanded a coaching change. Part of the downside of doing it means you will lose some recruits. But you need to always find something to complain about. You can't have it both ways.
 



bonin21 said:
Vegoe is hinting a lot about a first rounder D from CHL.

Maybe he will take Souch and be able to steal Carels. Souch is a center but unfortunately bad on draws which has been the weakness two years in a row.
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Hope Vegoe knows something. If we got a first round CHLer I’d have to start wondering about Rombach. Things would get pretty crowded unless we don’t get Tarin Smith in that scenario.
 







If Smith doesn't come and you miss on the big WHL D guns, this team is back outside of making the tournament.

Situation is still very delicate. Even with Smith if you don't get a 1C that can win faceoffs they'll be feeling the pain in many games.
 

Okay, I get that we needed better hockey players in order for this team to improve - and we seem to be doing that now, right? So better players should account for more victories next year. Is a new (better) coach also going to account for a couple more wins too? Or is it truly just all about having the best players that leads to wins? Will Larson coach/scheme us to a few more wins?

Edit: Forgot to add: We all assume Larson is a better X's & O's coach, right?
 
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bonin21 said:
If Smith doesn't come and you miss on the big WHL D guns, this team is back outside of making the tournament.

Situation is still very delicate. Even with Smith if you don't get a 1C that can win faceoffs they'll be feeling the pain in many games.
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Agreed. A couple more nice pieces including a C would be a game changer. Im trusting Larson will pull it off.
 



GopherJack said:
Okay, I get that we needed better hockey players in order for this team to improve - and we seem to be doing that now, right? So better players should account for more victories next year. Is a new (better) coach also going to account for a couple more wins too? Or is it truly just all about having the best players that leads to wins? Will Larson coach/scheme us to a few more wins?

Edit: Forgot to add: We all assume Larson is a better X's & O's coach, right?
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If he gets his team to put in some 60 minute efforts ya that will add more wins. If UM/MSU/PSU are absolutely dominant that could make it harder, though. Also two hard NC series against UND and UMD.

As currently constructed, I'd say it's a 16 to 18 win regular season team.
 

bonin21 said:
If he gets his team to put in some 60 minute efforts ya that will add more wins. If UM/MSU/PSU are absolutely dominant that could make it harder, though. Also two hard NC series against UND and UMD.

As currently constructed, I'd say it's a 16 to 18 win regular season team.
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what's crazy about that is 18 certainly gets you in. 16 would be borderline. OSU would've been 15th (roughly) in NPI this year at 16-19-2

tbh, i think much of coaching at this level now is like being a chemist of putting a team composition together (while scouting/finding them from the right material/source). No one on game day is drawing up some magic plan that no one has ever seen before. There are some structural things you can try manipulate, but most teams play similarly all through the year based on the team comp.

Coaching i'd say may play a role in how they improve over the year in the system. May see some bump in that with the new staff in that guys get a lot better through the year where they weren't getting worked as hard prior
 

That 18 would likely be if the nonconference teams we don't know about yet are cupcakes, though.
 

bonin21 said:
If Smith doesn't come and you miss on the big WHL D guns, this team is back outside of making the tournament.

Situation is still very delicate. Even with Smith if you don't get a 1C that can win faceoffs they'll be feeling the pain in many games.
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this was part of why I was irritated they didn't target Rickwood. He won 60% of his draws last year and oh hey he chipped in 37 points for UND.

That type of upperclassmen guy who kills it on the dot is a massive boost if you can land one
 

bonin21 said:
That 18 would likely be if the nonconference teams we don't know about yet are cupcakes, though.
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@UMD
vs UND
@ MTU

leaves 2 non con series (BC is 27-28). Will be curious to see the route Larson goes with it, but Tech is also going to be a tougher series. They lose their top scorer and D man, but quite a bit coming back as of now
 

upnorthkid said:
this was part of why I was irritated they didn't target Rickwood. He won 60% of his draws last year and oh hey he chipped in 37 points for UND.
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UND always targets faceoff specialists (that can also play hockey). It's beyond annoying Motzko never did.
 

bonin21 said:
UND always targets faceoff specialists (that can also play hockey). It's beyond annoying Motzko never did.
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Nelson was pretty damn good
Cruikshank also solid

Pahlsson and Clark are just both terrible centers on the draw and then you were playing Mooney or Lamb at center and both were clearly not good on the dot either. Was part of what made last year egregious to not look for another one
 


bonin21 said:
Cruikshank only took 150 faceoffs.
Nelson was a Lucia recruit.
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was more meaning, he didn't have a specific reason to look above and beyond those guys given you had a top guy on faceoffs. last year was ridiculous because you knew they all sucked on the draw

edit: Cruik took a lot of PK and D zone draws. Meyers was also good on the draw so no reason Cruik needed to be out there doing extra
 

FO Ranking:
25-26: 62/63
24-25: 46/64
23-24: 37/64
22-23: 18/62
21-22: 12/59
20-21: 13/51
19-20: 24/60
18-19: 46/60

No surprise the teams that went the furthest could actually win draws as a group.
 


I'm sure he'll score a ridiculous goal against us or something but boy was he painful to watch 90% of the time.
 

We won't know about Smith until after his playoffs are completed correct? When do those playoffs end?
 

beatles said:
We won't know about Smith until after his playoffs are completed correct? When do those playoffs end?
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Smith is currently out but Everett is still winning. Up 2-0 right now. If they make it to the title, could go through mid May
 



Big Ten and NCHC are just so much better than the other conferences now.
 

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