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

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Michigan has made the Frozen Four three of the last four years.
BU has made the Frozen Four three of the last four years.
MSU has been a one seed three years in a row. At some point they'll get over the choking.

Let's not act like first round talent doesn't make a huge difference.
 

bonin21 said:
Michigan has made the Frozen Four three of the last four years.
BU has made the Frozen Four three of the last four years.
MSU has been a one seed three years in a row. At some point they'll get over the choking.

Let's not act like first round talent doesn't make a huge difference.
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yeah i wouldn't call them flops other than BU last year. Though we have also seen Mich and BU both miss the tourney as well. not the end all, be all, but certainly helps to have talent in addition to the right player mix (you need some grinders/physical guys no matter what anyone thinks to balance out the high end guys)
 

PSU flips Shilov from BU...

The RICH (MSU/PSU/UM) have separated themselves completely from the rest.

And here we sit with Jackson Nevers.
 

bonin21 said:
PSU flips Shilov from BU...

The RICH (MSU/PSU/UM) have separated themselves completely from the rest.

And here we sit with Jackson Nevers.
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and Tarin Smith is a way better pickup than Charlie Michaud. Why are we comping guys who are nowhere near the same planned role?

Kind of an interesting one in that BU thought another year in the Q (hence the flip). PSU is pretty desperate to try replace their F group so I guess makes sense to go for him as he clearly has talent to be developed. Not a guy that popped at the prospects game and obviously not playing international due to being Russian.

Good pickup. We'll see how many years they get out of him and how impactful he is in that time
 

bonin21 said:
PSU flips Shilov from BU...

The RICH (MSU/PSU/UM) have separated themselves completely from the rest.

And here we sit with Jackson Nevers.
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Holy overreaction. The only reason he flipped is because he wasn’t gonna be playing at BU this season. Those numbers in the Q aren’t groundbreaking by any means, probably not a good top 6 player as a freshman. Odd comparing that to a guy we plan to have as an extra skater
 


cheeseburgerphil26 said:
Holy overreaction. The only reason he flipped is because he wasn’t gonna be playing at BU this season. Those numbers in the Q aren’t groundbreaking by any means, probably not a good top 6 player as a freshman. Odd comparing that to a guy we plan to have as an extra skater
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What don't you get? Why would we not be trying to bring him in, too? He's a top two line center immediately. Exactly what the Gophers need to hope to compete. 54.8% in the dot. Now we're saying 82 points is meh because it's the Q. :rolleyes:

You bring him in and you cut ties with Nevers. But here we sit watching all the other teams get the top two line centers.
 


bonin21 said:
What don't you get? Why would we not be trying to bring him in, too? He's a top two line center immediately. Exactly what the Gophers need to hope to compete. 54.8% in the dot. Now we're saying 82 points is meh because it's the Q. :rolleyes:

You bring him in and you cut ties with Nevers. But here we sit watching all the other teams get the top two line centers.
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If he was for sure a good top 2 line center immediately he’d be playing for BU next year. And yes, the Q is widely known as the least impressive junior league.

I just think it’s odd to freak out over Penn State getting a second round prospect who is a BU reject. He can turn into a good player and I’d take him, but I don’t think it’s the immediate answer for next year you’re looking for.
 

Well I disagree and say he would slot right in as a 2C. So we wait and see how he looks in January 2027.
 









bonin21 said:
As of now Nevers is your 14th forward. He is a potential cut if you get a top two line center.
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he is, harris is. you may also push someone else out. I still don't see why Nevers is even mentioned as part of it. Different role/guy/spot/expectation.

It's more, to me, a comp of who you're playing at the position. I don't love an 18 year old kid coming in and being your top line center unless he's Logan Cooley caliber. BU just tried that with Tynan Lawrence and he looked largely overwhelmed (younger kid slightly, but more talented). Better player than Moe, but no way he could've played as a top 6 center last year to start the year.

I agree the plan for center appears not fully hatched right now. Nevers is irrelevant to that.

They may increase roster limits so that could change the number of each spot we carry.

13/15 confirmed, Kvasnicka sure seems likely to make 14. Nevers, Harris would be most likely "cuts" but if we increase roster size by 1, could carry both plus additional center.

Sr: Ludtke (C)

Jr: Burnevik (W), Ziemer (W), Hendrickson (W), Harris (W)

So: Mooney (W/C), Moe (W/C), Humphreys (W/C), Pritchard (W), Moore (W), Townsend (W)

Confirmed Fr: W Cullen (W), B Cullen (C/W)

Projected: Jacob Kvasnicka (W)

TBD: Nevers (still listed as a Gopher commit on socials and ages out of Jr)

Defense 7/8 confirmed. Decision on Phillips and Begley (could be removed to make room)

Sr: Murr, Begley

Jr: Loftus, Whipple

So: Henricks, Rombach

Confirmed Fr: Smith

Projected Fr: Lofgren

TBD: Phillips



Goalie 2/3 confirmed. Need one practice guy

Sr: DiPasquo

So: Strahl
 

upnorthkid said:
It's more, to me, a comp of who you're playing at the position. I don't love an 18 year old kid coming in and being your top line center unless he's Logan Cooley caliber. BU just tried that with Tynan Lawrence and he looked largely overwhelmed (younger kid slightly, but more talented). Better player than Moe, but no way he could've played as a top 6 center last year to start the year.

I agree the plan for center appears not fully hatched right now. Nevers is irrelevant to that.
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They don't have a 1C or a 2C. It's crazy. The kid could be your 2C.
 

bonin21 said:
They don't have a 1C or a 2C. It's crazy. The kid could be your 2C.
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I would take the chances on a 21-22 year old Ludtke being better able to hold up a year further from his injury compared to an 18 year old kid. Off the top of my head I can't think of any freshman center who came in, played top 6 and lit it up last year in the B10 (can think of wings). McKinney was pretty good by year end but got to play down the lineup/be less depended on defensively
 

upnorthkid said:
I would take the chances on a 21-22 year old Ludtke being better able to hold up a year further from his injury compared to an 18 year old kid. Off the top of my head I can't think of any freshman center who came in, played top 6 and lit it up last year in the B10 (can think of wings). McKinney was pretty good by year end but got to play down the lineup/be less depended on defensively
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Then Ludtke is your 2C and this kid is your 3C if he doesn't pan out...

If someone asked you last night: Would you take Shilov on the roster for the fall?

You would say no?
 

bonin21 said:
If someone asked you last night: Would you take Shilov on the roster for the fall?

You would say no?
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To be fair, that wasn’t really the argument. That answer is absolutely yes, and I’d also take Souch on my roster for the fall even though I wouldn’t expect a top 6 center impact out of either right away. Which is why I’m not seeing it as a huge miss. You think higher of Shilov, which is just a differing opinion
 

I do think there are 18 year olds that could step right into the top 6 center role great, but the things I’ve read and seen on Shilov just don’t make me think he’s one of them (weaker on pucks, effort issues, lack of detail).
 

bonin21 said:
Then Ludtke is your 2C and this kid is your 3C if he doesn't pan out...

If someone asked you last night: Would you take Shilov on the roster for the fall?

You would say no?
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precisely what Phil said in both his comments.

There are also fit/role he is willing to play, money, length of staying in college, etc. that also go into it we have no idea of.
 

Carels North Dakota.

Two top 5 D men on their blueline.
 


bonin21 said:
Bueller...
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Lefty righty I guess. Personally not the choice I’d make (if I’m him or the agent) if the goal is to be one and done.

As always, we’ll see how it goes for them all this fall. Carels is more polished than Verhoeff so he may adjust faster but agree I’m glad we’re seeing that group early

Think it’ll be interesting to see if all these top 8 dmen hit campus or not

To be very clear as well, the prior comment was more a why I don’t think it’s as simple as it’s being made out to be in that all these guys will just line up at blue chip places. They want to be showcased as well.

My thoughts wouldve been
Carels UND or stay in Jr (he seems to fit the rural farming community well)
DuPont Michigan or stay in Everett
Rudolph would’ve been the other guy I’d thought for UND if not Carels
With idea all these 1st round guys may just end up going straight to nhl based on their teams. Their nhl clubs are going to want them drawing top assignments across the board. Lower firsts (aka emery at und) and later it matters less as their role is carved out for what they could be
 
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upnorthkid said:
As always, we’ll see how it goes for them all this fall. Carels is more polished than Verhoeff so he may adjust faster but agree I’m glad we’re seeing that group early
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How it'll go is by the spring they will be a contender again. And the Gophers as currently constructed will just be fighting to get in for a first round knockout.

UM, UND, and MSU will end the year in the top 6 in NPI
 

bonin21 said:
How it'll go is by the spring they will be a contender again. And the Gophers as currently constructed will just be fighting to get in for a first round knockout.

UM, UND, and MSU will end the year in the top 6 in NPI
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I would suspect you are right. Though we were both wrong in our thinking on BU last year as well, even coming out of the break where people thought they'd eventually figure it out and they never did. Ditto on PSU just never fully gelling despite a ton of talent and older guys on that team, always felt like there should've been another level to hit (MSU kind of did that down the stretch as well, finishing 2-3-2 with 2 losses to OSU and ties to MN and OSU so not like it was a murderer's row there).

MSU will be very young but very talented. if it gels, they'll be a wagon
Michigan I'd expect is #1 overall most of the year given they return a ton from last year's team and add a bunch of high end talent
UND will be really young on the backend and will need Reschny and Zellers both to become more of play drivers (i would suspect they will).

Hopefully we are still looking to add. It would be a strong plus to add another puck moving defensemen. I don't care that Begley is a good teammate and guys like him, injuries happen. Ditto on Phillips should not be here this fall.

Solid and steady with some splash in there, but you're one injury away from Begley back in the lineup. This group is old and fashions more like a Wisco/Hastings d-core (or like UNDs from last year).
Murr-Henricks
Smith-Whipple
Rombach-Loftus
Lofgren
Scratch: Begley

On the note of that dman and not suggesting him, has anyone seen anything on Harper? Kind of interesting he decommits presumably because he wanted to come in next year and Larson said no.

Forward also feels like a bunch of solid guys, with need for 1 more "dude". I think by year end Cullen is going to be dominant (watching him now vs early this year at the NTDP, you can see why he's rocketing up boards). Ziemer also supplies that. Mooney as well. Lot of solid supplemental players (Burnevik, Moore, Moe, Hendy) where we aren't going to be skating basically 2 lines who can't hurt you like we did most of last year. Still room up front so have imagine we're in the market for 1-2 guys here.

Maybe STL will draft a couple guys they want to push our way :)
 

bonin21 said:
How it'll go is by the spring they will be a contender again. And the Gophers as currently constructed will just be fighting to get in for a first round knockout.

UM, UND, and MSU will end the year in the top 6 in NPI
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UM probably no brainer with what they have returning. MSU is a super young team with a lot of new faces and UND forward group is nothing special with a talented but young d group. You seem pretty certain about teams that have a lot of uncertainties. The second spot in the big ten will be up in the air still as far as I’m concerned. Hopefully we find a center.

I’m very excited for those series this fall with a vastly improved roster.
 

cheeseburgerphil26 said:
UM probably no brainer with what they have returning. MSU is a super young team with a lot of new faces and UND forward group is nothing special with a talented but young d group. You seem pretty certain about teams that have a lot of uncertainties. The second spot in the big ten will be up in the air still as far as I’m concerned. Hopefully we find a center.

I’m very excited for those series this fall with a vastly improved roster.
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agree on UNDs forward group, though I do like what they have. Better than us down the middle, but I like our depth and wing scoring better.

as always, depends how each of these teams gel and produce. some guys handle the jump well, others do not.

From what you posted on the OHL, WHL, QMJHL, USHL preservation of scoring article, I'd be really interested to see how it was for F vs D as well as by age/draft year. Very different for a guy who's 20 coming out of the WHL versus one who is 18 I'd envision, and imagine especially so on defense (part of why Verhoeff finished 3rd on UNDs team in CHIP)
 
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upnorthkid said:
agree on UNDs forward group, though I do like what they have. Better than us down the middle, but I like our depth and wing scoring better.

as always, depends how each of these teams gel and produce. some guys handle the jump well, others do not.

From what you posted on the OHL, WHL, QMJHL, USHL preservation of scoring article, I'd be really interested to see how it was for F vs D as well as by age/draft year. Very different for a guy who's 20 coming out of the WHL versus one who is 18 I'd envision, and imagine especially so on defense (part of why Verhoeff finished 3rd on UNDs team in CHIP)
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Yeah I’m not sure who is creating offense that consistently for them outside of the first line.

It’ll always be a mixed bag for those teams that have an entire roster full of young new players, even if you think the freshman are talented. Could see MSU getting a 1 seed or flat out missing the tournament, neither would surprise me.
 

cheeseburgerphil26 said:
Yeah I’m not sure who is creating offense that consistently for them outside of the first line.

It’ll always be a mixed bag for those teams that have an entire roster full of young new players, even if you think the freshman are talented. Could see MSU getting a 1 seed or flat out missing the tournament, neither would surprise me.
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Nightingale is a good coach with a reproducible system, so would surprise me a lot to see them miss, but agree it could take some time to get their new D core settled in which may really reduce their margin towards being a 1 seed

they play UND, BU, UNH and have the GLI (but open with NMU, which should be a reasonably easy chip shot to start the year) so it'll be by fire all year.
 

You need to remember that this is a different coach with a different style and philosophy. There are players on this team that produced before they got here and the mix is different than last year. The lineup will be stronger and that should allow everyone to get better. They will be a much deeper team which will allow Larson to find the right mix instead of having to play players in a role they are not suited for.
 

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