Wood-Moore-Snuggerud
Ziemer-Huglen-Lamb
Pahlsson-Clark-Kurth
Hendrickson-Mittelstadt-Nevers
Where exactly is the hole they need to fill?
You are 1 injury and WJC flight delay away from a difficult series at a critical time.
Injuries happen and can kneecap any team. The Gophers will already be without the WJC players for the Mercyhurst series. Which is fine, considering the alternative would be conference games outdoors in Chicago.
Depends on how the game goes. Losses to mercyhurst will likely be PWR bombs. That said, they should still win even if missing players to the WJC
Most teams don't really have a competent 4th line. The fact we have a chance with that speaks volumes
@jankwi01 for sure. I really like the anticipated depth we should have this year. i also wouldn't add a freshman/outside person before we had planned if pitlick isn't coming back. If we were talking about adding someone who has the capability to be a 15 goal scorer, different scenario. But that's not where you're at at this point in the year.
regardless of above, there's a reason most teams don't play the 4th line in the postseason, especially in a 1 and done. Would envision our Gophers would have won a few more titles had we played series because of the added depth, but in the games that matter having a 4th line really doesn't matter a ton.
So pumped for the season.
https://twitter.com/Kyle_Cush/status/1824474865845539185
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Wood-Moore-Snuggerud
Ziemer-Huglen-Lamb
Pahlsson-Clark-Kurth
Hendrickson-Mittelstadt-Nevers
Where exactly is the hole they need to fill?
You are 1 injury and WJC flight delay away from a difficult series at a critical time.
Hence one of the best USHL scorers last season August Falloon waiting in reserve. I don’t disagree that this team needs a body or two for depth reasons but I don’t see the scramble to fill Rhett’s spot as much as a big deal as some. They already have players in place that can do that.
Wood-Moore-Snuggerud
Ziemer-Huglen-Lamb
Pahlsson-Clark-Kurth
Hendrickson-Mittelstadt-Nevers
Where exactly is the hole they need to fill?
You are 1 injury and WJC flight delay away from a difficult series at a critical time.
Hence one of the best USHL scorers last season August Falloon waiting in reserve. I don’t disagree that this team needs a body or two for depth reasons but I don’t see the scramble to fill Rhett’s spot as much as a big deal as some. They already have players in place that can do that.
falloon was 78th in points/game last year in the USHL. totally fine with the roster as it is without Pitlick, but our scoring punch will take a hit. That said, we also remove a guy that has been a defensive liability at times
Wood-Moore-Snuggerud
Ziemer-Huglen-Lamb
Pahlsson-Clark-Kurth
Hendrickson-Mittelstadt-Nevers
Where exactly is the hole they need to fill?
You are 1 injury and WJC flight delay away from a difficult series at a critical time.
Hence one of the best USHL scorers last season August Falloon waiting in reserve. I don’t disagree that this team needs a body or two for depth reasons but I don’t see the scramble to fill Rhett’s spot as much as a big deal as some. They already have players in place that can do that.
falloon was 78th in points/game last year in the USHL. totally fine with the roster as it is without Pitlick, but our scoring punch will take a hit. That said, we also remove a guy that has been a defensive liability at times
He was leading the league in goals before his injury. Production dipped as he got back up to speed but he was excellent in the playoffs.
Wood-Moore-Snuggerud
Ziemer-Huglen-Lamb
Pahlsson-Clark-Kurth
Hendrickson-Mittelstadt-Nevers
Where exactly is the hole they need to fill?
You are 1 injury and WJC flight delay away from a difficult series at a critical time.
Hence one of the best USHL scorers last season August Falloon waiting in reserve. I don’t disagree that this team needs a body or two for depth reasons but I don’t see the scramble to fill Rhett’s spot as much as a big deal as some. They already have players in place that can do that.
falloon was 78th in points/game last year in the USHL. totally fine with the roster as it is without Pitlick, but our scoring punch will take a hit. That said, we also remove a guy that has been a defensive liability at times
He was leading the league in goals before his injury. Production dipped as he got back up to speed but he was excellent in the playoffs.
To try say he could score like Pitlick for a guy that most would say is probably not going to be in the lineup every night is probably a bit aggressive is all I’m trying to say. Id be thinking more like a Brody Lamb. Hell Jimmy Clark was 37th in scoring his final year. The way youre phrasing it is like he’s in the Hage stratosphere. Falloon would be a great every night 4th liner. And that works even if Pitlick is gone because this team should have a really dominant first line with an older Snuggy and a heavier Moore no matter who they’re paired with (whether that’s Wood or if they spread Snuggy and Wood out).
i really like this lineup with or without Pitlick especially with another year of the D core and think they have a really good chance to make the FF and win it. Losing Pitlick would be, I’d say, a slight net loss to start the year, but by year end it’s going to be closer to a wash with all the young guys playing bigger roles and, I think, being more defensively responsible.
Wood-Moore-Snuggerud
Ziemer-Huglen-Lamb
Pahlsson-Clark-Kurth
Hendrickson-Mittelstadt-Nevers
Where exactly is the hole they need to fill?
You are 1 injury and WJC flight delay away from a difficult series at a critical time.
Hence one of the best USHL scorers last season August Falloon waiting in reserve. I don’t disagree that this team needs a body or two for depth reasons but I don’t see the scramble to fill Rhett’s spot as much as a big deal as some. They already have players in place that can do that.
falloon was 78th in points/game last year in the USHL. totally fine with the roster as it is without Pitlick, but our scoring punch will take a hit. That said, we also remove a guy that has been a defensive liability at times
He was leading the league in goals before his injury. Production dipped as he got back up to speed but he was excellent in the playoffs.
To try say he could score like Pitlick for a guy that most would say is probably not going to be in the lineup every night is probably a bit aggressive is all I’m trying to say. Id be thinking more like a Brody Lamb. Hell Jimmy Clark was 37th in scoring his final year. The way youre phrasing it is like he’s in the Hage stratosphere. Falloon would be a great every night 4th liner. And that works even if Pitlick is gone because this team should have a really dominant first line with an older Snuggy and a heavier Moore no matter who they’re paired with (whether that’s Wood or if they spread Snuggy and Wood out).
i really like this lineup with or without Pitlick especially with another year of the D core and think they have a really good chance to make the FF and win it. Losing Pitlick would be, I’d say, a slight net loss to start the year, but by year end it’s going to be closer to a wash with all the young guys playing bigger roles and, I think, being more defensively responsible.
Never even remotely tried to say that Falloon would replace Pitlicks production that’s crazy
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Any hope that this delay in Pitlick news is a good thing and he's contemplating coming back?
I think that Pitlick leaving has more to do with him not wanting to be at Minnesota than it does with him focusing on his pro career.Any hope that this delay in Pitlick news is a good thing and he's contemplating coming back?
I think that Pitlick leaving has more to do with him not wanting to be at Minnesota than it does with him focusing on his pro career.Any hope that this delay in Pitlick news is a good thing and he's contemplating coming back?
I think it’s a bit of both. Was there a bit of head-butting at times between Rhett and Bob? Yes, but it’s not like he was a complete locker room cancer or something like that.
Plus he’s 23 about to be 24. Looking for a pro career is a completely normal thing to be doing at his age. Will his first stop be in the NHL? Likely not, but who’s to say he can’t work his way up the ranks and make it there in due time.
Wood-Moore-Snuggerud
Ziemer-Huglen-Lamb
Pahlsson-Clark-Kurth
Hendrickson-Mittelstadt-Nevers
Where exactly is the hole they need to fill?
I don’t think anyone is saying there is a hole. But having a potential 20g scorer who has played with Huglen at C for the better part of 2 years is an impact.
Now you are likely looking at Nevers on line 2 and their potency drops off significantly. We still have a great shot at St. Louis but obviously this team is better with Rhett than without.
Losing your leading scorer in August the second year in a row is annoying. Even if we couldn’t get a top tier portal guy due to PT, at least you could have gotten a vet that is solid to make practice more competitive.
I just can't imagine spending every off-season with constant angst.
Wood-Moore-Snuggerud
Ziemer-Huglen-Lamb
Pahlsson-Clark-Kurth
Hendrickson-Mittelstadt-Nevers
Where exactly is the hole they need to fill?
I don’t think anyone is saying there is a hole. But having a potential 20g scorer who has played with Huglen at C for the better part of 2 years is an impact.
Now you are likely looking at Nevers on line 2 and their potency drops off significantly. We still have a great shot at St. Louis but obviously this team is better with Rhett than without.
Losing your leading scorer in August the second year in a row is annoying. Even if we couldn’t get a top tier portal guy due to PT, at least you could have gotten a vet that is solid to make practice more competitive.
Difference is this year they likely saw it coming. Last year took everyone by surprise cause Cooley said he was coming back.
Also if Nevers is top 6 over guys like Ziemer, Lamb or Kurth that’s a big problem so I hope you wouldn’t be right that a Pitlick departure means Nevers is top 6.
I know we’re still waiting on Pitlick’s decision but who do we think we could see with letters on their sweaters this year? Koster and Nevers have a good chance to repeat. Some other names I could see would be Chesley, Huglen, Snuggerud, or Kurth. I remember listening to Kurth’s interview with Mike Grimm leading up to the regionals and he spoke with confidence and seemed really levelheaded. I could see him getting an “A” this year.
Wood-Moore-Snuggerud
Ziemer-Huglen-Lamb
Pahlsson-Clark-Kurth
Hendrickson-Mittelstadt-Nevers
Where exactly is the hole they need to fill?
I don’t think anyone is saying there is a hole. But having a potential 20g scorer who has played with Huglen at C for the better part of 2 years is an impact.
Now you are likely looking at Nevers on line 2 and their potency drops off significantly. We still have a great shot at St. Louis but obviously this team is better with Rhett than without.
Losing your leading scorer in August the second year in a row is annoying. Even if we couldn’t get a top tier portal guy due to PT, at least you could have gotten a vet that is solid to make practice more competitive.
Difference is this year they likely saw it coming. Last year took everyone by surprise cause Cooley said he was coming back.
Also if Nevers is top 6 over guys like Ziemer, Lamb or Kurth that’s a big problem so I hope you wouldn’t be right that a Pitlick departure means Nevers is top 6.
I agree with you and the proposed lines with Nevers on L4.
My gut is Nevers will be top 6 as he has been top 6 the last 2 seasons and seems to be a favorite of the staff.
I know we’re still waiting on Pitlick’s decision but who do we think we could see with letters on their sweaters this year? Koster and Nevers have a good chance to repeat. Some other names I could see would be Chesley, Huglen, Snuggerud, or Kurth. I remember listening to Kurth’s interview with Mike Grimm leading up to the regionals and he spoke with confidence and seemed really levelheaded. I could see him getting an “A” this year.
Koster: C
Nevers: C
Snuggy: A
Chesley: A
I know we’re still waiting on Pitlick’s decision but who do we think we could see with letters on their sweaters this year? Koster and Nevers have a good chance to repeat. Some other names I could see would be Chesley, Huglen, Snuggerud, or Kurth. I remember listening to Kurth’s interview with Mike Grimm leading up to the regionals and he spoke with confidence and seemed really levelheaded. I could see him getting an “A” this year.
Koster: C
Nevers: C
Snuggy: A
Chesley: A
I think this is what it’ll be. Honorable mention Luke Mittelstadt. I think Huglen takes the McLaughlin, Reedy, Lettieri road of being a well respected leader but never wearing a letter.
I know we’re still waiting on Pitlick’s decision but who do we think we could see with letters on their sweaters this year? Koster and Nevers have a good chance to repeat. Some other names I could see would be Chesley, Huglen, Snuggerud, or Kurth. I remember listening to Kurth’s interview with Mike Grimm leading up to the regionals and he spoke with confidence and seemed really levelheaded. I could see him getting an “A” this year.
Koster: C
Nevers: C
Snuggy: A
Chesley: A
I think this is what it’ll be. Honorable mention Luke Mittelstadt. I think Huglen takes the McLaughlin, Reedy, Lettieri road of being a well respected leader but never wearing a letter.
I think you’ll have Luke M., and Kurth next year as Seniors.
Nevers will slot in where Bob thinks the best chemistry is. It could be anywhere from line 2-4. I really like our depth this year, so if Nevers ends up on line 2 so be it. I do expect him to be on one of the PK units.
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Morality Police
That is one part of Pitlick’s potential departure that stinks, he is elite on the penalty kill.
I assume it’ll be Nevers and Huglen on PK1? Maybe Moore, Lamb, Pahlsson, J Mitts also getting time.
In a perfect world you keep Oliver Moore off the pk to prevent injury risk but he’s just too dang good at it. The ideal penalty killer in every sense. Also it feels like to me we haven’t had a legit shorty threat since Condon so there’s that. Maybe I’m missing someone.
In a perfect world you keep Oliver Moore off the pk to prevent injury risk but he’s just too dang good at it. The ideal penalty killer in every sense. Also it feels like to me we haven’t had a legit shorty threat since Condon so there’s that. Maybe I’m missing someone.
Condon was a beast at that. IIRC, Kloos was also scored a bunch of shorties.
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Morality Police
In a perfect world you keep Oliver Moore off the pk to prevent injury risk but he’s just too dang good at it. The ideal penalty killer in every sense. Also it feels like to me we haven’t had a legit shorty threat since Condon so there’s that. Maybe I’m missing someone.
play your best guys everywhere you can in college hockey. Now if he’s not meaningfully better than other guys, yeah I totally agree but it’s something he should probably be able to do at the next level as well
Condon was a beast at that. IIRC, Kloos was also scored a bunch of shorties.
One of the things that really made me love Condon as a player. My memory could be off but did Mike Carmen do a decent job on the PK? Maybe scored a shorty or two? Condon, Carmen, and Ramsey were some of my favorite players to wear #16.
I am the official Iowa Hawkeye football fan of GPL!
Boyd was great on the pk. I could be wrong but I believe Rau and Bjugstad used to pk together as well.
The best PK tandem still is Pat the Rat & Paul Broten.
The best PK tandem still is Pat the Rat & Paul Broten.
Didn’t remember them playing together, but I see they did overlap two seasons.
Best single penalty kill player I ever saw don the M was Larry Olimb. He could single handedly kill off 30-45 seconds on his own playing keep away.
@iceburg They were so good that the other teams hardly got touch the puck when they were on the PK.
At what point does the optimism begin to increase that Pitlick comes back? No news is good news right now.
At what point does the optimism begin to increase that Pitlick comes back? No news is good news right now.
I have been quietly thinking the same thing.
excellent in the playoffs.
His line was the one that was actually putting decent pressure on Fargo at times. The point totals don't tell the entire story with him. He was good when it counted. Fargo was just too damn good.
https://twitter.com/geargeekhockey/status/1825976448315797598
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Morality Police
Looks like Randy Johnson and Bob spoke today. In the article it mentions Rhett being the wild card on the roster to potentially turn pro. So as of now it looks like the team is still hoping he might come back?
Looks like Randy Johnson and Bob spoke today. In the article it mentions Rhett being the wild card on the roster to potentially turn pro. So as of now it looks like the team is still hoping he might come back?
I too share bobs optimism about this group. D core has the chance to be special again.
as far as Pitlick, I’d envision he probably has a week or two left to decide as training camp rosters are going to be getting finalized in the NHL and he’s going to need to be practicing if he’s going to play here. Can’t imagine he’d just sit out and wait though he would have until Sept 3 prior to classes starting here (he’s not registered as of now). Regardless I’d rather he takes his time and figures it out so he’s all in if he decides he wants to be here. Wonder if perhaps that was part of last year in that the Canadiens gave him the signal they were moving on and it led to some angst in how he was playing and his future
Of the returning defensemen he mentioned, notably omitted was Chelsea who might be the odds-on-favorite for a stable NHL career.
Of the returning defensemen he mentioned, notably omitted was Chelsea who might be the odds-on-favorite for a stable NHL career.
Randy crushing the thoroughness. the quote from Bob about not missing a beat is also really hard to tell if that was made post Tampa versus new this year.
At what point does the TV schedule become clear? Dreading seeing a further stepping back in availability of televised games.
I believe shortly after the bouncy-ball schedules are finalizedAt what point does the TV schedule become clear? Dreading seeing a further stepping back in availability of televised games.
At what point does the TV schedule become clear? Dreading seeing a further stepping back in availability of televised games.
This is just a educated guess, but if we are going to lose more telecasts they will be the road Big Ten games. I would fully expect Fox9+ to pick up nearly every home game not televised by BTN and to air the UMD broadcast of those games in Duluth.
The at Bemidji one will be tough but Fox9+ might pick it up.
Vegas won't be televised--but maybe a stream??
The "good" news is that the new Big Ten teams don't really bring much in the way of wresting teams, so they shouldn't necessarily change the number of broadcasts there. Its possible you might see a few more women's BB games but I think a lot of the new excess inventory will go to Peacock rather than BTN, and those games don't happen as much on Friday or Saturday nights anyways. But I would expect at best we will get TV for 5 or 6 of the 10 conference road games (with ND on Peacock) and it will be BTN+ for the rest.
I’ve been a big fan of Rhett’s the past few years but if there’s one thing I can’t stand it’s a player with one foot out the door. The last thing we need as a serious contending team is a top 6/power play guy looking ahead to the pros. If he comes back I hope he’s fully on board with the teams success not just his own.
I still fully expect him to sign by the way.
I’ve been a big fan of Rhett’s the past few years but if there’s one thing I can’t stand it’s a player with one foot out the door. The last thing we need as a serious contending team is a top 6/power play guy looking ahead to the pros. If he comes back I hope he’s fully on board with the teams success not just his own.
I still fully expect him to sign by the way.
It puzzles me that he hasn't signed yet. It has been a week and there is really no "rumors" of teams that are pursuing him being posted online. Wondering if he or his advisors overvalued his services.
I think if he comes back he will be motivated to put up some big numbers so he can get that good contract.
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