Seems pretty clear that Larson wants to get older, which is a good idea. Harper is a great prospect and Grimes had turned himself into one too, but it's hard to revamp a defense right away with 18 year olds. After last year, there's not much patience for more growing pains so he's going with guys who can hit the ground running.
My only gripe is, at least to this point, they are thin at center. I know you ended up shedding a couple of centers that don't do much to elevate this roster anyways, but one sure fire way to handicap yourself is by throwing wingers at the faceoff dot hoping one of them sticks.
@boosker14 I'd like to think we would still add one more center. Could be wrong, Roed could still be an option if he enters, if not I guess Larson will just adopt the Wild gameplan. As many wingers as possible with zero top centers.
Harper has removed all Minnesota stuff from his IG
Well this is the first disappointment of the day...unless you've got Smith and/or Dupont waiting in the hopper
Smith is in the hopper and we’ve got as good a chance as anyone at Dupont.
Are we 100% confident Smith has committed?
no…my sources say he doesn’t want to play college hockey but the Ducks are pushing him to do it. No decisions have been made and there’s a remote chance he may reenter the draft.
Thats not reassuring. Someone who doesn’t want to be here and is only looking for the nhl. We’ve had those in the past and it doesn’t go great.
adopt the Wild gameplan. As many wingers as possible with zero top centers.
Hopefully this doesn't include the annual first round bow out... Though it absolutely would..
@boosker14 LOL, zero chance they get past the first. I have way more faith in Larson getting past the "first round" next season.
@snowcool08 any CHL player you pick-up has one goal - NHL. I don’t think it means they can’t be an important part of a D1 team.
Many of these CHL players are “encouraged” to become a “bonafide college student.” It allows the NHL team to delay signing them. it’s all just part of the new development paradigm.
any CHL player you pick-up has one goal - NHL
This is why loading up purely on CHL talent and expecting to waltz into the NCAA tournament and run rough shot isn't going to be the model for teams. You gotta have guys who want that NCAA Championship more than racing to the paycheck that awaits them
/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/24131129/gallery_image.JPG "Hey_Sioux_Suck")
any CHL player you pick-up has one goal - NHL
This is why loading up purely on CHL talent and expecting to waltz into the NCAA tournament and run rough shot isn't going to be the model for teams. You gotta have guys who want that NCAA Championship more than racing to the paycheck that awaits them
The NHL is the goal for most every high end D1 prospect. While I'm not saying let's go out and get an entire Canadian junior team, but a couple players with that type of skill are needed. Especially, if you’re rebuilding a program or replacing 2/3 of your scoring year-to-year. Every goalie in the Frozen Four was a freshman with some sort of major Canadian junior experience. It's hard to replicate that type of development in the US
but a couple players with that type of skill are needed
I would agree with this. I'm just saying a more sustainable path seems to be getting guys that really ride for the program and supplementing with high end CHL guys.
Do not likes this roster one bit we can not have guys like Harris or or nevers or begley it’s embarrassing this is the gophers where are the high talented d can we get one centerman im not sure this team would get us in the ncaa tourney this last season probably 15 wins instead of 11 but I would rather have young talent over guys who peaks might be ahl at best
Come that statement is ridiculous. We probably had 2 college level DMen last year and now have an AA in Murr, high pedigree guy in Henricks, and a contributor in Loftus. Plus hopefully another add
sure you can argue about the bottom level talent but this team clearly has talent with adding those guys and Burnevik plus a great forward class. Could use one more center I agree but this team should easily make the tourney if not be a contender
Harris and Begley likely play under 10 games and who knows Harris may be on the team temporarily. Plus likely Laylin comes as a free roster spot
Reschny and Verhoeff did not join North Dakota until late May last year.
It is day two of the portal being opened and roster churns underway. We have already reached silly season.
The roster is much improved. Enough to be a contender? Time will tell, and there are still holes. We are early in this process though.
@futuregopherdad We need a good center and we need some decent guys in the stands for injury’s and as bad as are d were last year not sure any ccha team had a better core then ours so not super excited about a d man from a crap league for one year when we could of brought in a young guy like harper und is kicking forwards off their team that are way better then Harris laylin or nevers I like Hendricks as a second pair but we need some dogs we seem to only be good when we have a great d core
Good Lord, are you related to Harper? Get over it! Murr scored 10 goals & had 20 assists for Mankato, 8 more goals & 1 assist more than Luke Mittelstadt. And Larson wouldn’t bring Henricks along with him (or Loftus) unless he saw a fit for them. Have a little faith. Burnevik will be a solid contributor too. Your attitude is so pissy…it chafes me…and the Gophers aren’t even my #1 team. lol@futuregopherdad We need a good center and we need some decent guys in the stands for injury’s and as bad as are d were last year not sure any ccha team had a better core then ours so not super excited about a d man from a crap league for one year when we could of brought in a young guy like harper und is kicking forwards off their team that are way better then Harris laylin or nevers I like Hendricks as a second pair but we need some dogs we seem to only be good when we have a great d core
When the Duluth fan is more supportive of the Gophers chances than a supposed Gopher fan, you know something strange is going on.Good Lord, are you related to Harper? Get over it! Murr scored 10 goals & had 20 assists for Mankato, 8 more goals & 1 assist more than Luke Mittelstadt. And Larson wouldn’t bring Henricks along with him (or Loftus) unless he saw a fit for them. Have a little faith. Burnevik will be a solid contributor too. Your attitude is so pissy…it chafes me…and the Gophers aren’t even my #1 team. lol@futuregopherdad We need a good center and we need some decent guys in the stands for injury’s and as bad as are d were last year not sure any ccha team had a better core then ours so not super excited about a d man from a crap league for one year when we could of brought in a young guy like harper und is kicking forwards off their team that are way better then Harris laylin or nevers I like Hendricks as a second pair but we need some dogs we seem to only be good when we have a great d core
When the Duluth fan is more supportive of the Gophers chances than a supposed Gopher fan, you know something strange is going on.
Seriously. The only people who really know what's going on are Larson and his staff. The portal opened YESTERDAY and we already have a bunch of new guys who should all contribute. I like that there is this assumption that Begley and Harris are for sure going to be on the roster next year because they didn't enter the portal on day one.
Maybe they are waiting to see if things fall into place and there is an extra roster spot as the season starts? Maybe they have somewhere outside the NCAA to play next year? Maybe Harris, a D3 guy who knows he won't be going pro, has decided that instead of transferring again, he wants to finish up his program at the U, graduate, and get a job.
The point is that we are 6 months away from the start of the season and this team is already more talented than it was at the end of last season. Let's give the new staff a chance to cook and see how things shake out when they hit the ice in October. Certainly they'll look better than the golf I'll be playing until the season starts.
https://twitter.com/YouthHockeyHub/status/2044224534593618172
Looking down from my High Horse
Morality Police
Not very objective
To be fair this is year 1 of a rebuild after things completely bottomed out under the previous coach (who didn’t have much in the pipeline for D). I wish we could’ve kept Harper but Murr at his current age is probably better equipped to contribute right away than an 18 year old who might not even end up playing in college. LaCombe took his lumps as a freshman and I wanna say Erik Johnson even did at times, the whole point of getting Harper is to have him be elite in years 2-3 and if that isn’t part of his plan then I can see why the Gopher coaches moved on. As you and others said they def need centers, no argument there but there’s still plenty of time to figure that out. The countdown says 170 days 😉 .@futuregopherdad We need a good center and we need some decent guys in the stands for injury’s and as bad as are d were last year not sure any ccha team had a better core then ours so not super excited about a d man from a crap league for one year when we could of brought in a young guy like harper und is kicking forwards off their team that are way better then Harris laylin or nevers I like Hendricks as a second pair but we need some dogs we seem to only be good when we have a great d core
Either way though we’ve barely even begun to see what Larson and this staff can pull off in terms of recruiting. So far they’ve kept all the important pieces other than Harper and that seems like more of a preference thing.
Also worth keeping in mind is that the gophers had an additional roster spot open last year that they never even used. If Begley is in that spot and never sees the ice then it doesn’t matter much.
I know we don't really know the motivations and things happening behind the scenes, but if you're trying to rebuild and convince other players to come here to develop into stars, why wouldn't you want Harper? You can't hope for a year one turnaround at the expense of building the future of the program.
Obviously like I said I don't really understand how all this works, but I just can't imagine kicking a potential star to the curb for one year of a solid player unless you were building to make a run... Maybe I'm overestimating the value of Harper, but again, I am in over my head when it comes to these things--it just seems like potential first-round picks are usually a win.
My read is the new staff wanted Harper. Any program would have interest in him. They just also wanted to compete immediately and were up front with Harper about his role, possibly even wanting him to arrive in 2027-2028. The roster Motzko had lined up would have allowed Harper to come in and run the power play, even if he did not lead the defensive unit in minutes. The retool raised more questions regarding his role, leading to his decomittment.
Murr (and Smith if it materalizes) are better equipped to help this fall. Harper's long-term potential is absolutely elite, so you are weighing it against immediate impact. I absolutely wanted to keep him, but can see where the disconnect came into play.
I know we don't really know the motivations and things happening behind the scenes, but if you're trying to rebuild and convince other players to come here to develop into stars, why wouldn't you want Harper? You can't hope for a year one turnaround at the expense of building the future of the program.
Obviously like I said I don't really understand how all this works, but I just can't imagine kicking a potential star to the curb for one year of a solid player unless you were building to make a run... Maybe I'm overestimating the value of Harper, but again, I am in over my head when it comes to these things--it just seems like potential first-round picks are usually a win.
I'm guessing there is another move coming. Let's just say it is indeed Tarin Smith (obviously he needs to committ). 2 years older than Harper... Lofgren, same thing. Then you add in Murr, Henricks and Loftus, plus you already have Whipple on the back end....it seems like a no brainer to ask him for another year of development.
Give it another year, then come in and be the man right out of the gates. I won't fault the staff for that. They're not just giving up on a great prospect just for the hell of it, there has to be a corresponding move coming.
EDIT: @bluebandit24 beat me to the punch.
EDIT 2: Not sure how much weight this carries and obviously need to see it happen to believe it, but FWIW::
https://twitter.com/DucksProspects/status/2044141461277684214?s=20
Here's the question I have for everyone and Harper's decommit kind of brings this to the forefront. How much leash does Larson get year one? Do we as fans place that much pressure for him to deliver a season better than last year or equal to it? The portal makes this argument a little harder because now a coach has the tool to help deliver in a one off aspect by getting experience through the portal with hopes of being successful.
With that said is Larson using the portal to bring in Murr, Henricks, and Loftus to deliver this year rather than bringing in Harper to develop over the course of 2-3 years. Mind you we still get Henricks and Loftus for 3 and 2 years each but they already have D1 experience. Would the Gopher faithful be patient enough to develop Harper and not have as good of season? Or do they want to win now by bringing in the portal guys?
Obviously we wanted both situations to come true, win now with portal guys and keep all our prospective recruits. Didn't happen. What I would like to see from this point moving forward though is building a team where most players stay three years and it's a bonus to have them stay all four. I liked what Larson said in the YHH pod that you can't build a team with all the same players. He akins to the old Herb Brooks tale of getting the right players, not the best players. I'm good with that.
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I know we don't really know the motivations and things happening behind the scenes, but if you're trying to rebuild and convince other players to come here to develop into stars, why wouldn't you want Harper? You can't hope for a year one turnaround at the expense of building the future of the program.
Obviously like I said I don't really understand how all this works, but I just can't imagine kicking a potential star to the curb for one year of a solid player unless you were building to make a run... Maybe I'm overestimating the value of Harper, but again, I am in over my head when it comes to these things--it just seems like potential first-round picks are usually a win.
Murr is much more than just a “solid” player. He’s already a star. So you’re saying, why kick off Harper for an all-American defensemen, when he could eventually turn into an all-American defensemen!
Yes losing Harper was a disappointing blow, but I wouldn’t have wanted him on the team this year if we’re trying to compete. He could use another year. I think it’s more important to compete this year with the changing landscape, not have a development year. Larson will get more young D recruits for next year (and probably for this year still). Plus, aside from Murr, everyone on the current D core still has multiple years of eligibility left.
Would love to have Harper, but how long does he stay anyway? 1-2 years? You never know with the potential high draft picks. Seems many just want to show the goods to increase draft position, team be damned. At this point, give me the older, obviously talented player who wants a championship and has the physical maturity to get it. With the portal and NIL, the Gophers could pick up a Harper type player anyway down the road. It’s simply free agency at this point.
Here's the question I have for everyone and Harper's decommit kind of brings this to the forefront. How much leash does Larson get year one? Do we as fans place that much pressure for him to deliver a season better than last year or equal to it? The portal makes this argument a little harder because now a coach has the tool to help deliver in a one off aspect by getting experience through the portal with hopes of being successful.
With that said is Larson using the portal to bring in Murr, Henricks, and Loftus to deliver this year rather than bringing in Harper to develop over the course of 2-3 years. Mind you we still get Henricks and Loftus for 3 and 2 years each but they already have D1 experience. Would the Gopher faithful be patient enough to develop Harper and not have as good of season? Or do they want to win now by bringing in the portal guys?
Obviously we wanted both situations to come true, win now with portal guys and keep all our prospective recruits. Didn't happen. What I would like to see from this point moving forward though is building a team where most players stay three years and it's a bonus to have them stay all four. I liked what Larson said in the YHH pod that you can't build a team with all the same players. He akins to the old Herb Brooks tale of getting the right players, not the best players. I'm good with that.
Let’s be real, he gets no leash and he knows it. Look at the vitriol after his hiring.
If I were him I would make the same decision. Also- look at BU and BC this year. With all the older talent available now you need to be older and you risk losing kids like Harper.
With the portal and NIL, the Gophers could pick up a Harper type player anyway down the road.
This is just it. Let's say that a Smith or DuPoint finds their way to campus.
All of the sudden, do any of us care that Harper decommitted? Absolutely not.
If Larson is truly in tune with the likes of the CHL, and keeps his fingers in the portal like he says he's going to, then you will find replacements yearly.
It stings to lose Harper as he seems like the kind of game changing defender that I think is essential in the NCAAs. Even with that said though, Evan Murr probably is a better fit to come right into that role for next season and perform without the growing pains. I think that's especially true if there is a sense that Harper could be a one and done type player. Regardless, Harper wants to play with his brother over playing at Minnesota. That's hard to fault.
We've seen a lot of chatter about Tarin Smith being another addition to the lineup as well. He's a 20-yr-old Ducks third round pick that outscored DuPont this year in Everett. If Anaheim really wants him to play some college hockey that also probably means the 6' 2" physical two-way blue liner could stick around for a little bit and contribute. The Ducks saw how well that worked with LaCombe.
One thing about this defensive corps for next year is everyone is over 20 years old with really impressive size. Murr is the smallest guy on the roster, but he was an All-American this year. Motzko's plan of finally having an older group is at least coming true. I think Murr was in the works for a while and I heard other names were almost pending options for the second transfer D until Larson was hired to bring Henricks with him.
LD - Whipple - JR - 20 - 6' 2" 205 / RD - Murr - SR -23 - 5' 11" 179
LD - Rombach - SO - 20 - 6' 6" 209 / RD - Henricks - SO - 20 - 6' 4" 205
LD - Smith - FR - 20 - 6' 2" 190 / LD - Loftus - JR - 22 - 6' 1" 185
LD - Lofgren - FR - 21 - 6' 4" 201 / LD - Begley - SR - 22 - 6' 4" 201
Coming in 27-28 you'd hopefully have Mace'o Phillips still committed as a 20-yr-old and then I do wonder if RD Ben Geiger or RD Broden McArthur end up being 28-29 freshman depending on their development. Ot'll be interesting to see how the staff handles that transition. Certianly the plan on grabbing a guy like Murr/Henricks is tempting to count on every season in my book if your recruitng pipeline has holes compared to pulling up guys early. I'm sure the smaller programs will say it's not fair... well Quinn Hughes wanted out of Vancouver and sounds like Brady Tkachuck wants out of Ottawa. It's how it goes.
----
Also standing out to me is that up front it looks like the Gophers will be an older team based on ages they will turn during the season -- I'm cheating a little bit because some guys turn a year older in the second half of the season... but still... The only under 20 guys on here are Mooney, Moe, Kvasnicka and Wyatt Cullen -- all guys that should be WJC camp invites. There was a huge benefit to pushing back Hendrickson, Moore, Nevers, Kvasnicka extra years in juniors. Those borderline guys of bringing in early/letting stay another year are interesting test cases.
SR - Ludtke - 22
JR - Ziemer - 21
JR - Hendrickson - 21
JR - Harris - 23
JR - Burnevik -22
SO - Mooney - 19
SO - Moore - 21
SO - Townsend - 21
SO - Moe - 19
SO - Pritchard - 22
SO - Humphreys - 21
FR - Nevers - 21
FR - Kvasnicka - 19
FR - B. Cullen - 20
FR - W. Cullen - 18
It stings to lose Harper as he seems like the kind of game changing defender that I think is essential in the NCAAs. Even with that said though, Evan Murr probably is a better fit to come right into that role for next season and perform without the growing pains. I think that's especially true if there is a sense that Harper could be a one and done type player. Regardless, Harper wants to play with his brother over playing at Minnesota. That's hard to fault.
We've seen a lot of chatter about Tarin Smith being another addition to the lineup as well. He's a 20-yr-old Ducks third round pick that outscored DuPont this year in Everett. If Anaheim really wants him to play some college hockey that also probably means the 6' 2" physical two-way blue liner could stick around for a little bit and contribute. The Ducks saw how well that worked with LaCombe.
One thing about this defensive corps for next year is everyone is over 20 years old with really impressive size. Murr is the smallest guy on the roster, but he was an All-American this year. Motzko's plan of finally having an older group is at least coming true. I think Murr was in the works for a while and I heard other names were almost pending options for the second transfer D until Larson was hired to bring Henricks with him.
LD - Whipple - JR - 20 - 6' 2" 205 / RD - Murr - SR -23 - 5' 11" 179
LD - Rombach - SO - 20 - 6' 6" 209 / RD - Henricks - SO - 20 - 6' 4" 205
LD - Smith - FR - 20 - 6' 2" 190 / LD - Loftus - JR - 22 - 6' 1" 185
LD - Lofgren - FR - 21 - 6' 4" 201 / LD - Begley - SR - 22 - 6' 4" 201
Coming in 27-28 you'd hopefully have Mace'o Phillips still committed as a 20-yr-old and then I do wonder if RD Ben Geiger or RD Broden McArthur end up being 28-29 freshman depending on their development. Ot'll be interesting to see how the staff handles that transition. Certianly the plan on grabbing a guy like Murr/Henricks is tempting to count on every season in my book if your recruitng pipeline has holes compared to pulling up guys early. I'm sure the smaller programs will say it's not fair... well Quinn Hughes wanted out of Vancouver and sounds like Brady Tkachuck wants out of Ottawa. It's how it goes.
----
Also standing out to me is that up front it looks like the Gophers will be an older team based on ages they will turn during the season -- I'm cheating a little bit because some guys turn a year older in the second half of the season... but still... The only under 20 guys on here are Mooney, Moe, Kvasnicka and Wyatt Cullen -- all guys that should be WJC camp invites. There was a huge benefit to pushing back Hendrickson, Moore, Nevers, Kvasnicka extra years in juniors. Those borderline guys of bringing in early/letting stay another year are interesting test cases.
SR - Ludtke - 22
JR - Ziemer - 21
JR - Hendrickson - 21
JR - Harris - 23
JR - Burnevik -22
SO - Mooney - 19
SO - Moore - 21
SO - Townsend - 21
SO - Moe - 19
SO - Pritchard - 22
SO - Humphreys - 21
FR - Nevers - 21
FR - Kvasnicka - 19
FR - B. Cullen - 20
FR - W. Cullen - 18
great summary and thoughts here.
so we’re still assuming we get Smith, which sounds great. If we do, and with this set of D, do we still need 1 more D?
My thoughts shift to Rombach being a work in progress particularly regarding skating skillset.
if we happen to stumble with him, we have Axel obviously but otherwise only Begley
I do hope Rombach’s skating can improve but that’s to be seen. Love his size and am hopeful for his continued development
Or maybe we’re planning on bringing in Bode Laylin?
It stings to lose Harper as he seems like the kind of game changing defender that I think is essential in the NCAAs. Even with that said though, Evan Murr probably is a better fit to come right into that role for next season and perform without the growing pains. I think that's especially true if there is a sense that Harper could be a one and done type player. Regardless, Harper wants to play with his brother over playing at Minnesota. That's hard to fault.
We've seen a lot of chatter about Tarin Smith being another addition to the lineup as well. He's a 20-yr-old Ducks third round pick that outscored DuPont this year in Everett. If Anaheim really wants him to play some college hockey that also probably means the 6' 2" physical two-way blue liner could stick around for a little bit and contribute. The Ducks saw how well that worked with LaCombe.
One thing about this defensive corps for next year is everyone is over 20 years old with really impressive size. Murr is the smallest guy on the roster, but he was an All-American this year. Motzko's plan of finally having an older group is at least coming true. I think Murr was in the works for a while and I heard other names were almost pending options for the second transfer D until Larson was hired to bring Henricks with him.
LD - Whipple - JR - 20 - 6' 2" 205 / RD - Murr - SR -23 - 5' 11" 179
LD - Rombach - SO - 20 - 6' 6" 209 / RD - Henricks - SO - 20 - 6' 4" 205
LD - Smith - FR - 20 - 6' 2" 190 / LD - Loftus - JR - 22 - 6' 1" 185
LD - Lofgren - FR - 21 - 6' 4" 201 / LD - Begley - SR - 22 - 6' 4" 201
Coming in 27-28 you'd hopefully have Mace'o Phillips still committed as a 20-yr-old and then I do wonder if RD Ben Geiger or RD Broden McArthur end up being 28-29 freshman depending on their development. Ot'll be interesting to see how the staff handles that transition. Certianly the plan on grabbing a guy like Murr/Henricks is tempting to count on every season in my book if your recruitng pipeline has holes compared to pulling up guys early. I'm sure the smaller programs will say it's not fair... well Quinn Hughes wanted out of Vancouver and sounds like Brady Tkachuck wants out of Ottawa. It's how it goes.
----
Also standing out to me is that up front it looks like the Gophers will be an older team based on ages they will turn during the season -- I'm cheating a little bit because some guys turn a year older in the second half of the season... but still... The only under 20 guys on here are Mooney, Moe, Kvasnicka and Wyatt Cullen -- all guys that should be WJC camp invites. There was a huge benefit to pushing back Hendrickson, Moore, Nevers, Kvasnicka extra years in juniors. Those borderline guys of bringing in early/letting stay another year are interesting test cases.
SR - Ludtke - 22
JR - Ziemer - 21
JR - Hendrickson - 21
JR - Harris - 23
JR - Burnevik -22
SO - Mooney - 19
SO - Moore - 21
SO - Townsend - 21
SO - Moe - 19
SO - Pritchard - 22
SO - Humphreys - 21
FR - Nevers - 21
FR - Kvasnicka - 19
FR - B. Cullen - 20
FR - W. Cullen - 18
great summary and thoughts here.
so we’re still assuming we get Smith, which sounds great. If we do, and with this set of D, do we still need 1 more D?
My thoughts shift to Rombach being a work in progress particularly regarding skating skillset.
if we happen to stumble with him, we have Axel obviously but otherwise only Begley
I do hope Rombach’s skating can improve but that’s to be seen. Love his size and am hopeful for his continued development
Or maybe we’re planning on bringing in Bode Laylin?
if you get Smith, i think that's your d core unless you get someone who's a very top tier talent (think Dupont, etc) and then you tell Begley there's no room. There's no point bringing in Laylin and burning a year for him to be battling for bottom pair to watching from the stands every weekend as a mid round draft pick when he still can play another year of junior (especially when his dad is on the staff)
On the forwards, lot of guys and not a lot of dudes is my only worry. Counting a lot on Ludtke returning to Omaha form and W Cullen to be dynamic from the get go. Hope they're hunting for a center and/or some high end talent to supplement when you have room with Harris and some lower end guys who you can move on from and not be hurt with the present roster nor be irreplaceable for the future
Here's the question I have for everyone and Harper's decommit kind of brings this to the forefront. How much leash does Larson get year one? Do we as fans place that much pressure for him to deliver a season better than last year or equal to it? The portal makes this argument a little harder because now a coach has the tool to help deliver in a one off aspect by getting experience through the portal with hopes of being successful.
For some, he will get the 1st period of the 1st game.
Looking down from my High Horse
Morality Police
Not very objective
not super excited about a d man from a crap league for one year
I will admit I was hard on Murr going into the portal opening...called him a "one year middle of the road player". His sophomore year was much better than this past season and I pointed to his rough run in January. He is an upgrade from everyone on the 25/26 roster besides Whipple. Murr is not Nate Schmidt or Jackson Lacombe but he does bring experience/skill to the d-core that was lacking going into the offseason.
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I don’t see Nevers on the preliminary roster that was just posted. Mistake or no longer coming in?
Is Harris a “DSA” or will he count towards the roster limit? If he counts, there is no reason he should still be on this team.
Here's the question I have for everyone and Harper's decommit kind of brings this to the forefront. How much leash does Larson get year one? Do we as fans place that much pressure for him to deliver a season better than last year or equal to it? The portal makes this argument a little harder because now a coach has the tool to help deliver in a one off aspect by getting experience through the portal with hopes of being successful.
For some, he will get the 1st period of the 1st game.
First shift of the first period for me. Better be up 3-0 by the first whistle.
Kidding aside, 3-4 years is the true leash in my opinion.
If I were AD....this would be my timeline:
Year 1 has to show major improvement to a 20+ win season.
Year 2 has to show a return to being a perennial top-10 program/competition for a B1G title so about a 25+ win season.
Year 3 has to show win or two in the natty tournament.
Year 4 has to show a threat to make a F4 appearance.
I don’t see Nevers on the preliminary roster that was just posted. Mistake or no longer coming in?
Is Harris a “DSA” or will he count towards the roster limit? If he counts, there is no reason he should still be on this team.
They don't have any incoming freshmen on that roster and never do until they actually are on campus.
Kidding aside, 3-4 years is the true leash in my opinion.
While I could pick apart your timeline I can agree with the 3 years statement. We've had this same conversation at work about this in regards to the Mavs with Luke Strand. I don't think a coach can really show his style of hockey until about that 3-4 year mark. I think that Larson should be able to improve on what happened last season but that doesn't necessarily need to be the mile marker. By year three though Larson and his staff should have their recruits on campus to mix with the players they have developed those first two years and be pretty damn dangerous. Hopefully success will follow and the program can get back to the perennial B1G program after this one year blip.
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3/4 of the frozen four teams missed the tourney a year prior. While that’s not my expectation it’s certainly reasonable to be in the title contender conversation next year
I can add Nevers... I kinda forgot about him.
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3/4 of the frozen four teams missed the tourney a year prior. While that’s not my expectation it’s certainly reasonable to be in the title contender conversation next year
It's very ideal and very possible but what I put out there has to be the bare minimum.
If he's at my year 3 at year 2...great!
But the point is that there needs to be clear and obvious upward trajectory. Whether it takes 1 year or 3 years to get back into the top-10...has to be done within that 3-4 year window.
Nor do you want to put the pressure on a new coach by saying "Hey, 11 wins last year. Terrible. We need to compete for the B1G in 2026-27. Get it done."
Larson 100% knows the expectations of what coaching the U brings but we shouldn't expect going from 11 wins to competing for a natty. Could it happen? Yep, of course but I don't think it's the expectation yet.
mishy = bonin III?
Hmm...
Joined a year ago, so after Bonin21 got the banhammer. - check
Completely disregards capitalization and punctuation. - check
Is trashing the makeup of the current team before they ever set foot on the ice. - check
It appears you have a valid argument.
Tact is the ability to step on a man's toes without messing up the shine on his shoes - Harry S Truman
3/4 of the frozen four teams missed the tourney a year prior. While that’s not my expectation it’s certainly reasonable to be in the title contender conversation next year
Carle went to the FF in his first year.
Dane Jackson took UND from missing the tourney to the FF in his first year
Right coach in right spot, especially now with the portal, you can make a contender really quickly. I see no reason he gets any extra leash. Roster for next year has 4 of his own defensemen (minimum), a forward and a goalie of his choosing, and a bunch of guys he chose not to cut with some left over incoming guys he must've liked. I don't think you rake him over the coals if they miss this year by any means, but the expectation should be to be in the tournament as it should be every year here.
I know we don't really know the motivations and things happening behind the scenes, but if you're trying to rebuild and convince other players to come here to develop into stars, why wouldn't you want Harper? You can't hope for a year one turnaround at the expense of building the future of the program.
Obviously like I said I don't really understand how all this works, but I just can't imagine kicking a potential star to the curb for one year of a solid player unless you were building to make a run... Maybe I'm overestimating the value of Harper, but again, I am in over my head when it comes to these things--it just seems like potential first-round picks are usually a win.
Spot on. The loss of Harper is a bad loss. Is it the end of the world? Nope. But I don't see any issue with being concerned by the loss of a highly coveted recruit. Going to wait to see how this all shakes out, but I am with your take here as of now.
I don't think you rake him over the coals if they miss this year by any means
Gonna be honest if you're going to sell the fans this hard about the incoming talent and you miss the tournament, you should expect to be raked over the coals if you're Brett.
My read is the new staff wanted Harper. Any program would have interest in him. They just also wanted to compete immediately and were up front with Harper about his role, possibly even wanting him to arrive in 2027-2028. The roster Motzko had lined up would have allowed Harper to come in and run the power play, even if he did not lead the defensive unit in minutes. The retool raised more questions regarding his role, leading to his decomittment.
Murr (and Smith if it materalizes) are better equipped to help this fall. Harper's long-term potential is absolutely elite, so you are weighing it against immediate impact. I absolutely wanted to keep him, but can see where the disconnect came into play.
If we do land Smith, I can buy into this a lot more. But if we don't land Smith and we lost Harper because we brought in Murr, I start to question the wisdom in that. We all want to win now, but it's tough to stomach sacrificing a prospect like Harper unless you have serious title contention aspirations.
I know we don't really know the motivations and things happening behind the scenes, but if you're trying to rebuild and convince other players to come here to develop into stars, why wouldn't you want Harper? You can't hope for a year one turnaround at the expense of building the future of the program.
Obviously like I said I don't really understand how all this works, but I just can't imagine kicking a potential star to the curb for one year of a solid player unless you were building to make a run... Maybe I'm overestimating the value of Harper, but again, I am in over my head when it comes to these things--it just seems like potential first-round picks are usually a win.
I'm guessing there is another move coming. Let's just say it is indeed Tarin Smith (obviously he needs to committ). 2 years older than Harper... Lofgren, same thing. Then you add in Murr, Henricks and Loftus, plus you already have Whipple on the back end....it seems like a no brainer to ask him for another year of development.
Give it another year, then come in and be the man right out of the gates. I won't fault the staff for that. They're not just giving up on a great prospect just for the hell of it, there has to be a corresponding move coming.
EDIT: @bluebandit24 beat me to the punch.
EDIT 2: Not sure how much weight this carries and obviously need to see it happen to believe it, but FWIW::
https://twitter.com/DucksProspects/status/2044141461277684214?s=20
This would make things make much more sense. And I agree, it's why we should all wait and see how this all plays out.
The expectation is making the NCAA tournament. Anything else is a big disappointment.
Here's the question I have for everyone and Harper's decommit kind of brings this to the forefront. How much leash does Larson get year one? Do we as fans place that much pressure for him to deliver a season better than last year or equal to it? The portal makes this argument a little harder because now a coach has the tool to help deliver in a one off aspect by getting experience through the portal with hopes of being successful.
With that said is Larson using the portal to bring in Murr, Henricks, and Loftus to deliver this year rather than bringing in Harper to develop over the course of 2-3 years. Mind you we still get Henricks and Loftus for 3 and 2 years each but they already have D1 experience. Would the Gopher faithful be patient enough to develop Harper and not have as good of season? Or do they want to win now by bringing in the portal guys?
Obviously we wanted both situations to come true, win now with portal guys and keep all our prospective recruits. Didn't happen. What I would like to see from this point moving forward though is building a team where most players stay three years and it's a bonus to have them stay all four. I liked what Larson said in the YHH pod that you can't build a team with all the same players. He akins to the old Herb Brooks tale of getting the right players, not the best players. I'm good with that.
My leash for his first few years (first year especially) is going to be much more tied into how he recruits versus on-ice performance. If the staff is landing commitments from high-end players (understood that they can't all be) and the future looks bright, I will be much, much more forgiving if we aren't doing as well on the ice in the first year or two. In fact, if he builds a solid but not championship caliber team in the first few years at the expense of recruiting and our future, I will be a lot less forgiving and patient. Just my $0.02.