I wouldn’t go that far. Broz leaving isn’t ideal but also isn’t the end of the world, you’re replacing a third liner essentially. Lucius leaving definitely hurts but I’m guessing that was expected by Bob and others. Idk what the last piece of news is but given the talent coming in I’m not sure I’d say the wheels are falling off.
I’d say the Broz loss will hurt more in the next few years. I think he’s gonna be a good player. We’d have Chaz Lucius at most one more year. I hate to see both go and I worry this means we also lose Cruz for next year, but the Gophers will be a top contender regardless.
I get it but a lot of it depended on him accepting his role and being willing to work for better opportunities. If he’s not willing to do that then it’s not a huge loss.
This was the same path Kiefer Bellows took IIRC
I'm 50% factual and 50% sarcastic. When you get to know me, you will know which is which.
To be honest I was completely underwhelmed with the play of Lucius and Broz this year. Sure, rather see them come back and hopefully improve greatly next season. But keeping Knies, Faber and LaCombe was way more important for next year than keeping those two.
Some pretty funny takes here. I stressed how much people would get the “why” wrong.
Wanting Walker back!?!? Seriously?
smilanic? He’s a total cancer and everyone knows it. Not gonna happen unless they are completely stupid.
how do any of you know what has been conveyed to Lucius or Broz with their roles for next year? They were both going to be top 6, top PP guys.
Like Bob said, you don't just recruit future players anymore. You also have to keep recruiting the guys that are already on the team.
To be honest I was completely underwhelmed with the play of Lucius and Broz this year. Sure, rather see them come back and hopefully improve greatly next season. But keeping Knies, Faber and LaCombe was way more important for next year than keeping those two.
Agree. Would the team be better with Broz/Lucius? Probably. But not significantly so for me to look at their departures with any real disappointment. The Gophers played their best hockey this year with Lucius out of the lineup. We kept our absolute elite level players for another year and have a heck of a class still coming in, even without (as I'm now assuming) Cruz. We are still easily a contender, and I remain most concerned by the goaltender position.
how do any of you know what has been conveyed to Lucius or Broz with their roles for next year? They were both going to be top 6, top PP guys.
We don’t know but based on what we saw last year we can guess. Given the talent coming in and who’s returning I’m guessing Broz was probably a third liner. And there’s 5 spots on the top PP unit, at least one is going to be a Dman most likely. Broz wasn’t gonna be on it, Lucius probably would’ve been but I’m guessing his reason for leaving wasn’t role related and was due to something else I’m not privy to.
edit: if Broz left for some reason not related to that stuff then so be it, I don’t pretend to know anything about these guys on a personal level
Some pretty funny takes here. I stressed how much people would get the “why” wrong. Wanting Walker back!?!? Seriously? smilanic? He’s a total cancer and everyone knows it. Not gonna happen unless they are completely stupid. how do any of you know what has been conveyed to Lucius or Broz with their roles for next year? They were both going to be top 6, top PP guys.
How do you know any of that? If you aren't willing to explain then the high horse routine is silly
To be honest I was completely underwhelmed with the play of Lucius and Broz this year. Sure, rather see them come back and hopefully improve greatly next season. But keeping Knies, Faber and LaCombe was way more important for next year than keeping those two.
Agree. Would the team be better with Broz/Lucius? Probably. But not significantly so for me to look at their departures with any real disappointment. The Gophers played their best hockey this year with Lucius out of the lineup. We kept our absolute elite level players for another year and have a heck of a class still coming in, even without (as I’m now assuming) Cruz. We are still easily a contender, and I remain most concerned by the goaltender position.
i actually have assumed for quite awhile that Lucius was going to leave, one way or another and was fine with it. I’ll take a kid like Knies back who plays like he wants to be here every time. And Broz? Meh. Better players than him coming in.
Silver lining………..if Chaz Lucius was going to move on, better to see it happen now rather than right before the season starts.
This is very true.
Some pretty funny takes here. I stressed how much people would get the “why” wrong. Wanting Walker back!?!? Seriously? smilanic? He’s a total cancer and everyone knows it. Not gonna happen unless they are completely stupid. how do any of you know what has been conveyed to Lucius or Broz with their roles for next year? They were both going to be top 6, top PP guys.
like I said, saying there is news coming and giving no background or explanation is why rumors and bad takes come about.
do YOU know what has been conveyed to Lucius or Broz in regard to their roles next year? If so, care to share rather than spout that “I know something that you don’t know”?
Maybe if you had been slightly more specific such as, “I cannot give more details as this information is still confidential, but expect some transfer portal and signing news this week…” it might have been better received than saying “big news” is coming (that could mean anything!) and “it’s not good” which is simply your opinion.
leaving GPLers to wonder, worry, and speculate is a disaster waiting to happen.
Adding some experience up front would be nice. Dornbach probably best available.
https://twitter.com/tucker_tnl/status/1516462441164681219?s=21&t=ga7fl1tO_8IWj4XjxB6tIw
like I said, saying there is news coming and giving no background or explanation is why rumors and bad takes come about. do YOU know what has been conveyed to Lucius or Broz in regard to their roles next year? If so, care to share rather than spout that “I know something that you don’t know”? Maybe if you had been slightly more specific such as, “I cannot give more details as this information is still confidential, but expect some transfer portal and signing news this week…” it might have been better received than saying “big news” is coming (that could mean anything!) and “it’s not good” which is simply your opinion. leaving GPLers to wonder, worry, and speculate is a disaster waiting to happen.
You might be right cowgirl ?. I’m not that seasoned as a message board poster and don’t alwAys check in. I could have worded it that way. the fans and the broader community support is fun, hence why I was looking to clue some of the fans in before it happened.
But also, there is predictably some abysmal takes on here, Twitter etc. both of them are leaving for different reasons, but they share that senior leadership really failed them and everyone.
Statement from Bob--
"Chaz is one of the most impressive offensive players I have coached in my career. His ability to create offense at any moment on the ice is as high level as I've seen," Minnesota head coach <dfn>Bob Motzko</dfn> said. "He has a tremendous future ahead of him with the Winnipeg Jets organization, and we look forward to following what is sure to be a long and impressive pro career. We wish him the best as he takes the next step in his hockey career.
I'm 50% factual and 50% sarcastic. When you get to know me, you will know which is which.
Johnson is back BTW
theres some good news!
Johnson is back BTW theres some good news!
GPL's inside man!
This guy is a LEGEND. Assuming I see a link that backs up his claim sometime soon. What if GoldyShuffle is actually Ryan Johnson and he just announced his comeback on GPL
Can you explain what is meant by senior leadership failed them?
Pretty disappointed to see Broz go. I thought he was really improving over the second half of the season and would have continued to grow with the team over the next few years. As many have said, for the player it makes sense and unfortunately that’s the way college athletics is going. But for the fans this sucks. Also, and I know I’m about to sound like old man who yells at clouds, but I really don’t like this mindset that if you have to work for minutes or whatever you want is not coming to you right away then you can just transfer to another team. One of the many things I loved about college athletics is that unless a guy left early or there was the occasional transfer the team was the team. You got to know guys for three or four years. Unfortunately I see college hockey eventually turning into basically just another junior hockey league. Again, this is just me ranting from a fan perspective. At the end of the day players have to do what’s best for them. This is the new world we live in. But this is what makes me appreciate a guy like Sorenson who didn’t leave until he was told there was no room. Worked for three years, fought for the minutes he got and played the role he was given.
If what you’re saying is truly accurate, that Sorenson after playing 3 years was LITERALLY told (by tBob) that there was no longer room for him on the roster (to play any minutes next year) and that’s what prompted Sorenson to enter the transfer portal…than I call that a lousy, BS move by the Gopher coaching staff, plain & simple! Now if Sorenson simply saw the writing on the wall & by his own volition decided to enter the transfer portal to get increased ice time somewhere else…that’s another story & more understandable. ☝️Fans expect loyalty by the players to the TEAM.. but coaches need to be loyal to their PLAYERS too!
all of this is part of college hockey for all teams now. Not worried about reasons why but rather focus on the guys coming back and coming in. College hockey is a grind and the entire team needs to be bought in. With Faber, Lacombe, Johnson and Knies back there is enough leadership to bring the new kids on board. I would also add Huglen to that list, I know his points were not there but he’s a great player and think his style of play is exactly what we need!
like I said, saying there is news coming and giving no background or explanation is why rumors and bad takes come about. do YOU know what has been conveyed to Lucius or Broz in regard to their roles next year? If so, care to share rather than spout that “I know something that you don’t know”? Maybe if you had been slightly more specific such as, “I cannot give more details as this information is still confidential, but expect some transfer portal and signing news this week…” it might have been better received than saying “big news” is coming (that could mean anything!) and “it’s not good” which is simply your opinion. leaving GPLers to wonder, worry, and speculate is a disaster waiting to happen.
You might be right cowgirl . I’m not that seasoned as a message board poster and don’t alwAys check in. I could have worded it that way. the fans and the broader community support is fun, hence why I was looking to clue some of the fans in before it happened. But also, there is predictably some abysmal takes on here, Twitter etc. both of them are leaving for different reasons, but they share that senior leadership really failed them and everyone.
Senior leadership failed them? Okay, but the seniors will be gone.
Bob is really gonna be tested now. I think Walker comes back out of necessity. :/ Losing 3 or potentially even 4 top nine guys in one week. Reminder: Kurth was a Gentry kid, too.
Top 9 guys: Knies/Cooley/Pitlick/Huglen/Snuggerud/Walker/Kurth (7)
4th liners: Schmidt/Nelson/Nevers/Brodzinski/Strobel/Pinoniemi/Mittelstadt (7)
Gophers need top 9 reinforcement ASAP. And Sorenson and Perbix are not those guys, either. I understand some of those guys might be 3rd liners, but just barely. Obviously Brodzinski will back himself back into a top 9 role...
Why did I get that huge face when I quoted Goldy?
For what it's worth Chris Peters says its very doubtful Cruz comes in now, which wouldn't really be a surprise.
It will be interesting to see what Bob does to now fill the bottom of the lineup as with the newest moves more seem to be leaving than coming in, and of the forwards who are coming in some probably were not expected to play right away and now may need to unless we hit the portal.
But the D corp is stacked for one more season...then it might get scary.
It will be interesting to see what Bob does to now fill the bottom of the lineup
Bottom of the forward lineup is not the problem. Plenty of grinders.
Many Gopher fans have been pissed off for literally 4 years (since) Casey bolted after one year (but at least Casey was the 8th overall pick) and actually accomplished something tangible as a freshman. Chaz essentially accomplished next to NOTHING as a freshman and he BOLTS…lol…he’s gonna get torched…?
More Delano, less private hockey arenas/hockey schools created just for them.
Why did I get that huge face when I quoted Goldy?
I think Jup said it has to do with that the emoji was from his/her phone and not one from the site.
I'm 50% factual and 50% sarcastic. When you get to know me, you will know which is which.
As Mike Tice would say--- Everyone Calm Down. We will be fine.
This also reminds me of the reaction from the 1st half of this past year, and as I recall, I was sitting at TD Garden watching the Gophers in the Frozen Four a few weeks ago...
I'm 50% factual and 50% sarcastic. When you get to know me, you will know which is which.
Chaz was pretty much torched the entire year.
Faber/LaCombe/Johnson/Koster/Chesley/
Mittelstadt/Staudacher/Fish/Thomas
What are the odds we go into the season with that 9 defensemen?
Chaz was pretty much torched the entire year. Faber/LaCombe/Johnson/Koster/Chesley/ Mittelstadt/Staudacher/Fish/Thomas What are the odds we go into the season with that 9 defensemen?
Defense will be fine, even if it means Thomas is pushed a year or someone like Staudacher transfers. I'd say about 50/50 it's that 9, otherwise probably 8 of them.
Lucius had 19 points in 24 games. Certainly not nothing, but he was mainly playing with Meyers and Knies. I think we can replace that production.
Lucius had 19 points in 24 games. Certainly not nothing, but he was mainly playing with Meyers and Knies. I think we can replace that production.
As a healthy first rounder he would have taken a huge step in production. Big jumps happen for players like that between year 1 and year 2. See: the Michigan guys
Cole Spicer may be a last minute high scholly offer pickup
That's certainly possible. No guarantee he would be healthy. And he was the worst player on his line most of the time. Maybe he would have turned into something awesome. Don't suspect he will be tearing up the NHL with the jets next season.
That’s certainly possible. No guarantee he would be healthy. And he was the worst player on his line most of the time. Maybe he would have turned into something awesome. Don’t suspect he will be tearing up the NHL with the jets next season.
Every team in the country would love to have the third best player on a dominant line with Meyers and Knies.
I don't suspect he will be tearing up the NHL next year. That's not the point. With one more year in college yes he could have maybe stepped right into the NHL after. The Gophers probably lost 70+ points today between the three players.
I'm not sure what point you think you're making. Obviously a healthy Lucius would be a big asset in year 2.
My point is saying "worst player on his line" makes it sound like he wasn't the 3rd best forward on the team in most of those games. It's not necessarily the loss of him that stings most today. It's the loss of three top nine forwards in one day.
Lucius had 19 points in 24 games. Certainly not nothing, but he was mainly playing with Meyers and Knies. I think we can replace that production.
As a healthy first rounder he would have taken a huge step in production. Big jumps happen for players like that between year 1 and year 2. See: the Michigan guys
Or he’d have been hurt a bunch again next year. Not trying to knock the kid, but he does have a history of not being able to stay healthy.
That’s certainly possible. No guarantee he would be healthy. And he was the worst player on his line most of the time. Maybe he would have turned into something awesome. Don’t suspect he will be tearing up the NHL with the jets next season.
Every team in the country would love to have the third best player on a dominant line with Meyers and Knies. I don’t suspect he will be tearing up the NHL next year. That’s not the point. With one more year in college yes he could have maybe stepped right into the NHL after. The Gophers probably lost 70+ points today between the three players.
You aren’t replacing those three players with players that will score zero points, so you aren’t really losing 70 pts. Let’s see how the roster shakes out before talking about the loss of scoring.
That’s certainly possible. No guarantee he would be healthy. And he was the worst player on his line most of the time. Maybe he would have turned into something awesome. Don’t suspect he will be tearing up the NHL with the jets next season.
I bet you he’s in the WHL next season.
Now that we know Chaz is gone, and possibly Cruz, why is Broz leaving? It ain’t because of playing time.
That’s certainly possible. No guarantee he would be healthy. And he was the worst player on his line most of the time. Maybe he would have turned into something awesome. Don’t suspect he will be tearing up the NHL with the jets next season.
I bet you he’s in the WHL next season.
I agree. Wonder if they will try to swing something to get Chaz (Portland) and Cruz (Seattle) on the same WHL team.
Now that we know Chaz is gone, and possibly Cruz, why is Broz leaving. It ain’t because of playing time.
The cryptic guy said he had issues with the leadership group, but of course provided no actual information to back that up.
You aren’t replacing those three players with players that will score zero points, so you aren’t really losing 70 pts. Let’s see how the roster shakes out before talking about the loss of scoring.
Walker gives you 30 of those points right back, but at a team leadership cost... +Dornbach or Calder gets you to at least 50 of the points back probably.
As we've seen so often in Gopher hockey, Brody Lamb may get a call to come a year earlier than expected, too. Much like the Wild this year, next year may be an all-in year for the Gophers so I'd take a proven one year rental and let Lamb develop one more year for the reload.
It’s the loss of three top nine forwards in one day.
Who’s the 3rd forward?!?!?! Cruz? Or are you just going off GoldyShuffle’s cryptic inside info and pm’s.
Keep your stick on the ice...
Ashton Calder is going to PSU so Dornbach/Mastrosimone seem to be the best options in the portal and I have full trust in Shuffle that Smilanic is probably a locker room cancer if that's the reputation out there.
You aren’t replacing those three players with players that will score zero points, so you aren’t really losing 70 pts. Let’s see how the roster shakes out before talking about the loss of scoring.
Walker gives you 30 of those points right back, but at a team leadership cost… +Dornbach or Calder gets you to at least 50 of the points back probably.
I don’t think Sammy is coming back.
If you include Mittelstadt I'm counting 13 forwards but let's call it 12 and say we need to add three forwards. Here's a list to watch:
Walker
Lamb
Dornbach
Mastrosimone (East coast, rare for UMN)
Cole Spicer
Nick Moldenhauer
What do all the Michigan recruits do when Pearson is out?