Rombach to Nashville at pick 35.
Phillips to Calgary in Round 3. Ultimately ends up as the second future Gopher taken.
Moe to NJ in the 3rd. Good rise for him
I thought these recruits were supposed to be garbage... 😉
I thought these recruits were supposed to be garbage... 😉
if rombach would've been picked 3 spots higher, he'd be better.
Not a committed player but continuing the discussion here...Blake Vanek goes in Round 3. Big bet on his projection.
Mace'o Phillips is a 3rd round pick that can't make the Gophers team this season. 😉 He will turn 20 years old during his freshmen season with the Gophers during the 2026/2027 season.
Not a committed player but continuing the discussion here...Blake Vanek goes in Round 3. Big bet on his projection.
just threw the same in the potential future recruits. If he has a decent year in the WHL, I would strongly suspect we see him in a maroon and gold sweater
Mace'o Phillips is a 3rd round pick that can't make the Gophers team this season. 😉 He will turn 20 years old during his freshmen season with the Gophers during the 2026/2027 season.
i hear he is terrible and can barely skate. all gopher recruits should be 1st-2nd rounders and we should get the Mr Hockey winner every year
/s
sorry to derail, had a lot to say in response to this post earlier in this thread
Wood: think we all knew it would be a 1 and done. Nashville is at the point of needing bodies... Didn't really seem to get much better this year so can't say another year would've helped, other than that he'd be a focal point this year...
Re: Wood
my opinion is that he got much better as the season went on. First half, he did seem very unsure of himself, and he was overthinking the team game. At times he looked lost in the offensive zone, on top of him being a major defensive liability. Many first half games where he was a total non-factor. However, he was excellent vs. St. Thomas and Bemidji. When we took that ridiculous L up in Bemidji, Wood must've had like 30 shot attempts by himself in that one game.
Second half and down the stretch is when Wood really started to shine for me. Particularly the Wisconsin and OSU series at Mariucci. In that awful ND playoff series, he was one of very few guys who looked fully engaged and mentally sharp. Over the second half, he became a much more versatile and consistent scoring threat, basically using more of the tools in his toolbox. His shot selection/placement, playmaking ability, and his awareness without the puck all improved significantly. By Feb/March, Wood was able to sustain the attack in sync with his linemates rather than gunning for one-and-done rush chances. The coaching staff must've done a pretty good job of breaking down his game film and giving Wood feedback.
That being said, Wood has definitely not been a fan favorite despite the solid numbers + effort he put up for us. I can think of a few reasons why that is.
First, Gopher fans often need a whipping boy to yell at on TV. The last one, Brodzinski, he finally moved on and Wood has some surface-level similarities in his game. I'm only half-joking here.
Second, Wood's skating ability is one of his major weaknesses, and the Gophers are supposed to all be good skaters who can fly up and down the rink. To this point, I think Wood's skating only looks worse than it is, because he has goofy size/proportions that distort how his stride looks. You can rewatch the games and see that he was winning plenty of races, leading rushes and beating defenders with speed, all in ways that are outright impossible for a bad skater to pull off.
Lastly, the occasional mental lapses and boneheaded plays that Wood made were the types of mistakes that Peewee coaches go ballistic over. Wood's habit of shooting directly into the goalie's chest, or sloppy breakout passes into the middle of the ice- everyone knows those are stupid glaring mistakes, and it might cause a highly-attentive fan to lose sight of a guy's point production etc. I caught myself doing that with Brodzinski, lol; I often hated watching him on the ice in 2022-23 and was shocked to see he had ~nearly the same point totals as Knies did that year. Whereas other players might be prone to gaffes that are more subtle, maybe they're worse mistakes overall, while not producing as many points that would cancel out their errors.
Chesley: this is the one that's probably most confusing to me. Would've probably been our PP1 guy (for better or worse) plus big minutes again which may have set him up to come into the NHL lineup instead of the AHL. Washington seems to really like him so they may have pushed harder on him to come in at that point.
Re: Chesley
Luke Mittelstadt would be running PP1 over Chesley, it's not even close. I was also confused by the Chesley signing, I've noticed over the past 3 years that the pro hockey people all fawned over him. I never understood the hype- always been kinda bearish about Chesley but was pleasantly surprised by his play this year.
I was often annoyed at freshman / sophomore Chesley, particularly the random braindead passes to the other team at the blueline, or the stupid penalties, but Bob did have him crunching tons of minutes with key defensive assignments so maybe I'm just blind.
John (LJ) Mooney goes to Montreal in the 4th round.
Some day will he get to play with Cole Cuafield on the smallest line EVER!!!!!! 😀
@walker-barely-know-her I mean I put that up to just getting more comfortable with your teammates and playing the B10. He didn't take over games really ever (imo). he finally got a little bit of mojo going on the PP at years end, but his lack of scoring there was really odd to me. Point splits are the same. Boneheaded turnovers became less, but he also took some bad penalties (the jumping on a guys back, taking the tripping that killed our 5v3 against UMass
seems like he enjoyed his year and he tried. All you can really ask for a guy new to the team/roster coming in. He would've for sure been an asset coming back but also get moving on. Either way its in the past now. Starting to get excited again for next year now that the sadness of end of year has passed
Honestly I think people’s perception of Brodzinski would’ve been a lot different if he came in a year later like he was originally supposed to, AND wasn’t on a (top six) line with two speed demons which was kinda weird from a chemistry standpoint. I think he was a very good college player when he eventually played on a slower grinder line with Nelson and started using his body more as a year 4/5 guy. I didn’t hesitate to criticize him by any means but admittedly some of it wasn’t his fault.
Honestly I think people’s perception of Brodzinski would’ve been a lot different if he came in a year later like he was originally supposed to, AND wasn’t on a (top six) line with two speed demons which was kinda weird from a chemistry standpoint. I think he was a very good college player when he eventually played on a slower grinder line with Nelson and started using his body more as a year 4/5 guy. I didn’t hesitate to criticize him by any means but admittedly some of it wasn’t his fault.
Totally agree with this. Flawed player but natural scorer; put him in the right role and you have a solid contributor. Circumstances were not ideal early in his career but he grew over time.
I thought these recruits were supposed to be garbage... 😉
No one has ever said these players are "garbage". They are good recruits that can fill out a really good recruiting year.
But when they are the best players of the class, it isn't recruiting that can build a national championship team. And our classes are this way for a few years.
After years of getting our share, we are missing out on the top echelon of each recruiting class and it isn't unreasonable to ask why.
I thought these recruits were supposed to be garbage... 😉
No one has ever said these players are "garbage". They are good recruits that can fill out a really good recruiting year.
But when they are the best players of the class, it isn't recruiting that can build a national championship team. And our classes are this way for a few years.
After years of getting our share, we are missing out on the top echelon of each recruiting class and it isn't unreasonable to ask why.
I am just trolling. Pulling the pin on a dummy grenade and watching the aftermath.
I think it is fair to say - accurate perhaps more appropriately - it has not been a good calendar year of recruiting.
I do, however, think the players in the current pipeline get significantly underrated. Lot of good players incoming.
I think if there has been any criticism of the incoming class it’s that the Gophers lost more players than expected and haven’t jumped into the CHL pool to make up the difference, while our top competitors have.I thought these recruits were supposed to be garbage... 😉
No one has ever said these players are "garbage". They are good recruits that can fill out a really good recruiting year.
But when they are the best players of the class, it isn't recruiting that can build a national championship team. And our classes are this way for a few years.
After years of getting our share, we are missing out on the top echelon of each recruiting class and it isn't unreasonable to ask why.
I am just trolling. Pulling the pin a dummy grenade and watching the aftermath.
I think it is fair to say - accurate perhaps more appropriately - it has not been a good calendar year of recruiting.
I do, however, think the players in the current pipeline get significantly underrated. Lot of good players incoming.
I think if there has been any criticism of the incoming class it’s that the Gophers lost more players than expected and haven’t jumped into the CHL pool to make up the difference, while our top competitors have.I thought these recruits were supposed to be garbage... 😉
No one has ever said these players are "garbage". They are good recruits that can fill out a really good recruiting year.
But when they are the best players of the class, it isn't recruiting that can build a national championship team. And our classes are this way for a few years.
After years of getting our share, we are missing out on the top echelon of each recruiting class and it isn't unreasonable to ask why.
I am just trolling. Pulling the pin a dummy grenade and watching the aftermath.
I think it is fair to say - accurate perhaps more appropriately - it has not been a good calendar year of recruiting.
I do, however, think the players in the current pipeline get significantly underrated. Lot of good players incoming.
a lot of these guys who end up playing for other B1G teams and having all this bizarre online hype around them- so many of them end up not panning out.
That Will Horcoff kid who came in at mid-season for Michigan, he just got drafted in the 1st round yesterday, he was an utterly unremarkable NCAA player in my opinion. Wolverines also picked up ASU's # 1 d-man in the portal last year (Lovell?) and that guy ended up leaving at mid-season, with only a handful of assists and a horrible +/- to show for it. I think I saw a highlight of Rhett Pitlick in a Mavs jersey dangling him inside out, lol.
We should never doubt the ability of a clown like Naurato to completely ruin young players' development. Hell, you can even look at a guy like Clayton Phillips, who at one time was a highly touted pro prospect but has accomplished nothing since he left Minnesota and ended up at PSU.
Kvasnicka to the Isles in Round 7. Expected him to get drafted but things got interesting.
Yeah these are all reasonable takes imo that aren’t contradictory. I like the recruits the gophers have but ideally we’d also be in the mix for McKenna and he wouldn’t be deciding on which B1G rival he’s going to. The gophers didn’t have a bad season last year but they never appeared capable of beating MSU either and they only appear to be widening the gap. Penn State also being in the mix for some of these guys over us isn’t exactly helpful and Michigan always has solid recruiting classes, it’s hard to forget that they beat us in the B1G tourney three straight times at home 😪.
I think all of this can be acknowledged without arguing that the sky is falling, the B1G is loaded with talent and $$$ and at least currently it seems like this program is a little behind in terms of the arms race. I gotta imagine us message board posters without any power to change things aren’t the only ones asking questions about this and it’ll be interesting to see how things shake out the next few years. The U doesn’t seem to be making a concerted effort to get significantly older like other smaller successful programs so I don’t really see how they can keep up long term without eventually winning some of these recruiting battles.
The real scary thing is looking at how bare the cupboards are after this year. Does anyone get drafted next year? I think Grimes gets picked as an overager if he has a good year, but after that, not much. Of course things can change on a dime, players we’ve never heard of before could be commits by next June.
The real scary thing is looking at how bare the cupboards are after this year. Does anyone get drafted next year?
Unlikely, but only two players will be eligible. That will change. I am more interested in retention next offseason (Ludtke, any surprise departures). Retention generally been good under Motzko but all with a path to leave did so this past offseason.
Yeah these are all reasonable takes imo that aren’t contradictory. I like the recruits the gophers have but ideally we’d also be in the mix for McKenna and he wouldn’t be deciding on which B1G rival he’s going to. The gophers didn’t have a bad season last year but they never appeared capable of beating MSU either and they only appear to be widening the gap. Penn State also being in the mix for some of these guys over us isn’t exactly helpful and Michigan always has solid recruiting classes, it’s hard to forget that they beat us in the B1G tourney three straight times at home 😪.
I think all of this can be acknowledged without arguing that the sky is falling, the B1G is loaded with talent and $$$ and at least currently it seems like this program is a little behind in terms of the arms race. I gotta imagine us message board posters without any power to change things aren’t the only ones asking questions about this and it’ll be interesting to see how things shake out the next few years. The U doesn’t seem to be making a concerted effort to get significantly older like other smaller successful programs so I don’t really see how they can keep up long term without eventually winning some of these recruiting battles.
with our roster last year we should've blown out Sparty and their moronic fanbase* at Mariucci at least once. The mental engagement down the stretch is what did us in despite an on paper roster that was better than many we've had that went much farther in March.
*genuinely I have never seen dumber fans of any team in any sport than MSU people
Yeah these are all reasonable takes imo that aren’t contradictory. I like the recruits the gophers have but ideally we’d also be in the mix for McKenna and he wouldn’t be deciding on which B1G rival he’s going to. The gophers didn’t have a bad season last year but they never appeared capable of beating MSU either and they only appear to be widening the gap. Penn State also being in the mix for some of these guys over us isn’t exactly helpful and Michigan always has solid recruiting classes, it’s hard to forget that they beat us in the B1G tourney three straight times at home 😪.
I think all of this can be acknowledged without arguing that the sky is falling, the B1G is loaded with talent and $$$ and at least currently it seems like this program is a little behind in terms of the arms race. I gotta imagine us message board posters without any power to change things aren’t the only ones asking questions about this and it’ll be interesting to see how things shake out the next few years. The U doesn’t seem to be making a concerted effort to get significantly older like other smaller successful programs so I don’t really see how they can keep up long term without eventually winning some of these recruiting battles.
In the recruiting classes from last year on, do you see a forward that has the potential to score 20 goals? Remember, before you answer, Jimmy Snuggerud was just a 22 goal/season average guy.
We lost 71 goals, our top 4 scoring forwards, from last season. Then we lost a 10 goal scoring defenseman and an 8 goal scoring defenseman, and our top 3 scoring defensemen.
The guys we have coming back Lamb, Clark, Ziemer, Pahlson, Hendrickson up front and Mittelstadt and Gruba on the blue line are solid players that can complement the top level players, but it is really asking a lot to have them be the top 6 forwards and top defensive pairing.
And, will we have top level goaltending. THis team has not recruited a top level goalie in a dozen years (unless you count Airey). We have managed to get by with transfers and a walk on but why we can't recruit such a critical position remains a mystery to me.
Yeah these are all reasonable takes imo that aren’t contradictory. I like the recruits the gophers have but ideally we’d also be in the mix for McKenna and he wouldn’t be deciding on which B1G rival he’s going to. The gophers didn’t have a bad season last year but they never appeared capable of beating MSU either and they only appear to be widening the gap. Penn State also being in the mix for some of these guys over us isn’t exactly helpful and Michigan always has solid recruiting classes, it’s hard to forget that they beat us in the B1G tourney three straight times at home 😪.
I think all of this can be acknowledged without arguing that the sky is falling, the B1G is loaded with talent and $$$ and at least currently it seems like this program is a little behind in terms of the arms race. I gotta imagine us message board posters without any power to change things aren’t the only ones asking questions about this and it’ll be interesting to see how things shake out the next few years. The U doesn’t seem to be making a concerted effort to get significantly older like other smaller successful programs so I don’t really see how they can keep up long term without eventually winning some of these recruiting battles.
In the recruiting classes from last year on, do you see a forward that has the potential to score 20 goals? Remember, before you answer, Jimmy Snuggerud was just a 22 goal/season average guy.
We lost 71 goals, our top 4 scoring forwards, from last season. Then we lost a 10 goal scoring defenseman and an 8 goal scoring defenseman, and our top 3 scoring defensemen.
The guys we have coming back Lamb, Clark, Ziemer, Pahlson, Hendrickson up front and Mittelstadt and Gruba on the blue line are solid players that can complement the top level players, but it is really asking a lot to have them be the top 6 forwards and top defensive pairing.
And, will we have top level goaltending. THis team has not recruited a top level goalie in a dozen years (unless you count Airey). We have managed to get by with transfers and a walk on but why we can't recruit such a critical position remains a mystery to me.
In general, I agree with you and the sentiment about the trajectory of recruiting.
I think the lack of CHL prospects when the others in the BIG are getting them at the same time as losing out on Berchild and West is causing concern.
That being said, Lamb scored 17g last year so yes I think he can score 20.
WMU won it all with 1x20g scorer and 6 others with double digit goals. This Gopher team will need to win with depth, not a dominant top line.
I agree with all of that, it'd be one thing if the coaches were making a concerted effort to get older like some of the smaller programs and change tactics but they're not really doing that either (not saying I want them to but it's a strategy that's shown to have success). But when you build a younger talented roster like the Gophers and other blue blood teams do you kinda need some high end talent to make it work, especially against older clutch and grab teams. You're right, it's currently a lot of good complimentary players at forward and D but there really isn't anyone to lead the PP, play first line center, or be an elite scoring winger.
And as far as goalie I will admit that the Gophers play a bit more of an open style that puts extra stress on a goalie (similar to Edmonton) but that's all the more reason to try and get an elite goalie with NHL prospects for once. This state doesn't produce that many NHL caliber goalies but when they do you'd hope the U would be in the mix (Stalock, Oettinger, and Lyon) but that hasn't really been the case.
I agree with all of that, it'd be one thing if the coaches were making a concerted effort to get older like some of the smaller programs and change tactics but they're not really doing that either (not saying I want them to but it's a strategy that's shown to have success). But when you build a younger talented roster like the Gophers and other blue blood teams do you kinda need some high end talent to make it work, especially against older clutch and grab teams. You're right, it's currently a lot of good complimentary players at forward and D but there really isn't anyone to lead the PP, play first line center, or be an elite scoring winger.
And as far as goalie I will admit that the Gophers play a bit more of an open style that puts extra stress on a goalie (similar to Edmonton) but that's all the more reason to try and get an elite goalie with NHL prospects for once. This state doesn't produce that many NHL caliber goalies but when they do you'd hope the U would be in the mix (Stalock, Oettinger, and Lyon) but that hasn't really been the case.
1. Luke Mittelstadt can run the PP, and Gruba has a lot of untapped potential to. Brody Lamb is a just-below-elite scoring winger at this point, and if he can finish more consistently over the full season he's there. First line center is the gap, yes, but hopefully Ludtke fills that need well.
2. We had Mat Robson at his peak and yet those were our statistically worst seasons as a program in the modern era. In 2018-19 we finished <30th in the Pairwise. LaFontaine and Moe took over from Robson, and both were drafted, higher pedigree goalies. Moe fizzled out with Wisconsin; Laffer gave us one elite season in net before slumping and being significantly outperformed by Justen Close the next year.
He can run the PP and has in the past but there's a reason he was further down the depth chart in that regard when Rinzel was here.
Robson was a good goalie who played on a team that wasn't great but it'd be nice to get the NHL caliber goalies in this state when they exist (which is kinda rare admittedly) or find another pipeline elsewhere.
He can run the PP and has in the past but there's a reason he was further down the depth chart in that regard when Rinzel was here.
Robson was a good goalie who played on a team that wasn't great but it'd be nice to get the NHL caliber goalies in this state when they exist (which is kinda rare admittedly) or find another pipeline elsewhere.
There is a LOT of good MN goalie talent coming through the ranks right now. Carter Casey, Anders Miller, Luke Carrithers, Xavier Wendt, & Kaenan Smith are all guys that will play for big time programs. Just need to get one…
He can run the PP and has in the past but there's a reason he was further down the depth chart in that regard when Rinzel was here.
Robson was a good goalie who played on a team that wasn't great but it'd be nice to get the NHL caliber goalies in this state when they exist (which is kinda rare admittedly) or find another pipeline elsewhere.
There is a LOT of good MN goalie talent coming through the ranks right now. Carter Casey, Anders Miller, Luke Carrithers, Xavier Wendt, & Kaenan Smith are all guys that will play for big time programs. Just need to get one…
is Carter Casey related to Jon Casey? I was at the Met when Jon Casey got his 1st home shut out by beating the Staney cup champs Edmonton Oilers 😎
Aloha!
@gopher6 He is not related. I called one of his games on the radio last year so I looked it up before I went on the air. I was hoping he was.
I was recently informed by a GPLer that I'm related to Airey
More proof tBob can't recruit. 😎
https://twitter.com/scottcwheeler/status/1940438761894264870
I also think people don’t appreciate how good Ludtke will be this year. He was impactful if not dominant every shift in the NCAA tournament game against us in 23/24. He was hurt this past year and went under the radar.
@boninthebear these are nice players but he is not recruiting well. This team lacks true high end talent. No one on this roster is good enough to take a game over. Haven't not had that since what pre covid?
@boninthebear these are nice players but he is not recruiting well. This team lacks true high end talent. No one on this roster is good enough to take a game over. Haven't not had that since what pre covid?
Logan Cooley, Matthew Knies and Jimmy Snuggerud would like a word....
I was recently informed by a GPLer that I'm related to Airey
@jankwi01 Ridiculous take. I have concerns about the direction recruiting is going, and obviously some people here overreact to the slightest criticism of Bob. But to say we haven’t had high end talent since 2020 is ludicrous.
I typed up a few things, but @Sunbone sums it up well. Paul Kariya the only good player in college hockey history perhaps.
@boninthebear these are nice players but he is not recruiting well. This team lacks true high end talent. No one on this roster is good enough to take a game over. Haven't not had that since what pre covid?
Ladies and gentlemen, post of the year nominee!
Re-reading it...double negative may be doing some heavy lifting. Indicating the last time we did not have said player was early in Motzko tenure.
@boninthebear these are nice players but he is not recruiting well. This team lacks true high end talent. No one on this roster is good enough to take a game over. Haven't not had that since what pre covid?
Just ignore jank. That's his schtick. He basically got exiled from the 247 board for being like this. Do you know how hard that is??
Yup, gotta read it close. I think he's saying we don't have a player like that this year.Re-reading it...double negative may be doing some heavy lifting. Indicating the last time we did not have said player was early in Motzko tenure.
Almost like the top 5 worst win@boninthebear these are nice players but he is not recruiting well. This team lacks true high end talent. No one on this roster is good enough to take a game over. Haven't not had that since what pre covid?
Ladies and gentlemen, post of the year nominee!
I was recently informed by a GPLer that I'm related to Airey
A real shame for him he was just not even two inches taller. Most tools look to be NHL average to good save for the frame which may prevent him from getting significant NHL time. Hope he beats the odds.
Maybe Mooney will end the shootout goal drought!