Gophers are in great position to get Willis and Schneider. Let things play out.
All this doom and gloom and yet just two months ago they landed George Arnold.
Gophers are in great position to get Willis and Schneider. Let things play out.
and Joey Cullen…who could be a guy that accelerates school and plays draft year in college.
Gophers are in great position to get Willis and Schneider. Let things play out.
and Joey Cullen…who could be a guy that accelerates school and plays draft year in college.
one would assume he'd play 2 years at the NTDP unless he really wants to get in and play with his brothers early.
For ever and always, the other top tier schools are also allowed to get top tier talent. I mean end of the day, there's always a guy that Minnesota has that boy, UND, UW, etc. would've loved to have, and vice versa.
Would the Rucks have been fun to get? Yep! Does not getting them doom the program to never sniffing the tournament or a frozen four? Goodness gracious, no.
If they get the trio of Willis, Schneider, and Joey (who should likely be penciled in atp), all the sudden you're kicking back and smelling the roses again.
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We should hire Micki DuPont as a coach. Seems to be our biggest recruiting tool. Hire the dad as a coach and hope the son follows.
Always surprising to see just how short people's memories can be...
I think it's a case of not understanding where things went wrong, and how they can be/are being remedied.
I just wanted to chip in here that Brett Larson did say that the hardest part about recruiting at Minnesota is going to be saying no to some very talented hockey players. Fitzhenry was probably the top player in this group to commit, but successful teams very rarely operate successfully by brining in a whole class of young players.
The magic of roster building will be maximizing the eligibility clock rule that starts the academic year following an athlete's 19th birthday. If Larson is able to get the majority of talented players to come the year after their 19th birthday, then I think you are going to see plenty of success.
The only players starting their careers this season under their 19th birthday will be first rounder Wyatt Cullen and Jacob Kvasnicka who played two years at the NTDP and the extra year in the WHL with Penticton.
Looking forward Casey turns 19 in December and Katz turns 20 next March. Conboy, Jarvis, Geiger, McArthur timelines will be interesting. Conboy made Wheeler's honorable mention list for the 2027 draft.
But, firing your coach every 4-5 years and hoping the new coach brings half his team from the old school here isn't a sustainable recruiting model
bizarre comment. I don't think anyone is planning to repeat this kind of offseason in the future. Last time we changed coaches 8 years ago, Bob didn't bring any guys with him other than B.Brodzinski, whose dad + older bro played for the Gophers.
Thanks Jank!@blackheart **** north dakota.
Now you'll probably really be thrilled when you find out the two guys that committed today.
We seem to be like…the fifth best option for blue chip western college hockey prospects. That might be generous.
almost like we haven’t recruiting Canada in forever outside a very small subset of players and have no well established relationships up there.
the Everett connection is there as is the Kitchener and Penticton one now. Have to keep ramping up that type of pipeline
Not even just CHL players, other junior players, too. We've really lost market share over the last couple of years. Gonna be fun watching UND, Duluth, and Mich/Mich State raise a banner while we catch up. Mich State, Denver, and Michigan stealing MN talent. I'm not one to be "oh geez whiz, shucks" while our contemporaries succeed as we "ramp up our pipeline". Larson better start pulling some of these blue chippers, or else we are quickly entering "jobber to the stars" territory. Or, we become a program of "roster building" where we struggle for 4-5 years until we can make a run, then go back to being mediocre for another extended recruiting cycle.
Yawn. Recruiting FOMO happens every time a rival gets on a heater. I remember last summer when Penn St was the media-proclaimed team of destiny. Hell even last August a near-retirement Bob Motzko out-recruited the all powerful Bryn Chyzyk for Cullen, Conboy, Geiger and Casey.
We’ll have ours. Joey Cullen in August. McKinnon is a legacy, Schneider and/or Willis, etc. Lots of talent in that MN 2010 class.
This isn’t to diminish what North Dakota has done; Fitzhenry and the Rucks are phenomenal players. But just because one team gets hot doesn’t mean our favorite team is falling apart at the seams. Those things aren’t mutually inclusive.
Sorry, watching our four biggest rivals make a Frozen Four while we sat back and did nothing isn't exactly the best taste to have in your mouth. I'm hopeful. But, don't see Larson moving the needle with these big commits right off the bat. I'm sure things will change. I was told how negative and awful I was last off season when no one wanted to admit the train wreck coming down the tracks. Excited for the new players and improved team. But, firing your coach every 4-5 years and hoping the new coach brings half his team from the old school here isn't a sustainable recruiting model.
You could tell last season was gonna be a struggle pretty early on in the offseason with all the bodies that left. Same way you can tell this upcoming season will be much much better with the talent added in all three positions. I think most who follow the sport would tell you the same thing.
Just how much better is up for debate but how I see the team now, their floor is an NCAA tournament team. Missing the NCAA’s with this roster would be massively underperforming.
I just wanted to chip in here that Brett Larson did say that the hardest part about recruiting at Minnesota is going to be saying no to some very talented hockey players. Fitzhenry was probably the top player in this group to commit, but successful teams very rarely operate successfully by brining in a whole class of young players.
The magic of roster building will be maximizing the eligibility clock rule that starts the academic year following an athlete's 19th birthday. If Larson is able to get the majority of talented players to come the year after their 19th birthday, then I think you are going to see plenty of success.
The only players starting their careers this season under their 19th birthday will be first rounder Wyatt Cullen and Jacob Kvasnicka who played two years at the NTDP and the extra year in the WHL with Penticton.
Looking forward Casey turns 19 in December and Katz turns 20 next March. Conboy, Jarvis, Geiger, McArthur timelines will be interesting. Conboy made Wheeler's honorable mention list for the 2027 draft.
Agree with the overall sentiment here but we absolutely wanted Fitzhenry without a shadow of a doubt lol. Players of his caliber are the exception to the rule.
No doubt Fitzhenry is a miss. Great talent and may be right in the sweet spot where you get two or three years from him. Just need to make sure the losses do not stack up, and smaller classes likely on the way regardless.
Could we have a chance…. Bucci says MN or MI for DuPont.
Now I feel like I did when it was Kessel watch. Hoping for the same result. Kind of cool if we become a destination school for more than just top Minnesotans/Americans.
Excitement was fun for about 2 seconds. Off to MI.
Haha the hope I had just immediately dashed. I should’ve known
Sounds like Michigan. Mike Grinnell of Spittin Chiclets quote tweeted his own tweet about “hearing some news on DuPont soon” with a Michigan flag. Would’ve been cool to see DuPont in the maroon and gold but certainly not the end of the world.
I think Michigan might finally win the Big Ten regular season championship.
One thing I'm very confused on.
Michigan has a lot of blue chip talent in the D core. Yet in the same breath, they supposedly had all the room in the world to make guarantees of this that and the other.
I know you make room for DuPont, but lol
One thing I'm very confused on.
Michigan has a lot of blue chip talent in the D core. Yet in the same breath, they supposedly had all the room in the world to make guarantees of this that and the other.
I know you make room for DuPont, but lol
I mean one, Dupont has not announced, Michigan has not announced, etc. Whole thing is kind of strange as of typing this that its running off of one or two beat writers. Same thing when McKenna "committed" with multiple places getting rumored before the official and also a bummer for a guy of this stature to not get to have that moment to do so himself.
Secondarily, who knows what they did or didn't promise versus what we did or didn't promise. Some coaches have integrity for that, some do not. No kid who goes there is going to know until the dust settles, but if they did promise him and Reid PP1 time, I would imagine Mews and his camp are not going to be impressed with that, particularly given how good he looked last year before he was hurt. They develop talent well (as do we). Lots of reasons for someone to go there outside of just the role promised. That said, some coaches are find with stepping on toes of players they think are lower down the dev list and that they can manage the personalities. BU tried it last year and went up in flames.
They develop talent well (as do we). Lots of reasons for someone to go there outside of just the role promised.
Oh no doubt, I'm just seeing the talking heads talking about how Michigan can offer him this role and that role while we've been hearing about them having just so much trouble finding spots for their guys already.
It's just funny how the conversation shifts so quickly.
They develop talent well (as do we). Lots of reasons for someone to go there outside of just the role promised.
Oh no doubt, I'm just seeing the talking heads talking about how Michigan can offer him this role and that role while we've been hearing about them having just so much trouble finding spots for their guys already.
It's just funny how the conversation shifts so quickly.
yes the discussion that he can walk in and be the RHD1 on their team like that wouldn't be the case everywhere if you're saying that's his talent level is laughable. Maybe they came back and said it's all you (would surprise me). But yes talking heads acting saying he's a RHD so he's the 1 like Michigan has none is completely wrong given Mews is back and was their PP1 guy to start the year. I'd take Mews in a heartbeat if he wanted to transfer and wouldn't be surprised if he would press Dupont heavily to be QBing the 1st unit if given a fair shake given he's 3 years older and with more experience (not to mention he's no slouch putting up 84 points his last year in the OHL and 7 in 7 games at the WJC that year)
@eric-vegoe he did not say no to fitzhenry and if he did he's a moron. I understand you don't want a bunch of 18 year olds but Minnesota has always won titles with top talent and that tends to include some young players.
but successful teams very rarely operate successfully by bringing in a whole class of young players
This seems like one of those classic hockey superstitions w/o much recent evidence to back it up.
- Our 2022-23 team brought in like 10-12 freshmen, w/ 3 freshman D who all logged decent minutes
- All the Frozen Four teams in Vegas had a core bunch of skilled young/freshman players.
- Last year's Frozen Four: same thing.
- Two years ago: same thing, except Denver was a bit older up front.
if anything I feel like having a bunch of talented youngsters is just table stakes at this point, and the real differentiator ends up being whether they mesh well with complementary veteran depth.
100% correct.One thing I'm very confused on.
Michigan has a lot of blue chip talent in the D core. Yet in the same breath, they supposedly had all the room in the world to make guarantees of this that and the other.
I know you make room for DuPont, but lol
I mean one, Dupont has not announced, Michigan has not announced, etc. Whole thing is kind of strange as of typing this that its running off of one or two beat writers. Same thing when McKenna "committed" with multiple places getting rumored before the official and also a bummer for a guy of this stature to not get to have that moment to do so himself.
Secondarily, who knows what they did or didn't promise versus what we did or didn't promise. Some coaches have integrity for that, some do not. No kid who goes there is going to know until the dust settles, but if they did promise him and Reid PP1 time, I would imagine Mews and his camp are not going to be impressed with that, particularly given how good he looked last year before he was hurt. They develop talent well (as do we). Lots of reasons for someone to go there outside of just the role promised. That said, some coaches are find with stepping on toes of players they think are lower down the dev list and that they can manage the personalities. BU tried it last year and went up in flames.
@eric-vegoe he did not say no to fitzhenry and if he did he's a moron. I understand you don't want a bunch of 18 year olds but Minnesota has always won titles with top talent and that tends to include some young players.
I didn't write that post clearly. Fitzhenry was a top target and he picked UND. I think Schlossman made it clear in the commitment article that it was down to Minnesota and North Dakota. The Fighting Hawks coaching staff also wanted that information out there that they won one against the Gophers. They had lost a couple previous recruiting battles in that rivalry.
I'm just suggesting that missing on Fitzhenry doesn't mean try and fill the spots with four other kids in that age group who aren't as good.
They had lost a couple previous recruiting battles in that rivalry.
Like perhaps one Freddie Schneider?
Everyone feeling better now?
Everyone feeling better now?
People are starting to question Bryn Chyzyk’s legitimacy. Does he still have it? Or are his best days behind him?
Gophers are in great position to get Willis and Schneider. Let things play out.
1 down, 1 to go. Willis will be next.
Gophers are in great position to get Willis and Schneider. Let things play out.
1 down, 1 to go. Willis will be next.
Is Willis eligible to commit? Birthday indicates he may have to wait until August, though of course he may have accelerated a la Kvasnicka.
believe he is an August commit date yes
Bode Laylin goes Round 6 to the Flames.
KJ Sauer is not talked about much anymore but he goes in Round 5 to the Flyers.
@bluebandit24 is Bode laylin expected to commit to us?
I would think so. They’re waiting to see how he looks in the dub before offering but he was great in the USHL.
@maroon_and_gold I actually like him family ties aside good mix of size and skill probably not a top line guy but could be a second power play guy.
Gophers are in great position to get Willis and Schneider. Let things play out.
1 down, 1 to go. Willis will be next.
Is Willis eligible to commit? Birthday indicates he may have to wait until August, though of course he may have accelerated a la Kvasnicka.
believe he is an August commit date yes
dunno why I thought he was August. But great news today to get him on board. Maybe the that he’s a 2028 draft kid
On this side of Matthew Tkachuk not being able to attend Notre Dame, virtually every late birthday with the NTDP accelerates whether they make it to campus or not.
Gophers are in great position to get Willis and Schneider. Let things play out.
1 down, 1 to go. Willis will be next.
Is Willis eligible to commit? Birthday indicates he may have to wait until August, though of course he may have accelerated a la Kvasnicka.
believe he is an August commit date yes
dunno why I thought he was August. But great news today to get him on board. Maybe the that he’s a 2028 draft kid
He was August. Must have accelerated.
White Bear Lake's Nash Roed added to the NTDP (along with Wisconsin commit Charlie Mineman and UMass commit Jake Prunty).
Roed is a player I foresee getting offered right away on August 1st
In 2000 we had a Shawn Roed from White Bear.White Bear Lake's Nash Roed added to the NTDP (along with Wisconsin commit Charlie Mineman and UMass commit Jake Prunty).