UNH 2021 Off-Season Thread: Finally!?!

[Darius]

Time for a new thread.

[Scott]

I agree!! Let's start off with some not-so-good-but-kind-of-expected news: Charlie Kelleher is leaving at the end of his senior year and will not be back in the Fall:

https://www.instagram.com/p/CM2JCuys...id=nlbedjxziov

[HockeyRef]

I agree!! Let's start off with some not-so-good-but-kind-of-expected news: Charlie Kelleher is leaving at the end of his senior year and will not be back in the Fall:

https://www.instagram.com/p/CM2JCuys...id=nlbedjxziov

That was the impression I had when I read that....

[Dan]

Didn’t Souza strongly imply in a press conference that Kelleher was returning for a fifth year? I wonder if he found a professional offer he couldn’t turn down or if he is entering the transfer portal as well? Would he rather explore those options than return to UNH? Is he moving on to a real career post graduation?

Regardless, this move makes room for the potential addition of a younger recruit like Turner or Gagne.

[NCAA watcher]

Sr.Tyler Ward	Sr.Jackson Pierson	So.Cam Gendron
Jr.Chase Stevenson	Sr.Filip Engaras	So.Nick Cafarelli
Sr.Eric McAdams	Jr.Lucas Herrmann	Fr.John Evans
Fr.Will Margel	Fr.Robert Cronin	Sr.Eric Esposito
Fr.Connor Sweeney	Sr.Joe Cipollone	So.Carsen Richels
Fr.Jack Ring		Jr.Joe Hankinson

So.Luke Reid	Jr.Kalle Eriksson
Sr.Will Mckinnon	Fr.Nick Ardanaz
Sr.Ryan Verrier	Fr.Alex Gagne
Fr.Colton Huard	So.Nikolai Jenson
So.Joe Nagle	Sr.Drew Hickey

Fr.Jed Balotti???????

Sr.TBD

So.Jeremy Forman

[HockeyRef]

Didn’t Souza strongly imply in a press conference that Kelleher was returning for a fifth year? I wonder if he found a professional offer he couldn’t turn down or if he is entering the transfer portal as well? Would he rather explore those options than return to UNH? Is he moving on to a real career post graduation?

Regardless, this move makes room for the potential addition of a younger recruit like Turner or Gagne.

Read today that the portal has a lot of skaters..can it be viewed? Bet he is going pro as you said.

[Chuck Murray]

Didn't Souza strongly imply in a press conference that Kelleher was returning for a fifth year? I wonder if he found a professional offer he couldn't turn down or if he is entering the transfer portal as well? Would he rather explore those options than return to UNH? Is he moving on to a real career post graduation?

Regardless, this move makes room for the potential addition of a younger recruit like Turner or Gagne.

I predict transfer portal. What kind of pro offer might be out there for a smallish kid with half the talent of his older brother, who never quite got to 50 games in the AHL before heading overseas himself? Unless of course, Charlie and Tyler plan to team up in Sweden?? One or the other (of course, I'm only guessing), but it feels like someone may have reached out and undercut MS7, and sold Charlie on how using the transfer portal could work out to his benefit?

[boblav1]

Read today that the portal has a lot of skaters..can it be viewed? Bet he is going pro as you said.

Mike McMahon @MikeMcMahonCHN
Per a source - as of this morning, there were 185 players in the transfer portal. Enough for approximately 9 full lineups. ... and 16 teams are still playing.

[Felger]

Mike McMahon @MikeMcMahonCHN
Per a source - as of this morning, there were 185 players in the transfer portal. Enough for approximately 9 full lineups. ... and 16 teams are still playing.

Walshy is looking down and salivating....

[HockeyRef]

Mike McMahon @MikeMcMahonCHN
Per a source - as of this morning, there were 185 players in the transfer portal. Enough for approximately 9 full lineups. ... and 16 teams are still playing.

Yes, I did see that tweet! My q was, can the portal and the 'occupants in it' be viewed by John Q public? Seems like some people know as they announce players as they enter...Chuck, I'm not sure what to really think about Charlie...I'm not feeling the portal for him but, I could be wrong. If he wanted to stay in college hockey I thought he was happy at the U. Speaks very highly of his time there etc. but, you make a good point...

[Dan]

No, the portal cannot be viewed publicly. However, names leak. In B-ball it’s become common place for lists to compile and update in almost real time - it’s less common in hockey, but few reporters, namely McMahon and Schlossman do try to dig up regular information...

Per those two, apparently 11 kids will transfer out of UVM...

The best goalie names and still available seems like Bowling Green’s Eric Dop. He’d have one year remaining. Cornell’s Matt Galjda was said to have entered the Portal, but he’s still with the Big Red and will have countless big time programs after him if he remains on the market...

There are some interesting names floating around, I’d a school like UVM could get 11 top portal guys they could vault themselves. But few elite difference makers who can change things with one signature...

There are offensive pieces that I think could see jumps in their production if they played top six minutes at a place like UNH.

Of note to some here, Bentley’s two top F’s are transferring.

[Chuck Murray]

Chuck, I'm not sure what to really think about Charlie...I'm not feeling the portal for him but, I could be wrong. If he wanted to stay in college hockey I thought he was happy at the U. Speaks very highly of his time there etc. but, you make a good point...

You could probably have reached the same conclusion about BvR two years ago at this time.

Folks can leave a place in one of several ways ... go out with nice comments and appreciation (sincere or not), burn the place down (almost always sincere, not necessarily good though!), or say nothing (which seems to be Ty Taylor's approach). So CK left without burning any bridges, he was a captain after all (two years with a lettered jersey IIRC?), and I'm sure he still has friends on and off the ice at Durham. I'm not going to torch him here, unless he comes back through the portal and goes all BvR on us (which I'm sure he won't do).

But competitively, his time here has to have been disappointing. Older brother Ty at least got to the Garden (once?), CK really never got a sniff. If that's something that means something to him, catching on with a top tier program looking for a quality two-way forward to fill out a 3rd line for a year isn't such a bad gig, and he keeps living the dream a little bit longer.

Nothing wrong in any of that. Or going overseas, to play with Tyler (or without him).

I'm still not sure I'm liking the whole transfer portal thing, but I'd like it a whole lot better if MS7 figured out a way to make it work for his/our program. Until such time as he does, look for more unfulfilled upperclassmen looking for a final shot at amateur glory to be leaving here (BvR, CK), and a few talented kids who can't crack 3rd pairing/3rd or 4th line at deeper talented programs coming here for a year or two (Ward, Gildon - not technically, but kinda the same) so they can get some real PT, and just hoping they can get lucky competitively.

Yes, Felgie ... Walshy would be loving this. And he'd be working his nuts off every day to make it work for his program. Him and Grant would be working the phones daily, finding and wooing the hidden gems. Hopefully MS7 and his guys have been doing that and can use it to jumpstart a program that's shown very few signs of revitalization (yet) during his tenure ...

[Snively65]

No, the portal cannot be viewed publicly. However, names leak. In B-ball it’s become common place for lists to compile and update in almost real time - it’s less common in hockey, but few reporters, namely McMahon and Schlossman do try to dig up regular information...

Per those two, apparently 11 kids will transfer out of UVM...

The best goalie names and still available seems like Bowling Green’s Eric Dop. He’d have one year remaining. Cornell’s Matt Galjda was said to have entered the Portal, but he’s still with the Big Red and will have countless big time programs after him if he remains on the market...

There are some interesting names floating around, I’d a school like UVM could get 11 top portal guys they could vault themselves. But few elite difference makers who can change things with one signature...

There are offensive pieces that I think could see jumps in their production if they played top six minutes at a place like UNH.

Of note to some here, Bentley’s two top F’s are transferring.

Interesting on "top two Bentley forwards." Jakov Novak was a junior this past season, Bentley's only NHL draft pick, with 87 games, 30 goals, 32 assists, so 62 points over 2.5 seasons. Luke Santerno was a senior this past year, with 123 games, 34 goals, 71 assists, so 105 points over 3.5 seasons. Matt Gosiewski was a sophomore this past season, with 51 games, 17 goals, 22 assists, so 39 points over 1.5 seasons.

[NCAA watcher]

UNH's biggest problem last year was 5X5 play. Of the 60 goals in 23 games, 19 were PP, 4 SH, so UNH only had 37 5X5 goals in 23 games, or 1.6 goals per game even strength.

To identify issues, and see where to improve, here are the players sorted by (+) being on ice, and ignoring the goals against while 5x5, these players contributed (or were at least on the ice) for UNH goals. Note the lack of RWs adding to the offense, which may indicate the dead spots (I mean, as a matter of logic, a RW has to be on the ice when UNH scores . Yet, it shows Grasso and Kelleher were non-factors in 5X5 play.

			GP	+	-	+/-
Jackson Pierson	JR	F	23	18	18	E
Luke Reid	FR	D	22	17	20	-3
Angus Crookshank	JR	F	20	16	14	+2
William MacKinnon	JR	D	22	16	15	+1
Filip Engarås	JR	F	22	13	19	-6
Ryan Verrier	JR	D	23	13	15	-2
Kalle Eriksson	SO	D	23	12	24	-12
Benton Maass	SR	D	20	11	20	-9
Kohei Sato	SR	F	22	10	10	E
Tyler Ward	JR	F	21	10	14	-4
Eric MacAdams	SR	F	16	9	8	+1
Cam Gendron	FR	F	16	9	7	+2
Patrick Grasso	SR	F	23	8	15	-7
Lucas Herrmann	SO	F	17	8	9	-1
Nikolai Jenson	FR	D	20	6	7	-1
Nick Cafarelli	FR	F	14	5	9	-4
Charlie Kelleher	SR	F	13	5	8	-3
Alec Semandel	JR	D	19	4	7	-3
Joe Hankinson	SO	F	13	3	4	-1
Eric Esposito	JR	F	17	2	17	-15
Carsen Richels	FR	F	22	2	14	-12
Joseph Cipollone	JR	F	12	1	4	-3
Drew Hickey	JR	D	6	1	0	+1
Chase Stevenson	SO	F	4	0	1	-1
Joe Nagle	FR	D	7	0	4	-4

[NCAA watcher]

Interesting on "top two Bentley forwards." Jakov Novak was a junior this past season, Bentley's only NHL draft pick, with 87 games, 30 goals, 32 assists, so 62 points over 2.5 seasons. Luke Santerno was a senior this past year, with 123 games, 34 goals, 71 assists, so 105 points over 3.5 seasons. Matt Gosiewski was a sophomore this past season, with 51 games, 17 goals, 22 assists, so 39 points over 1.5 seasons.

Need a RW? Tyler Ward's former wingman in college, played with Angus Crookshank in juniors
https://www.eliteprospects.com/playe...62/ryan-barrow

As a Denver fan, Dan will probably have better input.