2022 UVM Offseason

[TovarishchLisa]

Offseason thread time, a bit belated.

First bit of news - looks like Babichuk is retiring, per his Instagram.

[Catfantoo]

Lisa - thanks for setting up a new Forum for the Cat Fan's. Interesting on Babichuk. Retiring or moving elsewhere? With his 1 move in the portal last year I'm thinking he'd have to sit out if moving to another school (I'm not 100% certain). But that is an interesting development. Waiting to see if the team has any players headed to pro contracts - AHL or ECHL..

[TovarishchLisa]

Dallas Comeau is in the transfer portal

[TovarishchLisa]

Lisa - thanks for setting up a new Forum for the Cat Fan's. Interesting on Babichuk. Retiring or moving elsewhere? With his 1 move in the portal last year I'm thinking he'd have to sit out if moving to another school (I'm not 100% certain). But that is an interesting development. Waiting to see if the team has any players headed to pro contracts - AHL or ECHL..

He posted on instagram about hanging up the skates and thanking hockey for 2 decades, and given his bio now says UVM '22 I assume he graduated early

[TovarishchLisa]

More Portal updates - Cody Schiavon, Ray Vitolins, and Azzaro Tinling are also in there.

Vitolins is surprising, Tinling is not (feel like he and Dovar were a package and with Dovar gone no point in keeping a spot for Azzaro). Schiavon is whatever

[Catfantoo]

Interesting regarding transfer portal - agree with comments. Tinling - 0 points.....Schiavon - 4 points - both replaceable. Kind of surprised on Ray V. 6 points both freshman and sophomore years. Like the way he carried himself on the ice (covered ice, good size). At this point many players are replaceable.

[TovarishchLisa]

Probably the spiciest portal entry...Andrew Lucas.

Did NOT expect that one, the first one where I'm a little worried.

[Catfantoo]

YIKES - agree didn't expect to see that name there. Hopefully it's a formality and seeing what's out there for interest and he returns for Sr. year at Vermont. Leading defense men for Cats and captain. I've been told he's hugely popular in the locker-room. Being names Captain as a Junior shows the respect his teammates have for him. My only take is that he's looking for post season success and wondering if somewhere else gets him that opportunity. Many nights he was the one Cat player that caught your eye repeatedly. Lets see how this turns out.

[Catfantoo]

Thoughts.....

Week off between regional finals and NCAA Frozen 4. All west event this year. Strong year for western teams, dominated the polls and tournament.

Interesting thread on BU Forum. They fired their coach of 4 years. Alot of speculation, after 40 years with 1 coach they'll be onto their 3rd in 10 years. Alot of comments relative to their program, etc.. If you have a few minutes worth going back a few pages and reading the opinions. Glad we have our coach secure and need to get consistent recruiting classes into the fold to elevate the talent pool.

Speaking of talent pool. I always find the end of season Pro Signings interesting. This site USCHO has a great up to date link to pro signings. Not every player goes to the NHL. Many fill the ranks of ECHL, and AHL. This year UVM has very few people on that list. Phil L. (who wasn't an original UVM recruit) signed an AHL contract. Then two players who left the program over the past few years signed (Max K. - BU, and Alex E. Prov). Again to me this is an indicator of our talent pool. Our senior class is a good group of guys but evidenced by their stats and lack of Pro interest the talent level wasn't where it needed to be. This isn't on Todd but the previous administration. Again this will change over time as well.

[TovarishchLisa]

Transfer portal news, this time it's not someone entering but rather UVM plucking someone - Finn Evans is transferring in. Grad transfer F from Princeton. Numbers aren't great (10 points in 24 games last season), but the size (6'4") is nice

[Catfantoo]

Thanks Lisa for the Portal updates. Let's dig a little deeper on Finn Evans stats. Tied for team lead in +/- on a poor team (8-21-2), tied for 4th in goals, and played in 24 of 31 games (must have been nicked up during the season to miss a few games). His 6 goals would have had him tied for 2nd in goals on UVM team. Improved during all 3 years (Princeton cancelled 20-21 season due to Covid). All Academic ECAC (no dummy, both parents physicians). Size fits the type of recruit Todd has been bringing in recently. So in the end you get a smart kid, who won't cause any issues in locker room, has size and probably fills a middle of lineup need. Out of the Toronto area and played at ST. Michaels College (Canada), my take is Todd or staff has had some interaction with him over the years (festivals, CJHL Top Prospect game, Ranked #129 in the 2017 NHL Central Scouting final rankings.)

[TovarishchLisa]

Also a pretty surprising bit of recruiting news tonight. Max Strand, who was named Minnesota's Mr. Hockey last month, has committed to UVM.

https://twitter.com/max_strand10/sta...95919452733440

[Catfantoo]

Two Minnesota players coming in future: Alex Bump. Minn. AP boys hockey player of year: must be multiple POY awards. Not sure what year he's coming.


https://twitter.com/alexbump14

[TovarishchLisa]

Been a mostly quiet week, but UVM's snagged one from the portal: Michigan Tech D Eric Gotz. Per EliteProspects, he's actually the nephew of Jerry and Jim Gernander, both former UVM players.

[TovarishchLisa]

More portal news tonight, we've completed the goaltending for next year, snagging Oskar Autio as a grad transfer from Penn State.

His numbers aren't great (.893 SV%, 3.14 GAA in 23 games last season)...BUT this is a Penn State goalie, and that's kind of an important asterisk because Penn State plays an absolutely firewagon, who-cares-about-defense style of hockey that leads to lots of goals for them, but also a LOT of high danger scoring chances against.

I'd imagine that since Todd seems to prefer 1A/1B rather than "ride one guy all year" that cements the goalie situation as Carriere/Autio 1A/1B, with Hudson as the "break glass in case of emergency" guy (albeit a much better one than we're used to at least IMO).