Wisconsin Badgers 2026 Offseason

Timothy A said:

I love the hire. I think the third spot on Hastings staff will always be an up-and-comer who leaves eventually. I'd love to know who else applied for the job out of curiosity. I may be reading the tea leaves wrong but I think Knot is kind of guy who knows his role and loves being the number two.

I think the jury is still out on what kind of goalie Coach Murdock is. Not a good sign when they could not elevate Pulver's play. Hauser was great when healthy, but I'm attributing his great play when healthy to his talent.

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I think you're spot on with the coaches.

Another Badger goes on the Stanley Cup: K'Andre Miller.

Timothy A said:

I love the hire. I think the third spot on Hastings staff will always be an up-and-comer who leaves eventually. I'd love to know who else applied for the job out of curiosity. I may be reading the tea leaves wrong but I think Knot is kind of guy who knows his role and loves being the number two.

I think the jury is still out on what kind of goalie Coach Murdock is. Not a good sign when they could not elevate Pulver's play. Hauser was great when healthy, but I'm attributing his great play when healthy to his talent.

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We will have to see how Hauser progresses in his time at UW and the overall talent that is consistently coming in in net to judge that, so will be a couple years to really assess that for the goalie coach. The tricky piece is separating the recruiting misses/never reaching potential on their own fault from the its the goalie coaches fault. A good example of that IMO is (from a pro perspective) the Oilers. They have woefully underachieved at goalie for a number of years, as I understand it, all under the same goalie coach (dating back to the Jack Campbell bust at least). I think some of that is on the GMs for making bad choices, but to have Campbell suck and they are still paying for him, Skinner being a meltdown waiting to happen every game and giving you a jekyll hyde from day to day and the absolute mess the Jarrry acquisition was, I think it strongly points to the goalie coach being at least part of the problem. His guys are ill equipped to handle things, and they dont seem to sharpen/improve on who they are at all, just get to be bigger and bigger head cases. Will be interesting to see what Ingram does for them down the road here or if his emergence was a fluke and attributable to a new goalie without a good book on it. This was all to exhibit how the goalie world is tight knit and they all know each other/talk, so if you got a bad coach, people know about it and they choose elsewhere. I feel like the transfer we picked up is a good sign that he is well regarded in the community, but we will see how this plays out.

He seems like he might be fine/good, but time will tell.

Per Todd, Orpana and Zajac are pushing out 1 year and they're looking for another player, a Horbach type who can play F or D.

Timothy A said:

Per Todd, Orpana and Zajac are pushing out 1 year and they're looking for another player, a Horbach type who can play F or D.

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That seems like a risk. Kids these days don't seem to have the patience to wait another year. Are they really committed or do they jump to the first team that tells them they can play this year?

TJ77 said:

That seems like a risk. Kids these days don't seem to have the patience to wait another year. Are they really committed or do they jump to the first team that tells them they can play this year?

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Definitely a risk. But they must have felt both needed more time in Jr's.

TJ77 said:

That seems like a risk. Kids these days don't seem to have the patience to wait another year. Are they really committed or do they jump to the first team that tells them they can play this year?

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I think they both are goners. No one is waiting for anything these days. Patience is dead. The only thing that could reduce the odds of them going somewhere else is the abundance of players available with the CHL open.

Timothy A said:

Per Todd, Orpana and Zajac are pushing out 1 year and they're looking for another player, a Horbach type who can play F or D.

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So, with these two players being pushed out a year where does that put the Badgers roster wise. Does this give them the opportunity to bring in two players if they choose, or where they roster size limitations heavy?

Doogity said:

So, with these two players being pushed out a year where does that put the Badgers roster wise. Does this give them the opportunity to bring in two players if they choose, or where they roster size limitations heavy?

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They were one over with Zajic and Orpana, so they are now one under the max of 26. 14 F, 8 D, and 3 G.

I am hoping they bring in a top forward from the CHL rather than a Horbach type

Of the players currently on the roster, is there a guy who is going to take Tassy spot on the PP. The big body that stands infront of the goaltender? I feel like he really help the PP be what it was this past year.

Tremelo3 said:

I am hoping they bring in a top forward from the CHL rather than a Horbach type

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I agree with you. I always assumed Talan Blanck was being brought in to be the Horbach type player. I also have to say I dont believe I have ever seen him play. In the end I guess time will tell and im going to trust the staff. Perhaps the new assistant coach has an inside line on a player or two as well.

I also saw this article on winter sports coaches bonus' and Murdoch has a surprisingly low salary as the 4th coach. I won't post it even though it is public knowledge, but you can find it here:

Doogity said:

Of the players currently on the roster, is there a guy who is going to take Tassy spot on the PP. The big body that stands infront of the goaltender? I feel like he really help the PP be what it was this past year.

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Deering?

Timothy A said:

I think they both are goners. No one is waiting for anything these days. Patience is dead. The only thing that could reduce the odds of them going somewhere else is the abundance of players available with the CHL open.

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It’s definitely possible they leave, but they were probably told a few months ago FWIW. It’s definitely possible they find other ncaa opportunities for this fall (although it’s a little late), but I would lean to think they do stay. Would be D+1 and D+2 years in juniors which isn’t atypical.

Believe I saw that Zajics rights belong to Ottawa 67s in the OHL

My guess on the lines:

Solomon - Morrisey - Wiebusch
Jette - Zelenov - Tulk
Wooton - Deering - Botterill
Uhlenkamp - Pietilla- Brink
Blanck

Hensler - Palodichuck
Osburn - Schultz
Phelan - Compton
Stout - Knox

Tremelo3 said:

My guess on the lines:

Solomon - Morrisey - Wiebusch
Jette - Zelenov - Tulk
Wooton - Deering - Botterill
Uhlenkamp - Pietilla- Brink
Blanck

Hensler - Palodichuck
Osburn - Schultz
Phelan - Compton
Stout - Knox

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You're missing Idzan and he needs to be on the 2nd or 3rd line. He's not going to produce being on the fourth line or playing sporadically. He likely will make a huge jump this year.

Anyone know who the other non-conference opponents are outside of Omaha and Mankato? Obviously they're going to Milwaukee tournament too but that means 4 more games are left

sezenack said:

Anyone know who the other non-conference opponents are outside of Omaha and Mankato? Obviously they're going to Milwaukee tournament too but that means 4 more games are left

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When is Wisconsin playing Omaha?

I was thinking that Maine might be playing 2 at Wisconsin with a return trip to Orono in 27-28....maybe 10/16-10/17 or 10/23-10/24?

umhockey91 said:

When is Wisconsin playing Omaha?

I was thinking that Maine might be playing 2 at Wisconsin with a return trip to Orono in 27-28....maybe 10/16-10/17 or 10/23-10/24?

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That would be awesome! Love playing teams we don't play often. Might have to travel out to Maine for the return trip.