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LSSU Lakers 2021-22
- Thread starter LSSULaker889294
- Start date
John J. MacInnes
Coach Emeritus
Dustin Manz entered the portal this morning. He joins Josh Nixon, Mitch Oliver, and the aforementioned Jacob Nordqvist. Nixon has 3 years of eligibility left, Manz and Oliver have 2.
Oliver and Nordqvist will be grad transfers. (Oliver had to sit out his 1st season and played 3 seasons after that. I guess Manz is following the path of Ashton Calder, entering the portal after his Junior season. He is a very good faceoff guy. I had heard about Nixon entering the portal; in his case, it is a big surprise and it's disappointing to see him go. I suspect it is a case of one (or more) of the high profile programs talking to his advisor who then talked him into going into the portal.
Puckstopper467
Member
so why do these kids leave? the portal cannot be the answer right?
Lake State does not have graduate school degrees, so they've had some 4 year players leave the past couple of seasons as grad transfers. Players have had that extra year of eligibility to play with as a result of Covid. In a few cases, players have enough college level credit coming in which they've earned while playing Juniors and they can graduate in 3 years and then go somewhere else if they so choose, also as a grad transfer.
Beyond that, I tend to think there is a fair amount of tampering/poaching going on. High profile schools with big budgets see some kids at a small school like Lake State that they think can help them. They talk to the kids' advisors and tell them the kids can get more exposure at their higher profile schools. The advisors talk the kids into entering the portal and the higher profile schools nab them. It's not just happening at Lake State. It's just another obstacle that smaller schools in particular have to deal with. In some cases, it may be just the advisor on his own that may be talking a kid into entering the portal without the prodding from a higher profile school.
Yeah. Sounds like he's looking to go somewhere as a grad transfer. Maybe he didn't get what he thought was a good enough offer from the pros and decided to play one more season of college hockey.
Nice player
Yes, he is. I kind of wonder if the Portal was his own idea or his advisor talked him in to it.
Laker Dude
Registered User
If I were a transfer, it would make more sense to go to a national championship contender team like Calder did.
Maybe that was what his advisor was hoping for. Union has picked him up pretty late so he may have been out of options. Maybe something similar happened with Manz.