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Maine Recruits: When Ashes Fall, Legends Rise

Sparkee said:
Thanks for the insight Cinnimaroll. I noticed he fought a lot, and can hold his own there. He won’t be fighting in NCAA. So then it is down to how many stupid penalties does he take? I’m surprised you can get suspended at all for calling someone a p*ssy, let alone suspended for the finals. I can see why it would be controversial. We shall see if he ends up at Maine. If so, I’m sure part of his fitting in with the team will be getting rid of the bad penalty habit.
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The general rule in the league is a minimum of 5 games for violating the discrimination policy. No hearing beforehand, no ability to appeal unless its 10+ games. The team and his agent were frustrated about that and lobbied for reduction, but the league commissioner upheld it. A lot of people felt he was being made an example of, being punished for a systemic undercurrent of toxic masculinity because the referees were told of it. Also worth noting that the OHL is more significantly impacted by Hockey Canada's recent controversies.

Some of the discourse also centered around the fact that the player who told the referee about the comment is the son of OHL director of officiating, but he had recused himself from that position for the entire playoffs because of that conflict of interest. My personal take is that it wouldn't have been as big a deal if it wasn't 1. during warmups and 2. had a physical component in it. I also think they should have a hearing as part of the investigation, even if they still would've landed on the same punishment.

Anyways, I think his penalty troubles would be more of a problem if London's pk wasn't 85.1% and fairly dangerous shorthanded. CHL and NCAA officiating is different in a few ways, so it will be interesting to see how his game fits into the college game.
 
Sparkee said:
Thanks for the insight Cinnimaroll. I noticed he fought a lot, and can hold his own there. He won’t be fighting in NCAA. So then it is down to how many stupid penalties does he take? I’m surprised you can get suspended at all for calling someone a p*ssy, let alone suspended for the finals. I can see why it would be controversial. We shall see if he ends up at Maine. If so, I’m sure part of his fitting in with the team will be getting rid of the bad penalty habit.
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If the info from cinnima is accurate I would be very surprised to see Barr bring him in.
Barr is only interested, I think, in high character players
 
umhockey91 said:
Is this guy really worth the trouble?
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I have no idea, but the London Knights consider him an integral part of their team- enough to use one of their 3 overage spots on him in a year where they are going for a repeat. He got a letter pretty quickly iirc, and he's in the lineup every night unless suspended or injured. Most pests are great locker room guys.

Also, sometimes a former player coaches like they played. London is usually top 5 of the league in penalty minutes and their coach happens to be one Dale Hunter, 2nd most PIM in NHL all-time, most PIM in Stanley Cup playoffs, only ever player to score over 1000 points and over 3000 PIM. The common joke among the OHL is that the Knights play "Dale Hunter goon hockey". Hell of a coach, holds the record of most wins by a coach in OHL history, also probably not the guy to teach a player about taking less penalties :LOL:
 
NorthMike said:
If the info from cinnima is accurate I would be very surprised to see Barr bring him in.
Barr is only interested, I think, in high character players
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If a guy jumps in after a cheap shot to a teammate and fights then a hockey coach would consider that high character. What wouldn’t be is if he has a penchant for cheap shots against opponents. NHL wants them to be able to scrap and show toughness. NCAA likely could care less about fighting. But it shouldn’t be something that disqualifies you from NCAA if he’s been encouraged by his coaches in major junior to fight and show character when teammates get cheap shots.
 
Sparkee said:
If a guy jumps in after a cheap shot to a teammate and fights then a hockey coach would consider that high character. What wouldn’t be is if he has a penchant for cheap shots against opponents. NHL wants them to be able to scrap and show toughness. NCAA likely could care less about fighting. But it shouldn’t be something that disqualifies you from NCAA if he’s been encouraged by his coaches in major junior to fight and show character when teammates get cheap shots.
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I think more so than any fighting, which might have a place in the chl, is the discipline for discriminatory action(s), if I read that correct. Thats low character, if it happened.
Just saying there might be alot of baggage with this guy. Im sure Barr will consider it all.
 
NorthMike said:
I think more so than any fighting, which might have a place in the chl, is the discipline for discriminatory action(s), if I read that correct. Thats low character, if it happened.
Just saying there might be alot of baggage with this guy. Im sure Barr will consider it all.
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I did take a look and all of his majors this year were fighting except for one for hitting to the head. The getting suspended for calling someone a p*ssy is a joke. Just about every player would be guilty of that. So really it comes down to this Mennonite comment. Which was meant to put the other player down on basis of religion. So that should not be tolerated. So he got suspended 5 games for it. I don’t think that’s enough of a reason to label him low character. Having said that there isn’t a shortage of talented major junior ‘04 players available so I hope Maine gets two more center types. I feel like the addition of Langlois and Usereau to the blue line will significantly improve the break out transition and chip in on O at the blue line and overall team speed. This seems to be pointing to a couple of defensemen will not have scholarship renewed and will need to hit the portal.
 
Sparkee said:
I did take a look and all of his majors this year were fighting except for one for hitting to the head. The getting suspended for calling someone a p*ssy is a joke. Just about every player would be guilty of that. So really it comes down to this Mennonite comment. Which was meant to put the other player down on basis of religion. So that should not be tolerated. So he got suspended 5 games for it. I don’t think that’s enough of a reason to label him low character. Having said that there isn’t a shortage of talented major junior ‘04 players available so I hope Maine gets two more center types. I feel like the addition of Langlois and Usereau to the blue line will significantly improve the break out transition and chip in on O at the blue line and overall team speed. This seems to be pointing to a couple of defensemen will not have scholarship renewed and will need to hit the portal.
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The fact that a 20ish year old hockey player would have the term "Mennonite" in his brain leads me to believe that there are definitely some issues that Maine should probably steer clear of. It's one thing to be a hot head or aggressive on the ice....it's another thing to bring religious/political/etc baggage onto the ice. Speaks of his upbringing and moral character IMO.
 
Matys Malovsky, who is 4th on that ‘04 watch list I posted recently, got player of the week in QMJHL this week. He had one game where he put up 3 goals and 4 assists. Here is the video they put out on him. Watch the third goal on this video. Watch the body control where a guy is leaning on him hard the hole time, he wins battle for puck, controls possession, dishes to teammate, gets puck back and flicks it past the goalie with that Dman leaning on him the entire time. Very strong lower body. https://chl.ca/lhjmq/en/article/videotron-player-of-the-week-matyas-melovsky-february-24-2025/

On the topic of Langlois, I wonder if he could be a help for recruiting in the sense that he was on the same team as Antonin Verrault and Andrei Loshko last year. Those three were their top three scorers that year. Wonder if Maine and they all would care to reunite. Both Verrault(LW) and Loshko(LC/RW) are high end rated ‘04s.
 
Turns out a London Knight and the general player profile was right, but both suggestions were the incorrect one.

Evan Van Gorp has committed to Maine. Link to the post announcing it from his agency. 2006 LW/LC forward 5’10-165, 16-20-36 in 54. #215 on NHL Central Scouting.

Could still be in on Sim and/or Read, but that's a good get.
 
Lukas Peterson is leading the USHL in defensemen scoring. So you would naturally conclude he is ready for NCAA. Not sure if there are any opinions from folks that can watch him play. I find video clips of USHL to be spotty. Often have to sift through team Twitter feeds. Whereas the OHL, QMJHL, and WHL they put highlights together for each game and it is on the page with the box score. A true fans paradise.

Anyways my point is despite just turning 19, I feel if Maine doesn’t bring him in then they would run risk of losing him like we did with Andrew Kuzma. This, combined with the 26 roster limit, would likely mean cuts and transfer portal for some of the D guys sitting or revolving right now(Morse, Arnott, Dalton, Antonacci).

On the flip side the defense would look amazing. Arguably the best it’s ever looked. Maine is currently the 4th best at limiting SOG/game. And Barr has been vocal about being upset with how the bottom pairing has been playing. Bring in Langlois, Usereau, and Petersen and the pairings look amazing…

Holt(3.5)/Chabrier(3.75)
Langlois(4.0)/Djurecevic(3.75)
Usereau(4.0)/Peterson(3.75)

Extras: Lesakowski(3.75)/Nobes(3.5)

That is where I think Barr is headed with the D Corp which seems amazing in terms of moving the puck.
 
cinnamoroll said:
Turns out a London Knight and the general player profile was right, but both suggestions were the incorrect one.

Evan Van Gorp has committed to Maine. Link to the post announcing it from his agency. 2006 LW/LC forward 5’10-165, 16-20-36 in 54. #215 on NHL Central Scouting.

Could still be in on Sim and/or Read, but that's a good get.
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Nuetral zone has a low rating on him at 3.25. But they don’t seem to have many viewings. My guess is he flew in under their radar. Not sure how you can have a player at #215 in central scouting and 3.25 for NZ rating. NZ gottta update that rating and get some scouting notes in for him.

I like that article about how he is a hardworker from a hard working family. His playing style seems to be speedy and relentless pursuit of the puck, like hearing that. Maybe Maine got a diamond in the rough type.

I’ll have to review other highlight videos and report back with a list.
 
Given the fact there's only 224 picks in the NHL Draft, being ranked #215 in central scouting just among NA Skaters leads me to believe that Van Gorp will probably go undrafted, since you have to factor in Euro skaters and goalies from both sides of the Atlantic. This isn't meant as disparaging or as a knock on him, and the fact he's on central scouting radar at all is a good sign, and maybe some team's scouts like him and he'll be a late pick. Looks to be a solid pickup regardless, and I particularly like that he's listed as a center, even if it's as LW/C. Maine looks like they'll really need centers next year, with Breen, Scott, and Renwick all graduating. Even this year a lot of different guys have played center; they've tried out Fowler, Russell, Komarov, and Pichette at center this year with varying success. I'm sure they'll have a transfer center come in or maybe even two, but I would still like to see them grab a few more on the recruiting trail, especially from the CHL.

I also agree that next year's defense corps that Sparkee postulated with Peterson looks excellent on paper, and is chock full of puck movers. Even if they don't bring in Peterson next year, having Lesakowski and Nobes as your 6th and 7th D isn't awful. The defense was Ben Barr's area of expertise as UMass and presumably before, so no surprise he's making it a focal point here and is able to get quality D-men on the roster.
 
Not sure, where he is an ‘06, if he comes in fall of 25 or fall of 26. He has been playing 4th line center recently. Was RW for a while on 3rd line earlier in the season. Heisenberg has him listed as starting fall of 2026. He looks like he’s a great skater and plays at high speed.

Evan Van Gorp(London(OHL)), 5/18/06, 5’10” 165 lbs, NZ 3.25, LW, plays at high speed, high acceleration, rangy, playmaker, nifty stick handling, good passing, goes to the net front for gritty goals, looks decent defensively

First OHL goal: https://youtu.be/EnKurG--q60?si=sy4OCvnSFVzEXF8S
Three assist game: https://youtu.be/fpx4HLBmlG8?si=znR4_d3ZX411-6FV
Go to the net, nifty spin, backhands it in(0:52): https://youtu.be/Xxv_LPhCndw?si=LcM21t5fITRVyQpR
Nice assist on odd man rush: https://youtu.be/bDcmMZwheZk?si=S6VmeVA1vCBbGEFS
Good shift, Runs the official, goes to the net, bangs in rebound: https://youtu.be/umudfjF8FGY?si=gs6jVqjnr-2o6EVH
Beauty pass on 2-on-1(0:57): https://chl.ca/ohl/gamecentre/27658/
 
Someone educate an old guy, sparkee?, I know nothing about the CHL, but what is the attraction to transferring to ncaa for these players? Is it mostly those who arent ready for pro can get a few more years playing /developing in ncaa since chl ages out at 20.
I guess I was always under the assumption that chl was more competitive, better talent, than ncaa. Maybe thats changed.
 
NorthMike said:
Someone educate an old guy, sparkee?, I know nothing about the CHL, but what is the attraction to transferring to ncaa for these players? Is it mostly those who arent ready for pro can get a few more years playing /developing in ncaa since chl ages out at 20.
I guess I was always under the assumption that chl was more competitive, better talent, than ncaa. Maybe thats changed.
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The attraction is that the NCAA allows them to develop for 4 years where they can gain leverage to be still scouted and signed as a free agent. Their alternative is to go to Canadian college for school but not as much scouting by the NHL there. Another alternative is to sign pro for what level they can, but that likely would be a echl level with all being a ceiling. Tough to develop that way. So getting a spot to get free education while developing and still being viewed by NHL scouts is a good option.

Can’t compare NCAA to major junior because average age for NCAA is 22.5 and major junior average age is 18.5 or so. So it is kind of comparing men to teens. The talent level for the age group is higher in my opinion in major junior. Keep in mind, the kids coming to NCAA from major junior right now are their overage kids that won’t be able to go pro at the level they want to enter at. The ones that can go pro are the higher performers that go in on an nhl two way where they still can make $80k at AHL level and then a million when they make NHL team like what Brad Nadeau is doing now. Those types won’t likely ever go to NCAA.

So before the overage kids turning 20 had no leverage and either had to take a crappy minor league contract and work through goon hockey on the way up. Or go to Canadian college hockey and have low scouting exposure. Now they get a chance at developing with premium scouting, free school, maybe nil spending money, and can gain leverage to sign as free agent.
 
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