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Maine Recruits: When Ashes Fall, Legends Rise

The question is, can he skate, Simon Denis Pepin comes to mind.
That was my first thought too. I think it comes down to lateral mobility. If he develops it then his gap can be adequate and combined with his reach would be difficult for forwards to get around the corner on him. This would make him a prized commodity and a NHL draft pick easy. If he doesn’t then he might need to back off to manage his gap which allows easy entry into the zone. Or worse, he doesn’t back off enough and gets turned a lot like Dani’s-Pepin, Mushaluk, and Robert Ek did. This would likely mean he is a project type that doesn’t get a lot of minutes. We see Lesakowski struggling for minutes and he has struggled at times with his lateral mobility and gap control. Overall though, I think he has been ok given he is a sophomore. But when you are 6’8” it is a lot more difficult to get your center of gravity low enough to get adequate balance for the lateral agility. Would love to see some footage of his skating. If I find any I will share. He is young and playing AAA hockey so not a lot of video available.
 
That was my first thought too. I think it comes down to lateral mobility. If he develops it then his gap can be adequate and combined with his reach would be difficult for forwards to get around the corner on him. This would make him a prized commodity and a NHL draft pick easy. If he doesn’t then he might need to back off to manage his gap which allows easy entry into the zone. Or worse, he doesn’t back off enough and gets turned a lot like Dani’s-Pepin, Mushaluk, and Robert Ek did. This would likely mean he is a project type that doesn’t get a lot of minutes. We see Lesakowski struggling for minutes and he has struggled at times with his lateral mobility and gap control. Overall though, I think he has been ok given he is a sophomore. But when you are 6’8” it is a lot more difficult to get your center of gravity low enough to get adequate balance for the lateral agility. Would love to see some footage of his skating. If I find any I will share. He is young and playing AAA hockey so not a lot of video available.
In fairness Ek and Pepin improved tons over the careers in Orono. Pepin came in at 17 which was too early.
 
In fairness Ek and Pepin improved tons over the careers in Orono. Pepin came in at 17 which was too early.

Use to like how game announcers either butchered his name or said the whole name, simon denis pepin, instead of just pepin.
 
That was my first thought too. I think it comes down to lateral mobility. If he develops it then his gap can be adequate and combined with his reach would be difficult for forwards to get around the corner on him. This would make him a prized commodity and a NHL draft pick easy. If he doesn’t then he might need to back off to manage his gap which allows easy entry into the zone. Or worse, he doesn’t back off enough and gets turned a lot like Dani’s-Pepin, Mushaluk, and Robert Ek did. This would likely mean he is a project type that doesn’t get a lot of minutes. We see Lesakowski struggling for minutes and he has struggled at times with his lateral mobility and gap control. Overall though, I think he has been ok given he is a sophomore. But when you are 6’8” it is a lot more difficult to get your center of gravity low enough to get adequate balance for the lateral agility. Would love to see some footage of his skating. If I find any I will share. He is young and playing AAA hockey so not a lot of video available.
Lesakowski has times where he just stops skating hard and tries to rely purely on his long reach. It's one of the biggest flaws in his game that still hasn't been coached out of him.
It's something a lot of taller players struggle with on the defensive side of the puck. Even a HHOFer like Chara had times where he'd fall into that trap.

Definitely excited to see some tape on this kid.
 
That was my first thought too. I think it comes down to lateral mobility. If he develops it then his gap can be adequate and combined with his reach would be difficult for forwards to get around the corner on him. This would make him a prized commodity and a NHL draft pick easy. If he doesn’t then he might need to back off to manage his gap which allows easy entry into the zone. Or worse, he doesn’t back off enough and gets turned a lot like Dani’s-Pepin, Mushaluk, and Robert Ek did. This would likely mean he is a project type that doesn’t get a lot of minutes. We see Lesakowski struggling for minutes and he has struggled at times with his lateral mobility and gap control. Overall though, I think he has been ok given he is a sophomore. But when you are 6’8” it is a lot more difficult to get your center of gravity low enough to get adequate balance for the lateral agility. Would love to see some footage of his skating. If I find any I will share. He is young and playing AAA hockey so not a lot of video available.
It's hard to have project type players with a 26 man roster limit
 
Evan Van Gorp has been out of the lineup for London's wednesday game and the Friday night one that just started- appears to be injury-related. He took a massive hit from Simon Wang (a massive kid) in the Oshawa/London game. Not a dirty hit but seems like that might be the thing he's shaking off. Hopefully it is just being cautious since the Knights are already clinched for the playoffs and nothing serious.
 
In looking thru the recruits for next year-Langlois coming to Maine will be the oldest freshman in college hockey with a 2003 birth date
Also the number of recruits coming is way more than the openings for most schools especially Maine and Umass
 
In looking thru the recruits for next year-Langlois coming to Maine will be the oldest freshman in college hockey with a 2003 birth date
Also the number of recruits coming is way more than the openings for most schools especially Maine and Umass
Langlois was injured and couldn’t play this season anywhere. He lead QMJHL in defensemen scoring and is a 3rd round NHL draft pick. So if he was healthy he likely would be at AHL level this season.

As far as what Maine is graduating… they graduate their top 3 centers, their top goal scorer that is LW, and on his line is a RW that has been on Maine’s 2nd line. However, there appears to be 3 forwards coming in… 2 centers and one LW. So this leaves 2 forward positions not filled with ‘04 birth year. Those two spots would be for C and RW. From the ‘05 on the recruit list I don’t think any are playing at a level to bring them in. Two are 4th line centers in the USHL, which is a great level for juniors but 4th line isn’t a lot of minutes. So they both will likely stay at USHL level for another season and hopefully get to center 3rd lines at least. The 3rd ‘05 forward is playing in NAHL and isn’t crushing that league. A couple of the ‘06 forwards are playing great in BCHL. But it appears as though 1 has already committed to play next year in WHL, I believe.

So what this means is that Maine will likely recruit 2 more ‘04 forwards from CHL. I think they would recruit a couple more center types.

I do think there is too many defensemen when you add Langlois and Usereau. However, it appears as though Barr hasn’t been happy with how the bottom pair has been playing. He has rotated in 4 defensemen for this bottom pair all season. It appears as though Nobes has earned his spot as the 5th defensemen. And recently Antonacci has played well. But the group of Lesakowski, Antonacci, Dalton, and Arnott have all had many blunders. Morse must be redshirting this year because I don’t think he has played a game all season. Barr appears to have very high standards for the defense. So I speculate that we could see scholarships not renewed which would result in transfer portal for a few of them.

So I feel numbers are high for the defense(unless a d man or two sign pro early). But not high for the forwards. Therefore I predict a few d on the team now transfer out, and Maine will recruit 2 more ‘04 from CHL(WHL, OHL, QMJHL).
 
Evan Van Gorp returned from his upper body injury last night for London's 7-3 win, scored an empty net goal. That win got London their second straight league regular season championship and sixth straight Midwest division title. London can coast a bit for the final few weeks, so EVG could either rest up more or get more ice time as they rest the players in the top of the lineup.
 
Do we have a preference on recruiting the CHL or plundering the ECAC in the transfer portal?
Whatever gets the best team together.

I think making a solid pipeline to CHL is crucial though. Specifically I think Maine has to make a strong pipeline to QMJHL. They have QMJHL teams on each side. If the teams near Montreal play out of division against teams in New Bruinswick and Nova Scotia they likely drive through Maine and more than likely Bangor.

So it is encouraging to get two highly rated(NZ 4.0) defensemen from QMJHL. Would prefer to see them get a top center or two now. There are some very highly rated CHL forwards on the board.
 
For Poul Andersen in your notes I think you can say he is playing next season for Edmonton Oil Kings in WHL. https://chl.ca/whl-oilkings/article...-scholarship-development-agreement-for-25-26/

Also, for both Muscutt and Arneson I don’t think Maine will replace with portal yet. They both have another year of juniors left and both are playing at highest level which is USHL. And both have been centering bottom lines. So next season they may get more minutes and more special teams time to improve their contribution and numbers reflecting that. So I would remove the transfer portal thing for those too.

I do agree with you on Johnson though. Doubt he is at a level he needs to be at to sniff any playing time for Maine. He has one more year of juniors, but hard to see him progressing that much in a year.

Thanks for maintaining that good list. 👍
 
As I pick through the ‘04 players in WHL, there is one player that is particularly impressive to me… Oasiz Weisblatt. He is undersized but fearless and plays physical. He is a left shot center that has 36 goals, 65 assists for 99 points in 66 games for Medicine Hat(WHL). He is a little stick of dynamite and has been in 10 fights in the WHL. Pretty much with guys all bigger than he is because there aren’t many his own size that would fight. He goes to the high traffic areas and isn’t afraid of contact to make plays. He has a nice release and processes the game quick, makes quick plays. I think he’d be a perfect Blackbear. He is one of those annoying players to have to play against. Also has a great family story in that sign language was his first language. His parents are both deaf. Hope Maine is scouting/recruiting this great bulldog of a left shot center.

Oasiz Weisblatt(Medicine Hat(WHL)), 4/8/04, LC, 5’7” 180 lbs, NZ 4.0, wears the C, fearless, agitator, small bulldog, gritty, relentless, high work ethic, strong skater, aggressive forechecker, physical , goes to the front of the net, creative, shifty playmaker, quick release, slippery, great stick handling

Hatrick and 5 pt night: https://chl.ca/whl/gamecentre/1021910/
26 goals from 23/24: https://youtu.be/tLntMAdV1rs?si=aLEH_rPsD9MxhI10
Has great family story: https://youtu.be/60-ghqzV4-4?si=OASznHWsN0OtzsDM
Got goalie to go down, roasts him: https://www.instagram.com/westernhockeyleague/p/DGAAW1ExdUO/?locale=no&img_index=2
First goal, steals puck and snipes up high short side: https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=1069797706835639&wtsid=rdr_0wTFzHqyuQiRAcr0U
Been in 10 fights: https://www.hockeyfights.com/players/n31515
 
With regular seasons ending the transfer portal has opened. Jason Ahearn, a forward from Niagara U is the first "big" name in the portal. 82 points in 87 games through three years at Niagara. I don't know much about him but he scored a couple decent netfront goals in this game.


He was a junior teammate of Calafiore, I wonder if he's someone the staff takes a closer look at when the season is over.
 
Nick Wellenreiter #28 in white had a goal and an assist last night: https://chl.ca/ohl/gamecentre/27976/

Jude Herron #92 in white had a nice power play goal snipe through a screen today: https://chl.ca/lhjmq/gamecentre/31298/

Loic Usereau #72 had a goal and Julien Wasmer #3 had an assist today. https://chl.ca/lhjmq/gamecentre/31394/

Maine recruit Malachi McKinnon has a younger brother, Maverick, that is playing Minnesota Highschool hockey for Forrest Lake even though he is an 8th grader. He is rated a 4.5 by neutral zone, which is as high as I have seen for ncaa players. https://kstp.com/minnesota-sports/t...erick-mckinnon-leads-forest-lake-hockey-team/
 
Sutter Muzzatti a 6'6 center from RPI has entered the portal. 5th round draft pick of Nashville's in 2023. He only played 10 games this year due to injury but had 10-15-25 in 33 games as a Sophomore. Could be a decent way to shore up the center position next year and replace some of Renwick and Makar's size.

 
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