My guess is Burgess is taking advantage of all avenues (his right to do so) and entered portal as a plan B. I would expect he will sign and move on to start his pro career. Guess is coaching staff did not expect him back for next season, but would certainly welcome him back if opportunity presents itself. He really came on after Xmas this year, kid finally looked confident and healthy.
As far as the d core, looks pretty solid. Yes, Reilly graduating will leave some questions, but that is is case every year a senior graduates. Ferner (70 gp) Johnson (67 gp) Hallbauer (63 gp) thru two seasons gives that blue line (200 gp combined) a lot of experience. Throw Babichuk, Kjellberg and Klee (80 gp combined) in the mix and help me find a more experienced/deep returning blue line in conference/country. Babichuk will certainly be key on pp.(Hallbuaer and Kjellberg on pp as well) Ferner (led team in blocked shots), and Johnson logged heavy pk time last two seasons and will both eat a lot of "in all areas" minutes next year. Klee, arguably the most improved player on team, will only get better. So when DS talks about importance of depth, it all starts on back end , and RPI has plenty of depth.
Forwards: yes the loss of seniors will generate a lot of questions. But wasn't the question at beginning of this year , "How are we going to score?"...... again depth played a big factor and with the quality minutes the soph's and freshmen gained this year, I think there is enough to fill the holes left by those graduating. Arguably our best face-off guys were fresh and soph (Dubinsky, Ashbrook, Linden), and the bulk of the best defensive forwards have two plus years left. W's and team growth through out year are most important, so we may see a lot of low scoring games and scoring by committee.
Goalie: we have "the guy" and depth.
If you would have told me mid November that RPI would have earned a ECAC bye, gathered 7 votes (#25 ranking) in the season end national coaches poll, I would not have thought that was possible.
Plenty of work to be done for sure. If everyone can stay healthy, it appears the "buy in" to what DS is looking for is there and the culture is in place. I would say the coaching staff has done a very good job of recruiting the "right" guys to get this program back where it should be.
