Any updates on potential transfer portal activity (thin excuse to get this back to Page 1)?
The USHL season ended, and UNH recruit Robert Cronin ended up in 10th place, the first since Charlie Kelleher finished 10th in 2016-17 (as an 18 year old), Andrwe Poturalski 6th in 2013-14. Former UNH recruit Matt White finished 4th in 2010, Phil DeSimone 2nd in 2007, Trevor Smith 3rd in 2005, Jake Micfliker 5th in 2003, and finally Mark Mowers 3rd in 1994.
Recruit Will Margel is 11th in NAHL scoring, even though he joined the league late after getting cut again from the USHL. He is intriguing.
Jack Ring, a project when recruited, had a limited offensive year as a 20 year old, with only 7 goals, after 3 goals last year.
Connor Sweeney, similarly a big project when recruited, has not had productivity in his career.
Ring and Sweeney, as 20 year olds, have no junior eligibility left, so would have to come this fall.
John Evans joined the USHL mid year, but had a hard time cracking top line duty, so only had 9 points in 22 games, and finished the year with a string of DNPs. He started the year in the BC league, with 15 points in 13 games.
Defenseman Alex Gagne was 13th in defenseman scoring, and finished second in +/-. Fellow USHL defenseman Colton Huard finished 4th in +/-.
Defenseman Nick Ardanaz has not been impactful as I had hoped during the past BCHL season that started 3 weeks ago. Only 4 assists, 3 on the PP, in his 14 games, after having 1-6-7 in 13 games this fall.
Evans and Ardanaz were thought to be part of the 2021 class based on their talent levels, which are high end, but with the chopped season and the potential Eric McAdams returns with a 5th year of eligibility, they may want a normal junior year to grow. They could clearly contribute next year, but in limited learning roles. A guess by another fan is that, with UNH's defensive struggles, bringing in Huard as a defensive guy, they may also want to go with Alex Gagne, a bigger, less puck moving D. He played a lot better this year than expected, and may have leapfrogged over Ardanaz, particularly with UNH's needs. (They have Eriksson, Reid and Verrier/McKinnon as sub-6' guys).
One also could imagine a scenario where last year's true freshmen, Cafarelli and Richels, might be encouraged to play a year in juniors to work on their weaknesses.
Rookie Defenseman Damien Carfagna, a 2022 recruit, had a solid freshman year, with 18 points and +13 while seeing no powerplay duty.
With no news on UNH lining up a replacement for Robinson, and with Taylor not getting a landing spot yet, I think there's a real possibility they both return, for better or worse.
Sr.Ward----------Sr.Pierson--------Sr.McAdams
Sr.Stevenson----Sr.Engaras-------So.Gendron
Fr.Cronin--------Jr.Hermann-------So.Cafarelli
Sr.Richels-------Fr.Margel---------Sr.Esposito
Fr.Sweeney-----Sr.Cippolone------Jr.Hankinson
Fr.Ring---------
[out - Crookshank, Kelleher, Grasso, Sato, in --- Cronin, Margel, Sweeney, Ring, possible Evans & Turner]
Jr.Eriksson------So.Reid
Sr.MacKinnon---Sr.Verrier
Fr.Huard--------So.Jenson
Fr.Gagne-------Sr.Semandel
Sr.Hickey
[out- Maass, Nagle, in -- Huard, Gagne, possible Ardanaz]
