UNH Commits & Recruiting: 2017 and Beyond

[Dan]

Re: UNH Commits & Recruiting: 2017 and Beyond

As such, I think the only immediate need for next year would be a forward or two. But who's left? As has been discussed it's hard to count on saving classes annually with decommits and late bloomers who end up ready to make immediate impacts. Wisconsin just dumped another kid - unfortunately Trenton Bliss has just two goals and five points in 31 career USHL games. THAT is usually the type of player that ends up back on the market - not the Max Gildon's of the world...

Things change quickly in the hockey world! Perhaps UNH should get out and take a look at the new and improved Trenton Bliss. Four games into the 2017-18 USHL season (and 28 games into his USHL career), Bliss was sitting on career scoring line of 0-1--1. Wisconsin then backed out of their commitment. All Bliss has done since is put together a seven-game scoring streak totalling 5-8--13 to move into third-place in the USHL scoring race...

It may be a small sample size mirage. Or he may have simply struggled, last season, with the jump from WI HS hockey to the USHL and is now finding his natural skill-set in his second season. Either way, its certainly worth getting out to GB (where he is a teammate of Ryan Verrier) for UNH to find out if lightening can strike twice...

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A PPG in the USHL is a big deal - since 2010 only Phil Desimone and Andrew Poturalski have accomplished the feat before arriving in Durham. Blake Kessel finished with 57 points in 59 games in his final USHL season. No one else has been particularly close...

Kelleher would have scored a PPG had he played for a USHL team instead of sharing the top-six spotlight with the USNTDP. Goumas would have, as well, if UNH didn't pounce on him as a last minute (and ahead of schedule) replacement for the Bourque, White, Reid debacle...

[NCAA watcher]

Re: UNH Commits & Recruiting: 2017 and Beyond

Today is the start of the early signing period. Last night Crookshank continued his outstanding season, scoring 2 more goals and an assist. Now has 12-7-19 in 14 games. His goals were matched by Josh Prokop, an 00 who has 5 goals in the past two games. He visited Yukon two weeks ago, was visiting other eastern schools last week, and I speculated that UNH might be interested. Let's hope UNH can sell the distinction between it, now a top 10 national program, from the lower mid-tier HE programs.

Also to watch this week, will UNH sign a goalie? There are a couple of high profile guys, Larsson, Zhutov and Moe, who would be very good news and one can imagine selling them by the chance to be immediate candidates to be a starter next year, i.e., the Maass offer.

One the longer range radar, does this new found "rising upswing, top 10 program" story line allow UNH to join in getting an 01 or 02? The debate here is whether UNH's absence from that market (370 total early commits, none from UNH) is by choice or involuntary. Is UNH content to look for players 2 years out, like 99 Stevenson, or 00 Prokop, and avoid the early commit risk?

And Dan, no thanks to your proposal that UNH jump on a player with 6 career Jr. A points going into his 19 year season.

[Dan]

And Dan, no thanks to your proposal that UNH jump on a player with 6 career Jr. A points going into his 19 year season.

My proposal was not that UNH jump on Bliss, but that they go watch him play to see what, if anything, has changed in his game resulting in his change in production. Maybe it's entirely his linemates. Still, you have long lamented UNHs lack of top-40 USHL scorers, so no doubt you are well aware of how rare it's been for UNH to land top-5 league scorers, too...

I remember taking to a Michigan State coach years ago who told me that the USHL was an, '18 year old league.' Quite frankly, 18 year olds are young by USHL standards now. Bliss was a highly regarded scorer coming into the league, but walking into the USHL from Wisconsin HS is no easy adjustment. That adjustment has potentially been made. And unlike the BCHL or the NCDC/EJHL scoring in the USHL correlates pretty well to scoring in college...

It seems contradictory to hope for UNHs success recruiting late in the process and to have trumpeted UMLs 'under-the-radar' success and then dismiss a 19 year old, third leading scorer in the USHL out of hand. Simply because he didn't have success in his first year in the league.

UMLs Kenny Hausinger played ONE Junior A game before turning 19 - I would have loved having him out of Des Moines and I'd certainly take him now.

You've argued that UNH still needs a couple of forwards for next season. Who should they expect to find better than Bliss? The choice doesn't seem to be Bliss or elite 00/01/02 forward X - but rather Bliss or Esposito/Cippolone/Stevenson and right now Bliss seems a whole lot more likely to impact scoring at the NCAA level than any of the others (NONE of whom - Cipollone in an inferior league, excluded - have yet excelled at JR A scoring, let alone doing so prior to 19)...

Bliss had a bad year last season, but appears to be on pace for an exceptional season in 2017-18. I'd take that path over the string of mediocre seasons the rest of UNHs JR A forward recruits are putting together (outside of Crookshank)...

[After the Whistle]

Re: UNH Commits & Recruiting: 2017 and Beyond

My proposal was not that UNH jump on Bliss, but that they go watch him play to see what, if anything, has changed in his game resulting in his change in production. Maybe it's entirely his linemates. Still, you have long lamented UNHs lack of top-40 USHL scorers, so no doubt you are well aware of how rare it's been for UNH to land top-5 league scorers, too...

I remember taking to a Michigan State coach years ago who told me that the USHL was an, '18 year old league.' Quite frankly, 18 year olds are young by USHL standards now. Bliss was a highly regarded scorer coming into the league, but walking into the USHL from Wisconsin HS is no easy adjustment. That adjustment has potentially been made. And unlike the BCHL or the NCDC/EJHL scoring in the USHL correlates pretty well to scoring in college...

It seems contradictory to hope for UNHs success recruiting late in the process and to have trumpeted UMLs 'under-the-radar' success and then dismiss a 19 year old, third leading scorer in the USHL out of hand. Simply because he didn't have success in his first year in the league.

UMLs Kenny Hausinger played ONE Junior A game before turning 19 - I would have loved having him out of Des Moines and I'd certainly take him now.

You've argued that UNH still needs a couple of forwards for next season. Who should they expect to find better than Bliss? The choice doesn't seem to be Bliss or elite 00/01/02 forward X - but rather Bliss or Esposito/Cippolone/Stevenson and right now Bliss seems a whole lot more likely to impact scoring at the NCAA level than any of the others (NONE of whom - Cipollone in an inferior league, excluded - have yet excelled at JR A scoring, let alone doing so prior to 19)...

Bliss had a bad year last season, but appears to be on pace for an exceptional season in 2017-18. I'd take that path over the string of mediocre seasons the rest of UNHs JR A forward recruits are putting together (outside of Crookshank)...

Dan
Just a general observation. Not intending this to be anything more than that. We have all (across HE) given "The Coach" tons of deserved credit for his recruitment of older freshmen. Take a look at this years group. Not one freshmen in the top 12, on the team, in scoring. Freshmen have 7 total point to our 27 freshmen points. Perhaps it has finally caught up with them and is not as much a slam dunk as we as imagined.
But, yes I still fear the Hawks and don't think their winning ways are necessarily over.

[Dan]

Re: UNH Commits & Recruiting: 2017 and Beyond

The idea that UNH might poo-poo a top scoring USHL forward, because of a lack of establishing a track record in the one season prior, got me thinking about just how desperate UNH is for high-end forward talent right now.

Quite frankly, UNH should be adamant in targeting and happy to recruit scoring anywhere they can get it right now. Unless recruiting picks up – either, targeting young prospects in early recruiting or identifying late-bloomers/unwanted decommitments – we may soon be stuck watching re-runs of Watcher’s favorite era of UNH hockey. The early Dick Umile, Kevin Thompson/Bob Chebator years!

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At the ends of this season UNH will graduate McNicholas, Salvaggio and Eiserman. They’ll replace those three with one recruit who appears to be an excellent scoring prospect (Crookshank), a hard-working forward in the McAdams mold (Esposito) and a player who’s lack of scoring led to his playing his way out of the USHL (Cipollone). This is currently a net loss.

McNicholas / Crookshank – Push/Win
Salvaggio / Cipollone - Loss
Eiserman / Esposito - Loss

The following season, UNH graduates Nazarian, Vela, Miller and Cefalu and bring in Chase Stevenson. This forward class has been disappointing to date. Miller and Cefalu are replaceable energy forwards. Nazarian and Vela haven’t lived up to offensive expectations. And, while it shouldn’t be hard to land forwards who can upgrade over this class (at least to date – Nazarian and Vela are still in line for upperclass jumps), this is still a net loss.

Nazarian / Stevenson – Loss/Push
Vela / TBD – N/A
Miller / TBD – N/A
Cefalu / TBD – N/A

After the 2019-20 season, the reality of the current recruiting situation really gets dicey. UNH graduates a tremendous (current SO class) of scorers. Thank you Scott Borek for one last parting gift! Blackburn, Grasso, BVR, Fregona (who will be a big scorer as a JR/SR, in my opinion) and Sacco depart, replaced by Wazny, Pierson and Sweeney. There is still a lot of time for these three incoming forwards to develop, but right now their paths indicate support forwards and not the high-scoring talents UNH is used to and will need to replace. This is a big net loss.

Grasso / Wazny – Loss
Blackburn / Pierson – Loss
BVR / Sweeney – Loss
Fregona / TBD
Sacco / TBD

So, in summary, over the next three off-seasons UNH losses McNicholas, Salvaggio, Eiserman, Vela, Nazarian, Grasso, Blackburn, BVR and Fregona among others and they’ve so far replaced that production with….Angus Crookshank. That’s not getting it done.

Crookshank is the only recruit right now with a resume that indicates a top-level HE forward floor is evident and likely. It would not surprise me if some of the other forwards produce offensive seasons at UNH, but they will do so by playing with more talented forwards and creators (a la Correale, Thrush, etc) and not by themselves or by playing primarily with each other (a la Gaudreault, Smith, Hill, MacDonald).

[Sidebar – right now all the offensive eggs are in Crookshank’s basket. Lets not forget that at his age 17 year, Vela delivered a PPG season in the BCHL. He was talented enough to be a FR at UNH at Crookshank’s current age – and despite that talent has turned out just 12 goals and 28 points in two-plus seasons. McNicholas dominated the BCHL and didn’t make an impact at UNH until his junior year alongside TK. Blackburn tore up the BCHL and managed just 18 points as a FR. Success in the BCHL is great - I love the league more than anyone – but success in the USHL is a much better indicator of HE success (especially immediately). And having ONE top-end scoring recruit leaves little margin for error.]

Now, if Crookshank delivers and the current batch of forward recruits ends up replacing the forwards currently (or recently) operating in supplemental roles they could be a huge net positive. In order for that to happen UNH needs to hit on offensive standouts with every F they offer from here out the next few years – replacing the successful current scorers.

That’s why, for those perusing the thread, there is still a lot of recruiting angst in spite of a few late gifts from Borek and a couple nice, late finds on the blue line. At least in my opinion…

At this late (under the radar) date in recruiting, UNH better be doing everything they possibly can – and maximizing their due diligence – to investigate EVERY forward who shows an inclination to score at a high level. Including Trenton Bliss…

[deltabravo62]

Re: UNH Commits & Recruiting: 2017 and Beyond

Looking at the BCHL, I hope that UNH is taking a look at Jasper Weatherby. A big body forward with some good stats to back it up at this point. 24 points in 19 games as a 6'3 forward, seems like a decent prospect to replace Eiserman if they could get him.

[Dan]

Re: UNH Commits & Recruiting: 2017 and Beyond

ATW,

You are right to some degree - I've never been a fan of Bazin's approach. I think you're much more likely to have success targeting the high-end kids that have proven their ability at young age. I also understand Watcher's trepidation on Trenton Bliss. Unfortunately, UNH has sat out early recruiting during the recent cycles. Now they find themselves in a bit of a mess and NEED to target older, late blooming prospects or decommits in order to balance their forward scoring. They don't need to come in and light the world on fire as freshmen, but they need to be forwards capable of carrying the scoring torch at UNH as juniors and seniors. Right now, UNH doesn't really have that. I think Bliss has the potential to be that guy - and they need to go see for themselves if he does. Which I'd imagine they will.

I'd have to look into it, but I'm not sure UML has been a place where FR scorers have excelled. I think they're a school that dominates primarily when they have skilled 22-24 upperclassmen leading production. Their under the radar kids often grow into roles. Hausinger is an example of that kind of kid. He was OK last season, he will be a HE star going forward. They also have had a lot more talent than people have given them credit for - losing players the calibre of Smith, Gamberdella, Kapla and Zink in one season will torpedo a lot of programs. Those four were and are real talents, not guys they got lucky on. They have plenty of guys on their team that any program would have loved to recruit. Kerner and Meehan are big time gets the pipeline...

[Dan]

Re: UNH Commits & Recruiting: 2017 and Beyond

And since I enjoyed putting that forward piece together, here’s a look at the future on the UNH blueline…

This season, Marks and Chanter depart and Corson Green and Liam Darcy matriculate to UNH. I’d call this a push, partially due to the OK career and partially due to hopeful optimism on Corson Green. I’m not sure Green is Cameron Marks, but maybe he can have that type of career. He’s more likely to be a Dylan Chanter type, but should get much more opportunity early as one of Souza’s first recruits and being clearly ahead of the competition for PT at this point. Darcy was a heralded get at the time, but seems to have stalled out in his development. It is not an inspiring D class for the future, IMO.

One thing we should remember (we touched on BCHL to HE development and having multiple impact potential prospects in your recruiting class in F post) is just how highly thought of Marks and Chanter were when they committed to UNH. These were supposed to be impact defensemen on both ends of the ice and it just hasn’t come to fruition.

Marks was an offensive dynamo in BC and was described by USHR upon committing as a ‘Joey Laleggia type’. Chanter was one of just three 16 year old defensemen to play the full BCHL season in his 16 year old season. He was a near certain NHL draft pick. Green and Darcy certainly do not arrive in Durham with the same type of resumes or expectations. I am beginning to believe more in Green - not because of his play, necessarily, but because of Souza's success in identifying a similar player in Maass. I still don't think you ever want Green being a top-pair guy if you have high team expectations.

Boyd has a redshirt option I believe and I expect he would take it.

Marks / Green – Push
Chanter / Darcy – Push

Things being to get dicey the following season - The departure of Dawson and Boyd won’t make much of an impact, but you cannot count on Gildon staying more than two seasons in Durham. Even Maass early returns indicate he is a potential flight risk – though we’ll assume for this exercise he stays three seasons. Bahn and Verrier are the 'offensive' defensemen of the future and I just don't see them having the necessary production in the USHL or NCAA. They look like John Furgele types to me.

Gildon / Verrier - Loss
Boyd / Bahn - Loss
Dawson / TBD

In 2019-20 UNH again takes its ‘biggest’ hit when Wyse graduates, and Maass (should he continue on his current development curve) leaves after three seasons. Nonis also graduates. UNH has missed this current early recruiting cycle and currently has zero defensemen committed for this season or beyond. They could survive to this point with Wyse, Maass and Miller leading the corp – but they really will struggle after this season, unless they start committing a higher level of defensemen regularly.

Maass / TBD
Wyse / TBD
Nonis / TBD

UNH will need to, not only, recruit young D but in similar fashion to the F discussion they’ll need to find immediate impact top-pair/four defenseman in 2019 and 2020 in order to continue to compete as they are to date this season. They will be in a tough spot if Green/Bahn/Verrier are counted on, even as upper classmen, to lead the defense. And as has been noted many times – the best prospects are picked over and the remaining ranks thin every day…

Late bloomers, top-end talent, decommitments - doesn't matter to me anymore. UNH needs Fs and Ds who can play top-six and top-four minutes at all-HE levels or they're in trouble long term. Whether this current run is a product of the soft schedule or real thanks to a renaissance of Scott Borek recruiting and two great D finds - it won't last unless future recruiting turns over every stone and picks up the pace in top of the roster terms...

[C-H-C]

Re: UNH Commits & Recruiting: 2017 and Beyond

Leftshot defenseman Ryan Verrier (Green Bay Gamblers) signs National Letter of Intent.
http://unhhockeyblog.blogspot.com/20...-star.html?m=1

[C-H-C]

Re: UNH Commits & Recruiting: 2017 and Beyond

"UNH Commits Update: November-10-2017"

~Player Spotlight on Angus Crookshank (again) and his BCHL leading goal scoring (includes video)
~ Update on National Letter of Intent signings

[Dan]

Re: UNH Commits & Recruiting: 2017 and Beyond

St Cloud decommit...

http://www.hockeydb.com/ihdb/stats/p...php?pid=190621

[HockeyRef]

Re: UNH Commits & Recruiting: 2017 and Beyond

St Cloud decommit...

http://www.hockeydb.com/ihdb/stats/p...php?pid=190621

Hi Dan, how do you know this, thanks!

[Dan]

Hi Dan, how do you know this, thanks!

I heard from a friend with USHL ties, who knows what type of player I view as lacking in upcoming UNH recruiting classes. His USHL profile also lists him as currently uncommitted. However, what he didn't tell me - and what is being discussed on (UND reporter Brad Schlossman's) Twitter - is that Denver is a possible (likely?) destination and may have been actively recruiting him actively for awhile now...

EDIT: Guttman signed with Denver

What a quick little soap opera that was! Recruiting is fascinating. Sure puts this post-game argument into better perspective...

https://twitter.com/schlossmangf/status/930256243670872064

[Dan]

Watcher - I saw the Cruikshank news in the WI thread. I hope UNH is all over him, as he is exactly the type of offensive player they need. He was a teammate with James Miller last season in Penticton, so we'll see...

The other kid out of BC I'd really like to see them target immediately is Levi Glassman!

[CollegeHockeyRinkReport]

Re: UNH Commits & Recruiting: 2017 and Beyond

Connor Sweeney rated 'C' in Nov. 15 NHL Central Scouting Watch List:
http://www.hockeyjournal.com/nehocke...ticleId1234309