prized recruits !(Logan Cooley, Brock Faber)
Brinkman is a 4 year starter on a team that went to the Frozen Four last year. He is a great addition.
We've had a good off-season. On paper, it looks like next year we'll have a very good team that will surprise a lot of people. Overall the team looks a lot like the 2017-18 squad (no elite superstar but deep and balanced without many holes).
Blue line will be a strength again. Leivermann and Drew Bavaro bring offense (similar to Gross/Nardella in 17-18). Plucinski/Boltmann/Brinkman are solid/physical/experienced defensive-minded D (similar to Wade/Peeke/Gilbert in 17-18).
Blackmun recently announced he was coming back. Considering the late announcement and his diminished role once tourney time came around, I can't imagine he'll have a bigger role this year. With him coming back, it makes me think either Nelson (probably) or Mastrodomenico may spend another year in USHL (or de-commit to get better ice time elsewhere). I expect it'll be Blackmun/Helliwell/Mastrodomenico competing for the 6/7D slots through the season.
It remains unaddressed.....
Elite players bring problems/politics from egos, parents, agents, and NHL teams.
You don't have to look any further than the Gophers. They're bringing in a great class (with Cooley as the crown jewel). But that led to some high drafted players leaving since the incoming recruits jump them in the depth chart and rumors of problems with "leadership" (unclear if the rumors relate to coaches and/or players).
Chaz Lucius (1st rounder) left (probably for WHL). Cruz Lucius (probable 2nd/3rd rounder in next draft) de-committed. Tristan Broz (2nd rounder) transferred to DU. Gopher fans are nervous b/c they still have 2 holes to fill in the bottom-6 F without many available options left.
make valid points.
There are issues, both real, imagined, or whispered, that will make it unlikely Notre Dame lands multiple first round picks in any recruiting class, and players who will win Art Ross trophies or be game changing, top blueliners in the NHL. Our best chances will always be with teams like the 2018 team or the ones we saw from 2006-2009. Deep, experienced, and among the most fundamentally sound teams in the NCAA. I don't lament the lack of 40 goal scorers anymore because at the end of the day we're not getting them, but I also believe we are getting players who can help the team succeed on a high level.
It wasn't really a talent level that cost us the 2018 title game, and I believe the same thing about how we got blown off the ice in losses to Denver and Massachusetts in 2017 and 2019. We certainly had the talent to score more than zero goals against MSU in this year's NCAA 2nd round. Our problems in winning that final game or those final 2 or three games of the year lately have been our inability to adjust to what the other team is doing. You can win by either having such a disparity in talent that your talent can dictate the outcome (provided you do the work, we all know work beats talent when talent doesn't work) or by outplanning the other team and responding better to what THEY do. I think the fix has to come from there. Players and coaches simply need to do a better job game planning and adjusting when things get really tough.
What are the issues,"real,imagined,or whispered"? Why aren't we getting
40 goal scorers? We need to be more than "fundamentally sound" to win a
crown. We are always "fundamentally sound" and haven't won anything yet.
My take is we need more scorers year in year out.
or however many goals the league leaders end up with. It's imagined that Jackson can't coach anyone who takes the ice at Notre Dame, but there are those who believe that, and it is well known that some of the kids that have bolted on a commitment to Notre Dame or said no to the efforts to recruit them are hearing voices over their shoulders -- advisors, agents, family -- who say "don't go to Notre Dame, all your skill will be stifled in favor of strict adherance to the 'system.'"
My take is teams that win 4 games in late March and April are able to accept what the other team throws at them, and either successfully play their game or adjust and succeed. UMD scored a total of 21 goals in 8 wins in their 2 most recent titles, and two of those games went to overtime. Not exactly the 1980s Edmonton Oilers. I don't think their leading scorer in either 2018 or 2019 managed 40 points.
Do I think our scoring needs upgraded to have a better chance at success? Yes, clearly. We've had one player over the last three years average a point a game. That is not good enough. But we also clearly had enough talent to score more than 1 goal against UMD in 2018 or more than zero goals against MSU.
I think we both might think it is a coaching issue at Notre Dame. It sounds like we probably don't agree on the particular aspect of the coaching issue.
We barely got the puck out of our end in the 3rd period.....