With the 2017-18 college hockey season over, it’s never too early to start thinking about how Hockey East will shake up in 2018-19.
This season was a disappointing one for Hockey East as the regular season champion Boston College failed to make the NCAA Tournament for a second consecutive season. No league team was present at the recently completed Frozen Four, won by Minnesota Duluth.
While further early departures and commitments and de-commitments can change the landscape, here’s an early look at one prognosticator’s preseason rankings:
1. Providence
The Friars lose two key pieces up front in two-way center Brian Pinho, who graduated, and right wing Erik Foley who turned pro a year early. However, Nate Leaman’s team returns quite a few key forwards, including Brandon Duhaime, Josh Wilkins, Kasper Bjorkqvist, Scott Conway and Vimal Sukumaran.
The defense should be a strong point, assuming sophomore Jacob Bryson and junior Vincent Desharnais both return. Spenser Young took a huge step in his game this season and will be relied on even more. Ben Mirageas came a long way from the start of the season as well, especially in his own end.
It also appears that senior-to-be Hayden Hawkey will be back to man the pipes. He played some of his best hockey down the stretch.
Providence brings in one of the best classes in program history, headlined by Thayer center Jay O’Brien, who should be a top two round draft pick in June’s NHL Draft. Also heading PC’s way are forwards Jack Dugan, a Vegas draft pick, Tyce Thompson and Mikael Hakkareinen and defenseman Michael Callahan, a former star at Roxbury Latin.
2. Boston College
Despite missing the NCAA Tournament for a second consecutive season, the Eagles won the Hockey East Regular Season Championship this past year. The only player that is sure to not be back is graduate student Kevin Lohan.
In other words, every player of any significance is expected back for Jerry York’s club. The most important returnee is goaltender Joseph Woll. The Toronto Maple Leafs prospect is a game changer.
Hockey East Rookie of the Year Logan Hutsko highlights the list of returnees up front. Chris Brown, David Cotton and Julius Matilla are other forwards who will be counted on to play a major role. Incoming forwards Jack McBain and Patrick Giles are both expected to be drafted in the first couple of rounds.
The defense is the glaring weakness as it was this past season. Adam Samuelsson comes in from the NTDP and former St. Lawrence defenseman and Florida Panthers prospect Ben Finkelstein will be eligible at the semester break.
3. Boston University
The Terriers went on a nice second half run that culminated in a Hockey East Tournament Championship and an appearance in the Northeast Regional Final.
BU will have to replace Jordan Greenway, who signed early with the Minnesota Wild, but as of now, the other stars in scarlet and white are heading back to Commonwealth Ave. Obviously, freshman Brady Tkachuk is a wildcard as he will likely be picked in the top 10 of the NHL Draft and could bolt to major junior or the team that selects him.
Shane Bowers, Bobo Carpenter and Patrick Harper will key the offensive production. Incoming recruits Joel Farabee, Jake Wise and Tyler Weiss should contribute immediately. Physical, two-way center Matt DeBoer is a welcome addition to bolster the Terriers down the middle.
As with the Eagles, goaltending should be a position of strength with Jake Oettinger returning for a third season. The Dallas Stars pick played better in the second half after an up-and-down first semester.
Brandon Hickey is the biggest loss on the blue line. Dante Fabbro is the most important returnee, assuming he doesn’t leave early to sign with Nashville. Chad Krys, Kasper Kotkansalo, Cam Crotty and David Farrance should all be back. Toronto draft pick Ryan O’Connell and Hugo Blixt are the top newcomers on the backend.
4. Northeastern
The Huskies lose their entire first line and much of their offense with Adam Gaudette signing with Vancouver and Nolan Stevens and Dylan Sikura graduating.
Players like Matt Filipe, Zach Solow, Lincoln Griffin and Brandon Hawkins will all have to step up. The offense will be more by committee as opposed to the past few years where it was dominated by a select few. Austin Goldstein and John Picking both made significant strides from October to the end of the season and became reliable bottom six players. Tyler Madden, the son of former NHL forward John Madden, is the top incoming forward.
Losing Garrett Cecere will hurt, but the defense should be very solid, led by All-American Jeremy Davies, and Ryan Shea. Jordan Harris will add another mobile, puck-moving defenseman to the fold when he arrives from two-time defending prep champion Kimball Union.
The goaltending, a weakness for several years, was finally a position of strength this season. Montreal Canadians prospect Cayden Primeau took home several awards at the Hockey East Banquet and should be a rock in the net next season. In conclusion, the goaltending and defense should be able to carry this team and make it so Jim Madigan's club doesn't see as significant drop-off in 2018-19.
5. Maine
The Black Bears flirted with a first round bye this season, but fell short in the final weeks of the season. Outside of forwards Nolan Vesey and Cedric Lacroix and defenseman Mark Hamilton, most of Maine’s top players are back.
Up front, Red Gendron’s team will rely on two-way center Chase Pearson and wingers Mitch Fossier and Eduards Tralmaks to lead the way. Tim Doherty and Brendan Robbins are double-digit goal scorers returning to Orono. Adam Dawe and Jacob Schmidt-Svejstrup are two newcomers who could be immediate contributors.
The defense has gotten more mobile and should be better with a year of added experience. Patrick Holway, Alexis Binner and Rob Michel will lead the way in that regard.
Most importantly, Bruins prospect and rising sophomore Jeremy Swayman shored up the Maine net for the first time in several years. His continued solid play will be crucial.
6. Massachusetts
The biggest win of the off-season so far has occurred in Amherst where Cale Makar has announced he’ll return for his sophomore campaign. The fourth overall pick of the Avalanche in the 2017 draft is a game changer who can swing momentum and keep possession his team’s favor. Classmate Mario Ferraro is another Hockey East All-Rookie Team selection who will be counted on for big minutes.
Mitchell Chaffee, John Leonard and Oliver Chau led the Minutemen in scoring as freshmen. Another rookie, Matt Murray emerged as the number one goaltender for Greg Carvel's club.
The two biggest additions come in the form of brothers Anthony and Marc Delgaizo. Anthony, a forward, has had a breakout campaign in his final season of junior hockey with Muskegon in the USHL. Marc, the younger of the two, is a late ’99 who has garnered draft attention as an undersized, but mobile and offensive-minded defender.
7. UMass Lowell
This past season was the first disappointing one in the Norm Bazin era. The River Hawks finished in seventh place and were upset by Merrimack in the first round of the league playoffs.
The goaltending wasn’t great and the team had a lot of mental lapses that just didn’t happen in the past under Bazin’s guidance. Ryan Lohin is the top returning forward and Mattias Goransson will log big minutes on the blue line.
New York Rangers prospect Tyler Wall will be counted on to have a bounce back year after a subpar sophomore season. Christoffer Hernberg played well for the most part.
On paper, the recruiting class doesn’t look great, but UML has done as good a job of any school in getting the most out of its players.
8. Vermont
The Catamounts played better in the second half and should once again be led by center Ross Colton, as long as he doesn’t forgo his final two years of eligibility to sign with Tampa. John DeRoche, Joe Cipollone and Dallas Comeau will be the top newcomers up front.
The defense should be even better as Jake Massie, Owen Grant and Christian Evers all return and have another year of experience. Stefanos Lekkas will once again be the man in the pain for UVM.
9. UConn
The Huskies will have to replace their top two scorers after Maxim Letunov turned pro a year early and Spencer Naas graduated. Benjamin Freeman and Alexander Payusov took big steps as sophomores.
Derek Pratt, Johnny Austin and David Drake are significant losses on the blue line. Joseph Masonius, Adam Karashik and Philip Nyberg are the top returners on the blue line.
As of now, goaltender Adam Huska appears to be headed back to Storrs for his junior season. The New York Rangers prospect will need to be on top of his game to keep the Huskies in games.
10. New Hampshire
The first year of the Mike Souza era in Durham could be a struggle as the Wildcats look to begin the rebuild process. UNH does have three significant building blocks in Max Gildon, Benton Maass and Anthony Wyse who should all be back on the backend.
Up front, the team will have to replace Michael McNicholas and Jason Salvaggio. Liam Blackburn, Charlie Kelleher and Ara Nazarian are the top returnees up front.
The top two newcomers are both from the BCHL. Goaltender Ty Taylor could hold the key to more success than expected and Angus Cruikshank should provide some spark for the offense.
11. Merrimack
The Warriors will have a hard time in their first year without Mark Dennehy at the helm. All indications point to Providence associate head coach Scott Borek being the man chosen to steer the ship.
Merrimack will be without the services of four-year leading scorer Brett Seney, who graduated and signed with the New Jersey Devils. Also gone up front are Jace Hennig, Matthieu Tibbet and Alfred Larsson.
Graduation hit the defense hard as well with Jared Kolquist and Marc Biega moving on. The top returnee on the blue line is Jonathan Kovacevic.
Former third string walk-on Craig Pantano played admirably once called upon, but the goaltending was an issue for Merrimack in 2017-18. Logan Halladay and Drew Vogler both return as well.
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