The college hockey recruiting season never takes a break. Denver was crowned the 2022 national champion almost two months ago. The 2022-23 season begins in just under four months. While college coaches might have taken a break from recruiting to head to the convention in Naples, Fla., and the golf clubs could be out for...
The college hockey recruiting season never takes a break. Denver was crowned the 2022 national champion almost two months ago. The 2022-23 season begins in just under four months.
While college coaches might have taken a break from recruiting to head to the convention in Naples, Fla., and the golf clubs could be out for some, there’s never a dull moment on the recruiting trail. With the advent of graduate transfers and the one-time transfer rule, how college programs add players is continuing to evolve.
With transfers, and current athletes being afforded a fifth year of eligibility, it’s not been a great time to be a potential recruit, especially for younger ones. College programs would rather add a player who has already proven himself at the NCAA level. As a result of that uncertainty, decommits are becoming increasingly prevalent. A number of the commits since January 1 are another program’s decommit. A few of the most notable commits nationally and locally since January 1 have come by way of a decommitment.
Since the start of this year, there have been a number of significant commitments. Some are geared toward the immediate future while others are looking at the long term. When it comes to recruiting over the first five months of the calendar year, no program across the country has won more than the University of Minnesota. The Golden Gophers have secured commitments from two forwards out of USA Hockey’s National Team Development Program that are game-changers. Logan Cooley, an '04, will join coach Bob Motzko’s program in 2022 while '05 Oliver Moore will head to Dinkytown a year later.
The local college program with the most victories on the recruiting trail since Jan. 1 is Northeastern, as the Huskies have solidified their blue line for years to come with the additions of Hunter McDonald, Michael Fisher (Westboro, Mass.) and Seth Constance.
Here are the top 65 notable college hockey recruits, excluding transfers, who have committed since Jan. 1:
