Recruits 2026 and Beyond

[chimpfood]

Michael Dec and Cal Hughes finish their season with the dreadful Erie Otters. Dec closes at 68 points in 62 games this season behind 3 tonight. Hughes ends with 23 points in 58 games. Both should come in for us next year.

Also coming to a merciful end is Baie Como Drakkar's season. Aiden Kirkwood (just turned 18) posted 10 points in 60 games, and Declan Wotton (still 16) put up 6 points in 28 games.

All are forwards.

Defenseman Sam Peckham finished up his high school career at Edina and is now with Waterloo in the USHL. Three games (as the seventh defenseman) so far no points.

I'll try to post stuff for our other juniors guys when their seasons end, but everyone else in the CHL is on to playoffs, USHL still has a few more regular season games.

Dec appears to be a very good recruit. We have an extremely good hit rate with our St. Andrews pipeline...hopefully Syer at Princeton doesn't eat into it too much.

I think recruiting is a bit lacking otherwise, given that the bar has been raised with the pool of players massively expanding.  We'll see.   

To be fair, our senior class is tiny and only 2 of them are daily lineup players - DeSantis and O'Brien, both of whom you can replace with, say, Arseneault/Murray (or Dec/Hughes) and Gorski/Wolfenberg/whatever other dmen we have because we have like 5 extra. The more pressing concern from a "next year recruit" standpoint is the center depth if either of Walsh or Casty (or both) go. In either case, I'm sure we'll figure it out.

Our recruiting seems to signal that Castagna and Walsh both might go. We have three senior forwards but at least four forward recruits coming in. And we already have a big roster so unlikely we're adding extra guys just for the hell of it.

I hate to say it, but I also wouldn't be surprised if we lose one or two defensemen that we're expecting to stay too. We lose one to graduation, and look poised bring in two, even though we already have Gorski and Wolfenberg as solid depth. I'm not sure we would add Randle last minute unless there was word of a new departure, but we'll see.

[BearLover]

Michael Dec and Cal Hughes finish their season with the dreadful Erie Otters. Dec closes at 68 points in 62 games this season behind 3 tonight. Hughes ends with 23 points in 58 games. Both should come in for us next year.

Also coming to a merciful end is Baie Como Drakkar's season. Aiden Kirkwood (just turned 18) posted 10 points in 60 games, and Declan Wotton (still 16) put up 6 points in 28 games.

All are forwards.

Defenseman Sam Peckham finished up his high school career at Edina and is now with Waterloo in the USHL. Three games (as the seventh defenseman) so far no points.

I'll try to post stuff for our other juniors guys when their seasons end, but everyone else in the CHL is on to playoffs, USHL still has a few more regular season games.

Dec appears to be a very good recruit. We have an extremely good hit rate with our St. Andrews pipeline...hopefully Syer at Princeton doesn't eat into it too much.

I think recruiting is a bit lacking otherwise, given that the bar has been raised with the pool of players massively expanding.  We'll see.   

To be fair, our senior class is tiny and only 2 of them are daily lineup players - DeSantis and O'Brien, both of whom you can replace with, say, Arseneault/Murray (or Dec/Hughes) and Gorski/Wolfenberg/whatever other dmen we have because we have like 5 extra. The more pressing concern from a "next year recruit" standpoint is the center depth if either of Walsh or Casty (or both) go. In either case, I'm sure we'll figure it out.

Our recruiting seems to signal that Castagna and Walsh both might go. We have three senior forwards but at least four forward recruits coming in. And we already have a big roster so unlikely we're adding extra guys just for the hell of it.

I hate to say it, but I also wouldn't be surprised if we lose one or two defensemen that we're expecting to stay too. We lose one to graduation, and look poised bring in two, even though we already have Gorski and Wolfenberg as solid depth. I'm not sure we would add Randle last minute unless there was word of a new departure, but we'll see.

I've read the same tea leaves as you and had the same interpretation. I'm a bit  confused because neither Fegaras nor Stanley is going to play in the NHL in the near future. I don't think they'll necessarily even get contract offers...? They're very good college players but the NHL doesn't seem to be in the cards. Or does Casey expect some players to transfer out?

[scoop85]

Michael Dec and Cal Hughes finish their season with the dreadful Erie Otters. Dec closes at 68 points in 62 games this season behind 3 tonight. Hughes ends with 23 points in 58 games. Both should come in for us next year.

Also coming to a merciful end is Baie Como Drakkar's season. Aiden Kirkwood (just turned 18) posted 10 points in 60 games, and Declan Wotton (still 16) put up 6 points in 28 games.

All are forwards.

Defenseman Sam Peckham finished up his high school career at Edina and is now with Waterloo in the USHL. Three games (as the seventh defenseman) so far no points.

I'll try to post stuff for our other juniors guys when their seasons end, but everyone else in the CHL is on to playoffs, USHL still has a few more regular season games.

Dec appears to be a very good recruit. We have an extremely good hit rate with our St. Andrews pipeline...hopefully Syer at Princeton doesn't eat into it too much.

I think recruiting is a bit lacking otherwise, given that the bar has been raised with the pool of players massively expanding.  We'll see.   

To be fair, our senior class is tiny and only 2 of them are daily lineup players - DeSantis and O'Brien, both of whom you can replace with, say, Arseneault/Murray (or Dec/Hughes) and Gorski/Wolfenberg/whatever other dmen we have because we have like 5 extra. The more pressing concern from a "next year recruit" standpoint is the center depth if either of Walsh or Casty (or both) go. In either case, I'm sure we'll figure it out.

Our recruiting seems to signal that Castagna and Walsh both might go. We have three senior forwards but at least four forward recruits coming in. And we already have a big roster so unlikely we're adding extra guys just for the hell of it.

I hate to say it, but I also wouldn't be surprised if we lose one or two defensemen that we're expecting to stay too. We lose one to graduation, and look poised bring in two, even though we already have Gorski and Wolfenberg as solid depth. I'm not sure we would add Randle last minute unless there was word of a new departure, but we'll see.

I've read the same tea leaves as you and had the same interpretation. I'm a bit  confused because neither Fegaras nor Stanley is going to play in the NHL in the near future. I don't think they'll necessarily even get contract offers...? They're very good college players but the NHL doesn't seem to be in the cards. Or does Casey expect some players to transfer out?

I think Castagna's odds of making the Flames in the next year or two are greater than you think.

[BearLover]

Michael Dec and Cal Hughes finish their season with the dreadful Erie Otters. Dec closes at 68 points in 62 games this season behind 3 tonight. Hughes ends with 23 points in 58 games. Both should come in for us next year.

Also coming to a merciful end is Baie Como Drakkar's season. Aiden Kirkwood (just turned 18) posted 10 points in 60 games, and Declan Wotton (still 16) put up 6 points in 28 games.

All are forwards.

Defenseman Sam Peckham finished up his high school career at Edina and is now with Waterloo in the USHL. Three games (as the seventh defenseman) so far no points.

I'll try to post stuff for our other juniors guys when their seasons end, but everyone else in the CHL is on to playoffs, USHL still has a few more regular season games.

Dec appears to be a very good recruit. We have an extremely good hit rate with our St. Andrews pipeline...hopefully Syer at Princeton doesn't eat into it too much.

I think recruiting is a bit lacking otherwise, given that the bar has been raised with the pool of players massively expanding.  We'll see.   

To be fair, our senior class is tiny and only 2 of them are daily lineup players - DeSantis and O'Brien, both of whom you can replace with, say, Arseneault/Murray (or Dec/Hughes) and Gorski/Wolfenberg/whatever other dmen we have because we have like 5 extra. The more pressing concern from a "next year recruit" standpoint is the center depth if either of Walsh or Casty (or both) go. In either case, I'm sure we'll figure it out.

Our recruiting seems to signal that Castagna and Walsh both might go. We have three senior forwards but at least four forward recruits coming in. And we already have a big roster so unlikely we're adding extra guys just for the hell of it.

I hate to say it, but I also wouldn't be surprised if we lose one or two defensemen that we're expecting to stay too. We lose one to graduation, and look poised bring in two, even though we already have Gorski and Wolfenberg as solid depth. I'm not sure we would add Randle last minute unless there was word of a new departure, but we'll see.

I've read the same tea leaves as you and had the same interpretation. I'm a bit  confused because neither Fegaras nor Stanley is going to play in the NHL in the near future. I don't think they'll necessarily even get contract offers...? They're very good college players but the NHL doesn't seem to be in the cards. Or does Casey expect some players to transfer out?

I think Castagna's odds of making the Flames in the next year or two are greater than you think.

Oh I was talking purely about the defensemen I mentioned. Castagna has a good shot, I agree.