NCAA Hockey Portal / Impact on NIL

[NewEnglander]

Looks like Niagara and Miami made a trade. After Murray committed to NU it appears that Albin Nilsson committed to Miami.

[soccereagle81]

Large exodus at Miami following a disappointing season.

[phillyeagle]

Saw in the Buff News, the Canisius goalie, Barczewski, is transferring to Michigan.

[jhart]

Now he must be one helluva goalie to wake up from a dream at Michigan!

[le]

Barczewski had one hell of a season for the Griffs as the top goaltender in the AHA. Congrats to him by "moving up the food chain" to the top rung of college hockey. I suspect "Barski" will do very well at UM.

[NewEnglander]

Another transfer portal player coming to Niagara. Jaedon Leslie a forward from Ohio State. He had 11 goals in his career at tOSU including 3 game winning goals. I assume he was a regular 3rd or most likely 4th line player as he appeared in all but one game at Ohio State this year with 4 goals and 1 assist.

[le]

Thanks NE for the update. Leslie is an excellent pick up for NU. He was an alternate captain last year at OSU. He has good size at 6’1 - 190 lbs.

Ohio State Career

Alternate captain for the squad as a junior in 2021-22 and as a senior in 2022-23
A three-time Ohio State Scholar-Athlete and a two-time Academic All-Big Ten choice
2020 Most Improved Player award co-recipient
Entered senior season with 64 collegiate games played

https://ohiostatebuckeyes.com/roster/jaedon-leslie/

[NewEnglander]

We have discussed how hockey has been less impacted by the portal than basketball has been. Here's a closer look at how players leaving or graduating have impacted teams and what their actual value in the sport is as of now. There have been only 37 players leaving early to sign professional contracts this year and many schools have had multiple defections so only 23 of the 60+ schools lost players early. Of those 37, 30 signed with the NHL,3 with the AHL, 3 to Europe and 1 to the ECHL. While these top end programs reload with stars they have to start from scratch with new lines and team camaraderie. Senior signings are far more common, in fact 187 of them. 115 of them go to the ECHL essentially the 3rd tier professional league below the NHL and AHL. 41 to the AHL,16 to the NHL, 7 to Europe and then another 7 mostly from D3 schools to lesser leagues. As you can see there is a far greater chance of an NHL player coming from an elite program and leaving after only a year or two. Quinnipiac's graduating seniors almost all ended up on AHL programs. As for Atlantic Hockey they had 15 ECHL signers including 4 from Niagara (Carreau, Pineo, Cox and Wishman). Only 2 Atlantic Hockey players signed with AHL teams (Shea from Sacred Heart and Mastrodonato from Canisius). I don't know if or how many former Atlantic hockey players that transferred to other D1 leagues signed. Canisius' goalie left for Michigan this year though but it appears that it is more common for elite programs to lose lower line players to Atlantic Hockey than for top AHC players to go upward. Players want to play not sit. It appears that Atlantic Hockey still has a way to go to approach the professional success of the elite programs but because those programs lose players more often it somewhat levels the playing surface a bit.

[le]

I agree NE, the playing field is somewhat more level in college hockey based on the reasons you astutely stated. As to your second point, even at full scholarship, the AHA is still not on par with the other leagues in college hockey. However, Qpac's unexpected national championship provides the smaller schools from the" East" heightened motivation for success in the NCAA's.

but because those programs lose players more often it somewhat levels the playing surface a bit.

[jhart]

As we speak, Dwyer is being internally rebuilt down to the dirt for the first time since being built with the support of Mr. Dwyer.