UMD Projected Depth Chart 2022-23

Hope everyone is enjoying the summer. I am, even if you’re among those dismayed that we continue to do a 100-day season countdown on Twitter. It’s not like that painstaking research keeps me inside on nice summer days. It’s something fun to work on when there are days like this one where I can taste the air and don’t really care to be outside.

Kinda like this annual exercise.

It’s time to look at the 2022-23 season and try to give you an idea what the UMD lineup might look like on Opening Night, which is ten weeks from the day this is publishing, or Oct. 1 (at home against Arizona State) if you don’t want to count the weeks on a calendar.

This is usually an exercise in futility, because it’s being done before I have any conversations with the coaching staff or watch a practice (head coach Scott Sandelin is on my radio show Wednesday for a mid-summer update). But it’s fun to look at the roster and try to lay out how things could look when September practices roll around and the opener approaches.

Adding to the challenge is that UMD welcomes 12 newcomers (ten freshmen and two transfers) for this season, its most new faces since 2017-18. So if you need me in September, I’ll be at many a preseason practice, trying to associate numbers with new faces and names.

So here we go. Again, all placements are simply my opinion, being offered for entertainment purposes only. Remember, all players who are listed as juniors and seniors do have an additional season of eligibility due to the 2020-21 Covid year, though only two UMD seniors from last season are returning.

Of the top four centers, only James is left-handed. When you look at the fourth line and projected extras, however, it’s a group very heavy on left shots. As I laid those six forwards out, only Bettens is right-handed. Unless one of the right-shot centers ends up on the wing, one of the bottom-six wings will be playing on his off-side. Right now, I have Kleven there after he did it a couple times as a freshman. But that literally could be any of them. Expect quite the rotation early, as Sandelin mixes and matches and tries to see what works the best.

The other challenge here is slotting youngsters in the top nine. Steeves could be a candidate to play on his off-side as a left shot, but I chose to slot him on the left side until we get a look at everyone this fall. Both he and Howard should factor in to what will be a very different power play dynamic than what we saw last season (more on that in a bit).

Loney got a couple opportunities in the top six last season, and I think Sandelin and staff will give him another one when the players convene in a few weeks. Jacques is a good option for that second line, as well, and I could see him and Laderoute bouncing around to a couple different spots in the top nine as the season goes on. Both have plenty of experience in a tough league, and have given UMD high-quality minutes over their four years so far.

Tough call at the top, where I could see Daschke running the top power play unit and playing a lot of minutes, but I think Kaiser is the best overall defenseman. Overall, UMD’s left side is as strong as anyone around, thanks to Daschke’s transfer from Miami and Gallatin’s emergence throughout the second half. The right side has some questions. Francis has a big shot, and now that he’s rang the bell (having beaten cancer!), it’ll be interesting to see what he can do while healthy. Like many coaches, Sandelin likes to say players are brought in “for a reason,” and Francis was also drafted for a reason. He’s a big defenseman with a good stick and a huge shot. He could be a big part of this team. Daschke and Francis — along with Gotz — give the blue line more ability to get pucks through from high to low than it had last year. That might be a huge development for a power play that really struggled last season, not to mention the five-on-five offense.

(For perspective, Daschke has 24 goals and 85 career points in 133 games. UMD’s four returning blue-liners have combined for six goals and 57 points in 120 games.)

Bodnarchuk — who had a great overage year in Okotoks — is a prospect to keep an eye on. UMD dresses seven defensemen a lot more than it dresses 13 forwards, and he is one guy among the “bottom four” defensemen who bears watching as a guy who could steal some minutes as the extra defenseman in the early going.

I believe Stejskal has the inside track, but Thiessen (transfer from Maine) is an intriguing addition. He put up huge numbers in juniors for the Steinbach Pistons (MJHL) before heading to college, putting himself in position to get drafted by Vancouver. Sandy has potential as well, and he should not be counted out in this equation. Sandelin hasn’t been opposed to playing three goalies early in a season before settling on a starter, and he hasn’t been opposed to rotating goalies through a regular season, either.

Just think: We’ll be previewing the NCHC season in two short months. It won’t be long now, so everyone make sure to enjoy the rest of summer!