Interesting. To this point, at least based on the NHL draft, the Gophers have had higher end prospects.
But the playing styles are similar? Imagine Michigan leans more to the BU/BC model?
Would love your take.
Hastings has been at Wisconsin for one season. Motzko is going into year 7 as the Minnesota head coach and his first two seasons he hovered around .500. If you look at Motzko’s winning seasons, the majority of his top scoring players are upperclassmen outside of the outlier 22-23 season with the Knies/Cooley/Snuggerud top line.
It takes time to get those high end recruits and they usually don’t stick around long. It’s not a sustainable model to only go after those guys. Granato had Caufield/Holloway turn in an outstanding season in 20-21, won 20 games, and they made the tournament for the first time since 2014. Then both left and Wisconsin mustered 23 total wins the next two seasons combined, leading to the coaching change.
I think it’s more sustainable to get 3-4 year guys with a couple blue chippers. Logan Hensler playing for Wisconsin next year is a prime example of a blue chipper. Should go top 15 in the draft.
Tying this back to Finley, he should be a 2nd line guy this year with power play time.
I would say Michigan is sort of a comparable to BU/BC. They care 0 about defense. It is all about winning games by scoring 5+ for them.