I’m new to UConn/college hockey. But not new to hockey. My perspective as a new comer is I think this team got some real solid talent. Iskhakov is worth the price of admission alone! El-Mir, Payusov, Kondelik are really solid players out there. I think Huska is a solid goalie and Vamacka is ever better! The addition of guys like Blümel and Firstov will make the offense down right sexy to watch. Cavanaugh ability to go get these highly skilled Europeans is brilliant. And I think bringing them over with the now coming $50m plus practice facility and campus arena will play a big role in getting more recruits.
HOWEVER.... something has to be done about the defense... IT STINKS!! They’re slow, chasing the puck, can’t make break out passes, can’t shoot from the point, etc, etc. It’s rough and I think it’s the primary reason for UConn blowing leads and struggle on the power play. Cav has got to address that! We can have world class forwards and great goaltending. But a solid D group is the backbone of the team success. They especially need to chip on the offensive side. I did some quick research on numbers. And found they only have 3 goals from defenseman this year. Only Newpower is in the top 12 point leaders and now compare that to last nights opponent who has 5 defensemen in the top 12 (including their point leader) and inner state rival Quinnipiac who has 4 d-man in the top 12. I feel that really needs to be worked on currently and recruited on longterm. On the positive note, I thought they looked really good on the PK last night. But the 5 on 5 was... On the 5th UMass goal 4 guys chased the puck...