Last Season: 15-19-2 (24th in Pairwise, 8th in HEA)
Recruit Class Ranking: 8th
Predicted League Finish: 11th (out of 11)
College Hockey Insider Score: 648.9
UConn reminds me a lot of Harvard last season. You might be surprised that I have the Huskies this low, although it’s only an eight-spot drop from where they were in the final Pairwise last season.
Losing Matthew Wood (16g-12a), Samu Salminen (7g-10a), and goalie Arsenii Sergeev (2.70/.913) were tough blows to absorb in the transfer portal.
Tyler Muszelik (3.38/.874) has potential in net as a transfer from UNH. He played for the U.S. NTDP and is a Florida draft pick, but he’s yet to put it all together as a college goalie.
UConn made some other nice additions in the portal — defenseman Nicholas Carabin (5g-12a) from Princeton, for example — but it’s not nearly enough to cover the production lost by Salminen and Wood transferring.
That said, it’s not all doom and gloom.
Remember last year I wrote I saw a rebuilding year for Harvard, but steady improvement over the next 2-3 years due to their recruiting classes. UConn is in the same boat.
According to Neutral Zone, UConn has the No. 8 recruiting class in the nation. Five players in the class are 4.0-stars or better.
That’s just a lot of youth to rely on in an ultra-competitive Hockey East.
Final Verdict: UConn’s recruiting class could be the core of a team that gets it back to the Hockey East championship game in 3-4 years. For this year, it’s fair to expect some growing pains while those players mature.
At the same time, I’m not sold on their goaltending. Muszelik has a lot of prove, and maybe a change of scenery helps him reach his potential. If not, the Huskies will turn to two more freshmen — Callum Tung or Thomas Heaney.
For me, Muszelik is the X-factor. If he can become a starting goalie and give the Huskies .905-9.10 goaltending, which is similar to what Sergeev gave them last season, it will speed up UConn’s revamp.
Today’s issue continues my All 64 season preview, looking at the teams I have ranked 30-32 in my preseason rankings.
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