End of Season Mailbag
In our end of season mailbag we look at how we got here and where we're going.
What are the biggest games lost this season in terms of BU dropping out of position for an Auto-bid
Well, the Auto-Bid goes to the conference tournament champion so March 14th vs UConn in the Hockey East tournament Quarterfinal.
However, for an at-large bid it’s hard to quantify what “big loss” is. There’s a couple of ways you can go about this e.g. flipping loss to teams higher up in the NPI that would boost you or flipping losses to teams lower in the NPI that hurt you. We will take a look at the latter. CollegeHockeyNews breaks down a team’s NPI showing the games with the lowest game NPI—the second to last column.
If we flip just these four games to wins, BU ends up 13th in the NPI not safe but in a better position going into the final weekend of the season.
What do you expect the roster to look like next year? There's lots of projected incoming freshmen who are expected to be high NHL picks, but there's not enough room for all of them barring lots of early departures through signings and the portal. That also doesn't even get into the fact that they almost certainly don't want to be as young next year as this year. How do you see it all shaking out?
Disclaimer: we’re not really prospect/roster construction experts at BU Hockey Stats nor do we following recruiting closely so information on the incoming class may not be current.
We’re going to assume with the 26 player roster limit a roster of 14 forwards, 9 defensemen, and 3 goalies.
On defense, I would like to see Kyle Kim and Malte Vass find better opportunities, elsewhere. Kim only getting into one game this season and Vass being the extra defenseman in most games that he got in. In addition to those portal entries, not bringing Amico back would leave two open D spots. Those spots could be filled with older, more experienced transfers so the team can start on the right foot defensively from the onset of the season.
The forwards group is tougher. If everyone sans Eiserman and Boisvert returns, BU is over by 5 forward spots—based on projections (S/O BurntBoats)), so we’ll go through and say who we think should/might stay and who we feel could go.
The only rising senior forward is Jack Harvey is 100% a keep and should be a big part of the forward group.
Rising juniors are Kamil Bednarik, Nick Roukounakis, and Brandon Svoboda. Roukounakis is a keep, Bednarik probably signs, Svoboda stays/transfers.
The rising sophomores are Tynan Lawrence, Jack Murtagh, Ryder Ritchie, Jonathan Morello, Ben Merrill, Conrad Fondrk, John McNelis, and Jay Feldberg. Of this group Lawrence, Ritchie, Morello, and Merrill have seen the most consistency and are most likely to figure the most in the new season. Which leaves 4 possible transfers.
Assuming no changes to commitments, this wouldn’t leave any room for transfers. If there was a spot available BU is in need of another “power forward” that can position themselves in front of the goalie and screen and/or score in tight.
Would it be possible to get a cumulative player score average for the season (take all their individual scores each game and average it out)
What overall final letter grade do you give BU hockey for this season? Better yet, why that grade?
I’d give BU a C. In the first half, the team struggled defensively with a young group of defensemen but as the season went on defense got more solid. The team dealt with injuries throughout the season which hampered chemistry and production. They had times when they showed promise and times when they didn’t. They were solidly middle of a conference that was chaotic and inconsistent which hurt everyone in the national picture. In the end, in the league, they weren’t far off from the teams above them. Did they not reach their full potential? sure. Was the season as terrible and horrible as some people make it out to be? no. Sometimes in sports, things just don’t fall your way.