Men's Roster Preview, '24-25

A preview of the 2024-25 University of Michigan men's hockey roster ahead of a season-opening series against Mankato

I write to you on the day of the season opener of the 2024-25 University of Michigan men’s hockey season, with the Minnesota State Mavericks in town for a two-game set at Yost.  For the third year in a row, it follows a massive exodus to professional hockey, and for the third year in a row, it follows a Frozen Four berth.  In this regard, the Wolverines’ fundamental challenge for the coming season is one of perception.  To themselves and to everyone else, Michigan has normalized both making the Frozen Four and replacing a glut of its top talent annually on the road to doing so.

Last year’s Frozen Four will perhaps be the most difficult to replicate of the three.  The Wolverines sent their top three scorers (Gavin Brindley, Rutger McGroarty, and Dylan Duke) to the pros, as well as five of their top six (Seamus Casey and Frank Nazar have also departed; only T.J. Hughes returns).  Compounding the challenge of replacing those offensive stars will be fighting off the unavoidable complacent sense that another Frozen Four berth will prove inevitable.

“I think they know how hard it is, especially the returners,” said coach Brandon Naurato at the Wolverines’ pre-season media night, when asked about the psychological challenge entering the new season.  “It’s not a given.  We can talk about taking that next step and getting over the hump, but we gotta find ways to do what we did to earn the opportunity to get back to that spot.  You can talk about [the challenge of getting back] maybe in your initial meeting.  We’re just trying to get together as a group as much as we can before the first game, and then we’re gonna see where we’re at and constantly make adjustments.”

“I mean, that’s the expectation here,” added Jacob Truscott—captain, defenseman, and fifth-year senior.  “It’s a historic program with a lot of national championships, so that’s the standard here.  I think just letting those new guys know early on that we expect that and what we gotta do to reach that goal.  We haven’t gotten it done the last three years, and I think this is a good opportunity for us to get it done and instill that into their brains.”

The Naurato years (just three, even if you include his first as an assistant, though they feel dense enough with memories good and bad to be far more than that) have been defined by first half pain and second half self-discovery.  Will Michigan follow a similar script in the new season?  Time will tell, but for now, let’s take a moment to get acquainted with the team that will strive for a fourth successive Frozen Four and more over the coming seven months.

The Forwards: Who carries the freight after more relentless roster churn?

Absent Brindley, Nazar, Duke, and McGroarty, the exigence before the Wolverine forward corps is rather obvious: “We need guys to step up with all the turnover year after year and 17 NHL contracts and guys that have graduated in the last three years,” said Naurato.  “It feels like every year when you’re at this point, you’re like ‘Who is that gonna be?’  The cool thing is there was a lot of injuries last year.  [Now,] guys are healthy; guys got something to prove; guys are looking for elevated roles; new guys are in; they’ve got something to prove.  It’s been awesome.”

McGroarty’s loss is the most acute, after he initially intended to return to Ann Arbor before a trade to the Pittsburgh Penguins opened the door to pursue his pro hockey ambitions.  To lose a would-be Hobey Baker candidate in late August is far from ideal, but the Wolverines are experienced in dealing with precisely such a blow.

“We’re happy for him,” said Truscott of the Nebraskan winger.  “Obviously, that’s all of our goals at some point, and nothing changes in our locker room.  This is our team now, and we’ve got to move forward.  Like I said, we’re happy for him, we wish him the best of luck, but this is our team moving forward, and nothing changes, and we just gotta keep moving.”  “We love Rut,” echoed T.J. Hughes.  “Great person, great player, but like Truss said, super happy for him.  He’s gonna do great in the pros…This is our team now.  We can only control that and [we’re] super confident in our group.”

The fact remains though that replacing McGroarty and Brindley and Nazar and Duke will be a lofty undertaking.  Their departures increase the urgency for production from three different constituencies within this year’s crop of forwards.

The first is Hughes.  

T.J. Hughes followed up his breakout thirty-six-point season as freshman with forty-eight more points last year as a sophomore.  He has shown a consistent ability to leverage high-end hockey sense with great hands to create offense, whether at five-on-five or on the power play.  The difference now, of course, is that for the first time Hughes enters the season as the focal point of the Michigan attack.  He’s certainly not the unheralded but high-scoring freshman from the AJHL anymore, nor is he any longer one potent option in a class loaded with offensive talent.  Instead, he’s the team’s top returning center and number one center.

The good news here is that Hughes was probably the Wolverines’ most consistent attacking player during last spring’s postseason run.  The enduring memory of that run will always be Nazar’s between-the-legs set-up for Brindley against Michigan State to all but clinch the third straight Frozen Four berth, but without Hughes’ dominance two nights earlier, the Wolverines never would’ve gotten past North Dakota in the first round.

A lot of that great playoff hockey from Hughes came with freshman Garrett Schifsky on his wing, with the Minnesotan serving almost as his understudy.  Schifsky took on the role Hughes occupied a year earlier as the freshman who went from unknown to dependable scorer in a hurry, finishing his first year in Ann Arbor with sixteen goals and eighteen assists for thirty-four points.  There will surely be lots of shuffling up and down the lineup as the season unfolds, but I’d expect Naurato to lean on that Schifsky-Hughes connection early as this year’s group takes flight.

The second is Michael Hage.

Hage arrives in Ann Arbor as the anti-Hughes or Schifsky.  He might not be a recruit quite on the order of his fellow Chicago Steel alumnus Adam Fantilli, but he’s not far off.  Hage went 21st overall in last June’s NHL Draft to the Montreal Canadiens, and he likely would’ve been selected closer to the top five if not for injuries in his draft year.  Hage’s calling card is his dynamism as a skater and creativity as a puck-handler.  It’s a skill set that fits perfectly into Naurato’s vision for his team, but it’s been a grittier side to Hage’s game that’s stood out during training camp.

“I think Michael is similar to Frankie [Nazar] in regards to how he carries the puck through the middle of the ice,” assessed Naurato.  “Could potentially be a guy that gets the drop pass on the power play.  That’s one of his biggest strengths.  I’m actually really impressed with his wall play and just how heavy he is for a freshman, only a month in.  He’s getting better every day, and just like every young prospect, he’s gonna do some things that wow us, and I think you’re gonna see some huge improvements from the first half to the second half.”

The third is the transfer duo of William Whitelaw and Evan Werner, the former from the University of Wisconsin the latter from old friend Kris Mayotte and Colorado College.  

Whitelaw (a 2023 third round pick of the Columbus Wolver—check that—Blue Jackets) arrives as the more highly touted prospect, but both offer similar profiles as shifty wingers with a proficiency for putting the puck in the net. 

Werner scored six goals and gave thirteen assists as a freshman last season in Colorado Springs, while Whitelaw joins Michigan after a disappointing freshman year as a Badger in which he put up ten goals and seven assists in thirty-seven games.  As a Tiger, Werner played a similar style to Naurato’s Wolverines under Mayotte, while Whitelaw skated for a Wisconsin team with a near polar opposite defense-first ethos under coach Mike Hastings.  

That style of play is part of what allured Whitelaw to Ann Arbor.  “It was a hockey decision,” Whitelaw explained of his decision to transfer to Gulo Gulo Hockey in August at the World Junior Summer Showcase.  “I loved Madison.  I loved my teammates.  I loved being there and meeting all new people, but just the hockey side of things wasn’t for me, so I knew I needed to make that transition even though it was hard.  I talked to Coach Naurato and all those guys there and really put some thought in it, and that was definitely the right spot for me.”  Whitelaw’s answer is succinct but also honest, reflecting an unusual level-headedness for a nineteen-year-old on a subject (the transfer portal) that seems to drive many far older than he to hysteria.

All of Hughes, Hage, Whitelaw, and Werner were slated to be significant contributors with or without the likes of Nazar, Brindley, and McGroarty, but absent those three, the pressure to deliver strong offensive results in a hurry mounts.

The Blue Line: Absent a star on the Casey/Hughes order, can the Wolverines achieve depth and balance?

A bit like the situation up front, on the blue line, Michigan has lost two of the most impactful and dynamic defenseman in college hockey over the last two years, coincidentally both to the New Jersey Devils, in Luke Hughes and Seamus Casey.  Despite significant talent returning and a high-end transfer, this year’s D corps won’t have a talisman quite like either of them.  Instead, the challenge for this year’s Wolverines blue line will be achieving depth and balance.

In Arizona State transfer Tim Lovell, Naurato will be looking for something of a Casey replacement.  Lovell is fresh off a breakout junior season as a Sun Devil in which he put up five goals and thirty-two assists for thirty-seven points in thirty-six games.

Meanwhile, in Jacob Truscott, Ethan Edwards, Tyler Duke, and Luca Fantilli, Naurato has four returners with no shortage of big game experience.  All four have played a lot of winning hockey in Ann Arbor over the last several years, and this year, expectations will only increase.  Consistency and health throughout the season from this group of four would go a long way toward pushing the Wolverines toward realizing their ambitions this season.  

“Obviously it’s tough to leave this place,” said Truscott, when asked about his decision to return for a fifth year.  “Just such a great staff, being able to work with these guys has been great over the past four years.  It was a tough decision, but at the end of the day, you can’t go wrong with coming back here.  I never wanted to leave this place to begin with, and I think it’ll be a good opportunity for me to maybe go to free agency and go from there.  I think most importantly I just want to win.  I want to win a national championship here.”

Beyond those five, the freshman quartet of Hunter Hady, Will Felicio, Dakoda Rhéaume-Mullen, and Miles Gust will vie for ice time along with sophomore Josh Orrico to round out the blue line.  One story to monitor as the season begins is that of the defense group only Orrico and Hady are right shots.  That means, at least one left-handed defender will have to play on the right side every night.

“They’re probably all gonna have to do a little bit of it,” said Naurato at media night, when asked about who he would feel most comfortable with in that capacity.  “Luca’s done it in the past.  I think Dakoda Mullen’s done it.  Lovell played his off wing at Arizona State all last year.  I know Ethan Edwards and Truscott can do it if they needed to.  Marshall Warren had never done it before; I thought he did a really good job at it last year.  We’ve got a lot more lefties coming in in the future, so we’ve tweaked some things up, just having a lefty-lefty combo and the style of play and some reads, but I think it’s good for development.  Luke Hughes played both with us.  You don’t wanna be at the next spot, or even here, and pigeon hole yourself by not being able to play both.”

This group has the potential to be the deepest blue line of the Naurato years, but, again, without a superstar and with several youngsters needing to contribute in a hurry, consistency will be a major variable.

The Goaltenders: How soon will a starter emerge, or will Michigan adopt a true tandem approach in net?

At this time last year, we were expecting to see a Noah West-Jake Barczewski tandem sharing the goaltending responsibilities for a decent chunk of the season.  Instead, that internal competition all but wrapped up by the end of the first weekend of action, with Barczewski wasting little time in seizing the role. 

Now, Barczewksi is out of eligibility and off to the AHL’s Colorado Eagles, while West transferred to Ferris State.  In their stead arrive transfer Logan Stein (making West’s move to Big Rapids essentially a one-for-one trade) and freshman Cameron Korpi, last of the USHL’s Tri-City Storm.  Stein posted a .910 save percentage and 2.90 goals against average last year in twenty-four games at Ferris State, while Korpi was an .892 and 2.98 netminder in 47 games for Tri-City.

Per Naurato, the plan is once again to adopt a tandem approach until one or the other emerges as a starter.  “We’re excited about all the goalies,” he said on media night.  “I think there’s healthy competition and depth at every position, and we’ll see who kinda takes the ball and runs with it.  I don’t have a plan of starting one guy over the other or splitting the whole time.  With all these guys, whoever’s performing is gonna go, and I’m sure it’ll change night in and night out, because there’s a lot of competition.”

I take him at his word there that this competition will be an open one to start the year.  Though last year’s battle was resolved in a hurry, I wouldn’t necessarily count on the same outcome this year.  With that said, I do think the Wolverines would rather have a clear number one option than not by the second half of the season.

Last Word

The University of Michigan women’s hockey team’s season got underway last night at Yost with a 4-1 defeat to Maryville, before a game this evening against McKendree.  We’ll have more extensive coverage of this year’s team in the coming weeks, but for now, here’s to an excellent season-opening weekend of hockey against McKendree and Mankato.

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