The Forecheck: The offseason moves begin
The Huskies lost one key player to the portal, but pulled one in as well.
Welcome to the UConn Hockey Hub newsletter, which catches you up on all the stories, trends, and anything else you might have missed, along with some quick takes and leftover notes from the weekend.
The offseason moves begin
After a quiet couple of weeks following the end of the season, UConn men’s hockey’s roster build is in full swing.
On Monday, the Huskies lost goaltender Logan Terness to the portal, but added RPI forward Ryan Mahshie that same day. We also reported that Jake Flynn and Harrison Rees would return for fifth seasons — which the team officially announced on Thursday — and looking ahead to the future, ‘05 forward Samuel Boisvert committed.
In addition to all that, Ryan Tverberg signed an NHL deal with the Toronto Maple Leafs, Roman Kinal earned an ATO with the San Jose Barracudas (AHL affiliate of the San Jose Sharks) while Justin Pearson picked up a two-year deal with the Cleveland Monsters (AHL affiliate of the Columbus Blue Jackets).
Let’s take a moment to reset the roster:
Departures
Forwards: Ty Amonte, Justin Pearson, Ryan Tverberg
Defensemen: Roman Kinal
Goaltenders: Ryan Keane, Logan Terness
Additions
Forwards: Ryan Mahshie, Jake Richard, Joey Muldowney, Oliver Flynn
Defensemen: Owen Simpson
Goaltenders: None
Returners:
Forwards: Nick Capone, Hudson Schandor, Chase Bradley, Jake Veilleux, Jake Black, Mark D’Agostino, Tristan Fraser, Tabor Heaslip, Huston Karpman, Jake Percival, Samu Salminen, Ryan Tattle, Matthew Wood
Defensemen: Jake Flynn, Harrison Rees, Andrew Lucas, John Spetz, Aidan Metcalfe, Tom Messineo, Jack Pascucci
Goaltenders: Arsenii Sergeev, Matt Pasquale
That leaves UConn with 17 forwards, eight defensemen and two goaltenders. The biggest move left is finding another goaltender to push Arsenii Sergeev — which is easier said than done at this point in the calendar. Still, it’s important for the team to have more than one option that it’s comfortable starting between the pipes so it doesn’t have to rely on a single goalie to play every game again, like Tomas Vomacka in 2019-20 and 2020-21.
Elsewhere, the Huskies are still exploring forward options in the portal, so that position isn’t completely set. Aside from that, there could be a few minor roster moves that happen.
UConn still has work to do but for the most part, the foundation and core of the roster are set.
I just do not understand how they have no interest in improving the blue line