With national letters of intent out to 6 young men, why not look toward next season. Dplaya over at HIW had some great thoughts on the 2008 freshman class. I thought I'd add my own starting with what the Forward situation looks like for next season.
There will be 4 new forwards in the Cardinal and White next season. Tom Bardis will be a sophomore after transferring from St. Lawerence and sitting out a year. Derek Stepan, Matt Thurber and Jordy Murray will all be joining us as freshman.
I'm still surprised that Chris Hickey was not part of this class. I thought all along that he would be coming in 2008. Not as surprised about Brock Montpetit since he was 2008 or 2009. I guess Derek Stepan and Jordy Murray's seasons impressed the coaching staff and they decided to bring them in. I have a feeling that Chris Hickey will still be on the team next season, no actual reason to think that, other than a gut feeling.
We'll have a pretty full stable of forwards next season having lost only Kyle Turris and Matt Ford to this point. Hopefully it remains that way over the summer.
Projecting the lines for next season:
Geoffrion/Street/Davies
Murray/Stepan/Ratty Johnson
Mitchell/Dolan/Grotting
Thurber/Bendickson/Turnbull
Reserves: Gorowsky, Bohmbach, Bearson, Bardis
That is a stab in the dark, since I don't know exactly what position (LW, C, RW) the frosh play. I would think it would be wise to keep Murray & Stepan together, and I hope the coaching staff leaves Mitchell/Dolan/Grotting together, actually I implore them to! Looking at the top 12 guys, its going to be tough for the reserves to crack the lineup because who out of the starters are you going to sit? All the freshmen are very talented and can score. Bendickson isn't going to sit, either is Ratty or anyone from the Mitchell/Dolan/Grotting line. I'm sure the freshman "may" sit on occasion. Playing time could be hard to come by again this season, but hopefully it makes everyone work harder to try to get in the lineup each night. The Bomber was getting a lot of playing time toward the end of the season, and I was really enjoyed seeing his progress, could be hard to keep him in street clothes next season.
The Pipeline:
Chris Hickey*
Travis Erstad*
Derek Lee**
Brock Montpetit**
Craig Smith**
Tyler Barnes**
Tyler Lapic
* Already Drafted in 2007
** Draft eligible this year