Previously: Part 1 (Centers and Maybe Centers), Part 2 (Wingers)

Part 3 of our Michigan Hockey season preview gets rolling today, and it's the last component looking at the roster. The team played an exhibition game on Saturday, defeating Bowling Green 7-1, and so I included some of the scouting we learned from that game in this post. Today we'll cover defenseman and goalies, starting with the towering #1 defenseman who also was picked in a spot corresponding to that number in the NFL Draft: 

 

Owen Power

Year: Sophomore

Height/Weight: 6’5”, 214 lbs.

NHL Draft Position: #1 overall in 2021, Buffalo

Stats: 3-13-16 in 26 games, 7.3% shooting, +20

When Owen Power takes the ice for Michigan in the season opener he will make history, becoming only the 2^nd first overall pick in history to play NCAA hockey after being drafted. Power went first overall to the Sabres (condolences, Owen) and it was largely because he was seen by scouts a lot like how Beniers was, as a trusty, safe option in a draft filled with uncertainty. The potential of such prospects as Luke Hughes and Simon Edvinsson may be greater than Power, but none of them have close to the floor that the towering defenseman from Mississauga does. As it stands, he could probably be a third pair guy in the NHL right now. But instead, he came back to Michigan to try and improve, and that was the right idea, because there is room for him to grow.

Power’s freshman season at Michigan saw him paired with Nick Blankenburg for the entirety of the year, and they were a very good tandem. Power made an impact right from the beginning of the season, finishing off this beautiful passing sequence against Arizona State (starts at 0:42):

Lots of career firsts in our 8-1 win over ASU - check out Beniers, Bordeleau and Power netting their first ?and Johnson and Brisson grabbing their first ?#GoBlue〽️ pic.twitter.com/AmOWm48seY

— Michigan Hockey (@umichhockey) November 15, 2020

As the year went along, Power began to flash the traits that made scouts envy him so much. He’s a terrific skater for a 6’5” defenseman, and the long reach is his biggest weapon as a defender, allowing him to nullify plays that other, smaller defensemen can’t. His frame also makes him a shot-blocking weapon to be used on the PK, and his brain is quite solid, normally electing the smart, simple play to get the puck out of the zone and up ice. Though no one will mistake him for Quinn Hughes or Cale Makar as a transition machine, Power is comfortable skating up the ice with the puck but will also chip the puck if it’s the better play. He’s a heady defender who normally makes the right read, whether that’s breaking a play up or executing a crisp pass. Also, the skill, though he didn’t flash it as often as a Hughes brother might, is there:

Owen Power from Kent Johnson and Thomas Bordeleau and we are knotted at 1-1 pic.twitter.com/0wOpFbnxBY

— Michigan Hockey (@umichhockey) February 14, 2021

When he wants to skate around with the puck, he can do it comfortably:

The wheels by Power + the screen by Bordeleau + the shot by Blankenburg = Michigan Goal pic.twitter.com/YUjUSR5TzX

— Michigan Hockey (@umichhockey) March 6, 2021

And for the record, his shot has a good bit of zip on it, as you’d expect for a player that size:

Owen Power with a rocket from Blankenburg and Beniers and it's 2-0 Michigan! pic.twitter.com/HfNydSzoez

— Michigan Hockey (@umichhockey) January 17, 2021

There’s not much he can’t do, but the challenge for Power this season will be growing in two areas: flashing that skill more regularly to add a dynamic touch to his game, and becoming a meaner, more physical defender. For the first point, I just showed you some nice highlights of Power skating and pulling some moves, but those were few and far between. As I noted a couple paragraphs ago, Power’s game last season was built around simplicity and routine, not razzle dazzle. The skating ability and the hands are there, but can he come out of his shell a little more and make things happen? That may be the difference between him becoming a Noah Hanifin-type or a Rasmus Dahlin-type at the NHL level.

Secondly, I’d like to see Power use his frame a little bit better. For a player that size, he was far too unwilling to impose his will on the opponents. If Power doesn’t become a dynamic offensive defenseman, then he needs to make up for it in his own end and there are pretty clear roadmaps on how to do that. Chris Pronger and Rob Blake were not dynamic offensive defensemen, but they made up for the lack of flashy highlights by being an absolute menace in their own end, adept at using their massive size to clear the netfront and vicious in applying the ole crosscheck to the midsection to win puck battles in the corner.

Power won’t be able to get away with some of the stuff Blake and Pronger did in NCAA hockey in the year 2021-22, but I’d like to see him realize that he’s a lot bigger than every other player on the ice and use that size to his advantage defensively. There should be no one near the crease when Power is on the ice, and he should aim to become harder to play against physically when a puck battle ensues. Michigan is going to be oozing skill this season, but Power is one of the key players who should bring the muscle.

If he can improve in these two areas, adding a little bit more of a dynamic component to his game and becoming more physically aggressive in playing defense, the sky’s the limit for Power this season.

Season Expectations: There will be a healthy crop of competition coming from Minneapolis (and from Blankenburg), but Power should win B1G Defenseman of the Year this season. He’s got more talent than anyone in the conference, and assuming he and Blankenburg get even larger PP roles with York gone (we saw Power on PP1 in the exhibition game), I’d like to see Power approach a point-per-game this season, while playing strong defense in his own end. Power and Blankenburg should be Michigan’s Nicklas Lidstrom-Brian Rafalski tandem, an all-situations, minutes-chomping pair that plays 28 to 32 minutes in high-leverage games (read: the NCAA Tournament). PP, PK, even strength, you name it, Michigan should lean on Power heavily. Maximize the last season you get with the unicorn before he leaves for Buffalo.

[AFTER THE JUMP: Mr. Captain and more]

 

Blankenburg has the "C" now [James Coller]

Nick Blankenburg

Year: Senior

Height/Weight: 5’9”, 175 lbs.

NHL Draft Position: ------

Stats: 5-9-14 in 26 games, 7.6% shooting, +21

I’d like to go on the record and say that I have been saying Nick Blankenburg has a shot to play in the NHL since before other internet scouts started saying it (and our own David Nasternak can back me up on that). Maybe it’s the solidarity I feel in being a short person who feels represented by a fellow short king playing big-time minutes on the college hockey team that I cover, but I have been a Blankenburg fan since before it was cool.

Blankenburg came to Michigan as a double-overager back in the fall of 2018 and was an impact player pretty much right away, a glimmer of hope on the blue line for a team that was hampered by the routine odd-man rushes created from Quinn Hughes trying to make up for the fact that the team had no quality forwards. Since then, he’s grown into a leading role and Blankenburg was recently named this team’s captain, something observers saw coming a mile away. He’s an obvious fit for the team leader, an elder statesman on a team that is loaded with freshman and sophomores, and it’s worth noting he’s a full 4.5 years older than his defense partner Owen Power. In an NCAA Hockey landscape where it’s often more useful to have 24-year-olds rather than 18-year-olds, Blankenburg is nice to have since he gives Michigan a really old guy on a team full of really young guys. And he’s an in-stater, which never hurts.

The Washington, MI, native will likely sign an AHL/ECHL contract in the spring because he’s a competent defensive player despite the size, and he can skate at a professional level. His ability to move the puck up ice in transition can’t be understated, and he doesn’t get knocked around in his own even though he is only 175 lbs. Blankenburg is a smart and savvy player who doesn’t make a lot of mistakes and his other biggest weapon is that he can really shoot the puck. His slapshot isn’t anything to write home about, but the wrist shot is lethal:

Nick Blankenburg with his 4th of the season from Cam York and Jake Slaker!

U-M 3, State 1 #GoBlue〽️ pic.twitter.com/bPNJxqAFWk

— Michigan Hockey (@umichhockey) February 18, 2020

Sometimes the skating ability and the shot come together, and “wowza!” plays like this happen:

Nick Blankenburg rips one past Autio and it's a one-goal game pic.twitter.com/pVEj4Rl26h

— Michigan Hockey (@umichhockey) December 3, 2020

Blankenburg is fun, and it helps that the fun plays aren’t really accompanied by baffling gaffes. He’s steady in his own end, and dangerous in the offensive zone. Pretty nice combo. That’s made him a top four defenseman on Michigan for three seasons now, but this is his big moment, set to play on the top pair next to #1 overall pick Owen Power, likely receiving tough assignments and munching tons of minutes, and oh yeah, he’s the captain and leader of a team with national championship aspirations. The years Blankenburg weathered as one of the few fun players on a team starving for fun were dues paid to get to this point. Let’s see if he can translate that into a pro contract after the season.

Season Expectations: As spelled out in the Power section, Blankenburg is going to play a ton, and in every situation. I would expect him to surpass his point clip from last season, which was 0.54. Something in the 0.66-0.7 range seems reasonable, which would be around 23-24 points over a ~35 game season. After being an All-B1G Honorable Mention each of the last two years, I expect him to make either the first or second team this year.

 

Hey, another #43 with the last name "Hughes" [James Coller]

Luke Hughes

Year: Freshman

Height/Weight: 6’2”, 186 lbs.

NHL Draft Position: #4 overall, New Jersey

Stats: -----

Speaking of fun, enter Luke Hughes. Hughes arrives at Michigan as the youngest of the three famous brothers, all of whom were picked in the top seven of the NHL Entry Draft. Luke went 4^th to brother Jack’s New Jersey Devils, but in terms of position and style, Luke most resembles Quinn. Except that he’s tall. While Quinn and Jack both were undersized for their respective positions, Luke somehow got to be four inches taller than his older brothers, checking in at a very solid-for-a-defenseman 6’2”. Like his older siblings, he also has a lot of filling out to do, even moreso because his taller frame leaves him rather gangly looking. Beefing Luke up is probably a two-year process for the Michigan training staff.

Because of some family gene that I’m still waiting on geneticists to identify, Hughes was blessed with the same transcendent skating ability that his older brothers (and mother) were given, and it’s why watching Luke can sometimes make you think he’s just Quinn But Tall. His speed and agility is exceptional even at the NHL level, and that sets him up to be the same puck-transporting wizard in transition that Quinn was, as well as potentially a similarly effective PP QB. He’s got soft hands and can pull plenty of deceptive moves with the puck on his stick, but he may not be quite the same level of playmaker that Quinn was/is.

In theory, Luke should make up for it relative to Quinn defensively (where the size advantage comes into play), but that’s a work in progress. Scouts feel that Luke’s NZ play has improved considerably, but the defensive zone issues, and turnovers creating odd-man rushes (where have I heard that one with a defenseman named “Hughes” before?) are prevalent in his game tape. Another similarity to Quinn is that his shot is well currently below NHL average (though I should note that Quinn’s shot has improved dramatically since leaving Michigan), probably grading out as roughly average at the NCAA level. Luke is also extremely young for this crop of players, having just turned 18 a few weeks back, so it will be understandable if his game is primitive at times.

What this all comes out to is an exciting firecracker of a player, one who can light up the ice but also requires proper safety precautions to ensure that no one gets hurt (in this case, the “one” being the team). The biggest challenge facing the defense for Mel to decide is who pairs with Luke Hughes, because he’s going to need a security blanket, a steady stay-at-home type to ensure that those turnovers don’t become goals. Moreover, that security blanket should probably be older than the baby-faced Luke Hughes (read: not a freshman). This is where having Luke Martin still on the roster would be very handy, but instead it’s probably either Keaton Pehrson or Jacob Truscott, in my mind. Hughes is going to create offensive chances off the rush and going to be effective on the PP, but Michigan’s coaching staff has to be sure that he doesn’t give too many chances back the other way, so that the Luke we get is 2018 Quinn and not 2019 Quinn.

Season Expectations: Hughes should play on Michigan’s second pair, getting a healthy dose of PP time, and probably no time on the PK. He will be important for facilitating Michigan’s transition game when Blankenburg-Power are off the ice, and he is going to rack up the assists most likely. I should note that he suffered a bad leg injury back in the spring and though he’s “good to go” from a medical standpoint, it wouldn’t shock me to see him get off to a slow start before turning it on after the New Year. I think something akin to Power or Blankenburg’s points-per-game clip is reasonable, which would come out to around 20 points in a ~35 game season.

 

Ethan Edwards

Year: Freshman

Height/Weight: 5’11”, 185 lbs.

NHL Draft Position: #120 in 2020, New Jersey

Stats: ------

Edwards was a rather surprising NHL pick during the 2020 Entry Draft, when the Devils tabbed him in the fourth round, a bit higher than some had expected. At that time, Edwards was in the AJHL and was planning to defer a year before coming to Michigan, a rather pedestrian profile for a mid-round pick. This season he went from his native Alberta to the USHL, spending the season with Sioux City and leading the team in defensemen scoring.

Edwards is marketed as a mobile, skilled defender who very much fits what teams are looking for when you think “modern defenseman”. He’s a good skater with NHL caliber speed and that makes him a big-time transition defenseman. He has good stickhandling and scouts like his hockey IQ. If you’re looking for a poor man’s Luke Hughes, then Edwards more or less fits that mold, all the way down to a shot that seems to be lacking in oomph. Size is a concern for some scouts, as it is for most moderately undersized defenders, but that’s more a concern at the NHL level than the NCAA one. He doesn’t seem to have quite the turnover/defensive issues that Hughes does, but he also doesn’t create the sort of offense that Hughes does.

Regardless, I’d like a more defensive and conservative defenseman to pair with Edwards. That player in Michigan’s case this season is probably either Keaton Perhson or Jacob Truscott, whoever doesn’t pair with Luke Hughes. Jack Summers would be a poor stylistic fit to play with Edwards, in my opinion.

Season Expectations: Edwards is really competing against Summers to get that 6^th defenseman spot on the third pair, and from a talent perspective, Edwards clearly wins the argument. Summers, of course, has the experience. I like Edwards to win that battle… the talent is simply too good to keep him on the bench, and if Michigan runs him out there, they will ensure that each of their three pairs have a capable transition defenseman who can drive play up ice and facilitate controlled zone exits (Power or Blankenburg, Hughes, Edwards). That’s a pretty sweet luxury to have. As an expectation, let’s assume Edwards plays most games, so peg him for 25-30 games played and chips in ~10 points. Probably won’t get PP time, but his style of play means some points will follow.

 

Keaton Pehrson is best when he's NOT playing the puck [James Coller]

Keaton Pehrson

Year: Junior

Height/Weight: 6’2”, 194 lbs.

NHL Draft Position: ------

Stats: 0-5-5 in 26 games

Pehrson was a frequent topic of conversation on last season’s HockeyCast episodes, because few players embody the two sides of what a defenseman needs to do better than Pehrson. A defenseman needs to be able to defend well off the puck, disrupting the opposition and forcing turnovers both in the defensive zone and in transition. After that, a defenseman needs to be able to take the puck and make the first pass out of the zone to officially wrap up the opposition’s possession. Pehrson was one of Michigan’s best defenders at the former, and their absolute worst at the latter. As a stay-at-home, off-puck defender, Pehrson is very good. He has the size you want for a defensive defenseman, and generally positions himself well to shut off the opposition’s offense.

But when he touches the puck, it becomes a terrifying experience. The problem when Pehrson plays the puck is one of pace: he plays too slow for the game and how fast the opponents are playing around him. His brain slows down and is indecisive on where he wants to go with the puck, and by the time he’s made his pass, the other team has moved there and is ready to intercept the pass. Turnovers were a far too frequent problem for Pehrson.

The biggest question is if he can fix that component of his game. If he can, he’s a very good stay-at-home defenseman who would be a perfect pair for Luke Hughes. If he doesn’t then I really worry about him playing with Hughes, because if Hughes is playing a rover-like role, he’s going to want Pehrson to pass him the puck up ice and ehhhhhhhh.

Offensively, Pehrson will give you very little besides blasting the puck at the point into bodies and pinching at the blue line. That’s fine. If he can just fix the passing problems, he is an immensely valuable piece as a defensive defenseman on a team mostly stocked with puck movers who take risks up ice.

Season Expectation: Mel believes in Pehrson and I have no doubt that he will play basically every day, as he has the last two seasons, no matter who he’s paired with. He will have a role killing penalties (likely on PK2), and will produce very little offense. ~35 games and ~7 points is my projection for him.

 

Truscott is a solid middle pair defenseman [James Coller]

Jacob Truscott

Year: Sophomore

Height/Weight: 6’1”, 178 lbs.

NHL Draft Position: #144 overall in 2020, Vancouver

Stats: 1-4-5 in 26 games, 2.4% shooting, +5

Truscott came to Michigan last fall by way of the USNTDP, a fifth-round pick of the Canucks, and he slotted in on Michigan’s third pair. With York-Pehrson and Blankenburg-Power locked into place, Truscott was on the third pair with his partner rotating. At the beginning and end of the year, it was Jack Summers. In the middle it was Jay Keranen. Truscott’s ability to do much of anything on offense was very limited by virtue of playing on the third pair with those teammates. He got no PP time and so trying to find real Truscott highlights is very difficult.

That said, I thought he was a very steady defensive presence who has a very heavy shot. Whenever he’d shoot from the blue line and it missed the net, the echo off the Yost end boards was thunderous. Beyond that, there’s not much to say about his offense. I was generally higher on Truscott’s defense than internet scouts were, but there were undeniably good moments and bad ones. He was adept at using the stick to nullify plays:

Since I ripped him earlier, this was a nice play by Jacob Truscott to neuter a rush threat. pic.twitter.com/Id0WwHdLVN

— /Cam Robinson/ (@Hockey_Robinson) December 9, 2020

But also was culpable for bad coverage:

This is what we talk about with Jacob Truscott (#15) and his poor decision-making.

Just dreadful coverage here. Like, peewee bad. pic.twitter.com/GOkOcYSryB

— /Cam Robinson/ (@Hockey_Robinson) December 9, 2020

That’s the story of being a young defenseman, but the fact that Truscott’s spot in the lineup was never threatened speaks to him being competent last year. He’s going to be a multi-year player with a chance to play high in the lineup in the future, but for now, he’s probably a middle pair, defense-first player. That means he could slot in with Luke Hughes this upcoming season, but he could also be back on the third pair (for reference, Truscott did skate with Hughes in the exhibition game).

Season Expectations: Though I’d like to see Truscott with Hughes, I wager that Pehrson will be on that pair, so Truscott-Edwards is probably your third pair. Their role may not be big, but Truscott’s shot will feature, and he may be asked to kill penalties (possibly with Pehrson). He should be a regular on the back end, so ~35 games and 10 points is a decent expectation.

 

Jack Summers

Year: Senior

Height/Weight: 5’11”, 180 lbs.

NHL Draft Position: ------

Stats: 1-5-6 in 15 games, 5.9% shooting, +5

Summers came to Michigan back in the fall of 2018 at the same time as Nick Blankenburg, and for that reason, they’ve tended to be associated in my mind. While Blankenburg has emerged as a pivotal team leader, Summers has mostly remained a bottom four defenseman who is now coming off the worst season of his career. Summers played in just 15 games last season due to a slew of injuries and generally poor play (that may have been related to his injuries), which leaves the senior’s role on the team in question.

Summers can be a bit of a rollercoaster to watch play, alternating between moments of excitement and then mind-numbing turnovers and disengaged defensive play. His point totals at Michigan have never been spectacular, but he tends to be more directly involved with point generation than a lot of defensemen are. Here he is joining the rush and nabbing an assist:

The passing on this break out OMG - Van Wyhe from Summers and Raabe it's 2-0 BLUE pic.twitter.com/F4s0miAMJk

— Michigan Hockey (@umichhockey) March 16, 2021

And his shot isn’t half-bad either:

Jack Summers lets it FLY and Michigan leads Minnesota 3-1 pic.twitter.com/FWg1RSufm2

— Michigan Hockey (@umichhockey) March 6, 2021

There is a package of useful skills here, but it’s about getting the good from Summers without being burdened with the bad. Last year we saw too much of the bad in the fall but then got to see more of the good in the spring. But that up-and-down inconsistency is why it may not be guaranteed that Summers has an everyday role on this team. Last year he had to fend off Keranen when healthy. This year he’d have to fend off both Keranen and Ethan Edwards to hold his spot. I don’t love his odds, but the chance he gets to be a 7^th defenseman is probably high.

Season Expectations: I think Michigan will want a veteran defenseman to be an option and that’s where Summers comes in. He probably will only dress in around half of the games, unless he surprisingly snags a regular spot, but there will be a role for Summers. Let’s peg him for ~18 games and 8 points in those games.

 

Jay Keranen is a trusty depth option [James Coller]

Jay Keranen

Year: Junior

Height/Weight: 5’11”, 183 lbs.

NHL Draft Position: ------

Stats: 1-2-3 in 14 games, 6.7% shooting, 0 +/-

In the middle of the 2019-20 season, Michigan randomly announced that they had added a new player to the roster, something that, uh, doesn’t normally happen during a college hockey season. And by all accounts he seemed to be a Some Dude type addition, a triple overager who would be joining Michigan in the same year that he would be turning 22, after putting up rather unremarkable numbers as a defenseman in the BCHL. We later learned that the strange midseason addition part of Keranen’s commitment to Michigan was academics-related, but our assessment of Keranen as a back-bencher depth defenseman seemed apt after Keranen did not play that season after being added to the team.

He was mostly an afterthought in last season’s season preview, lumped largely into the same bucket as Jake Gingell in my mind. But then Keranen turned into a defenseman version of Nick Granowicz as a player who surprisingly rose from a Who Dat bottom of the depth chart guy into a serviceable piece. Kernanen played roughly half of last season’s games, mostly filling in injury gaps (notably Jack Summers) and though we braced for impact when he first entered the lineup, Keranen proved to be useful by playing steady defense. He was decent at making the first pass out of the zone and was generally steady in his own end, which is all you want from a guy in Keranen’s role. And he even flashed once to get his first NCAA goal in early January vs. MSU.

This coming season may be more difficult for Keranen to find playing time, considering that he was the 7th defender last season and then Michigan added two NHL Draft picks on defense (Hughes and Edwards), while only one regular departed (York). That probably leaves Keranen at 8th on the defenseman depth chart and puts him in line to only play sparingly. But to know that your 8th defenseman is useful is a good spot to be in, and thankfully that’s the world that Michigan now lives in.

Season Expectation: Only plays in roughly a quarter of games, which would be ~10 over a full season. Probably notches a couple points in that sample.

 

Jake Gingell AND Steve Holtz

Year(s): Gingell (Sr.), Holtz (So.)

Height(s)/Weight(s): Gingell (6’0”, 205 lbs.), Holtz (6’4”, 190 lbs.)

NHL Draft Position(s): ------

Stats: Gingell (0-0-0 in 2 games, 0 +/-), Holtz (DNP)

I’m covering these two together because I have next to nothing to say about them, as they are depth defensemen who should not play much, if at all, this season. Gingell has been in the program since 2018-19 and is ancient, even for college hockey years, turning 25 this February. He’s played in a couple games each season, with his eight games in 2019-20 being the high watermark, and as someone who saw many of those games, it was evident why he is a depth player. Gingell wasn’t bad, but he was clearly athletically limited, and that was on a Michigan team that was far from the athletic bonanza it is now. He’s a “Break in Case of Emergency” player.

We know far less about Steve Holtz, who has only been in the program for a year. Michigan brought him in last fall after a couple seasons in the USHL were followed by a stint in the BCHL. Deferred multiple times, Holtz proved remarkably resilient in sticking with the program, and he showed up as a 21-year-old in the fall of 2020 ready to contribute, but all that contribution predictably came in practice. He seldom saw game action and given that he’s probably 10th out of 10 defensemen on the depth chart for this season, it’s hard to imagine him seeing much of any game action this year, either. But hey, he really wants to be at Michigan, so props to him for following his dream.

 

GOALIES

Portillo loves to use his stick [James Coller]

Erik Portillo

Year: Sophomore

Height/Weight: 6’6”, 225

NHL Draft Position: #67 overall in 2019, Buffalo

Stats: 1.67 GAA, .935 SV% in 7 games last season

I don’t think it’s dramatic to argue that Erik Portillo is the most important player on Michigan’s team this season. On paper, this team should be quite a bit better than last year’s team, but if there’s one area where you could potentially see a drop-off, it would be at goalie. Strauss Mann, last year’s everyday starter, departs for a new career in the SHL and it means it’s the first time in years without Mann in net. Now we turn to Portillo to carry the torch.

The talent is there for Portillo to be an elite netminder. The Swede was a 3rd round pick because he looks like a modern goalie, gargantuan in stature at 6’6” and plenty agile too. And it’s worth remembering that because goalies get drafted much lower than forwards/defensemen, Portillo was the fifth goalie off the board in his draft year at pick #67, which means that in goalie terms, Portillo going in the third round is equivalent to being a first-round pick at a different position. Dude has talent.

The quirk to Portillo’s game is that he loves to handle the puck, and it was the most noticeable difference between when Portillo played and when Mann played last season. Anytime the opponent chips it in, Portillo’s coming out to play it. That strategy comes with its downsides, as it always does when you have a goalie eager to play the puck, but I would assert that it has more benefits than drawbacks in a league without the trapezoid behind the net.

Portillo only played seven games last season, as the tight race atop the B1G made Michigan rely on Mann, but when Portillo did play, there was little to no drop off. His .935 SV% was a tick higher than Mann’s, and his GAA was also a tick better than Mann’s. I think that may have something to do with Mann getting tougher assignments, but it also seemed at one juncture like the team played better with Portillo in net. Probably coincidental, but the fact that there was little dropoff when Portillo played is very good news because Mann was a former B1G Goalie of the Year. If Portillo can simply be as good as Strauss Mann was, this Michigan team will be the national title favorite we all expect them to be. The chances he does it are pretty decent to me, and there’s the outside chance he’s better, because his extra four inches of height and higher athleticism mean his ceiling is higher. Longer legs mean you can do things like this:

Hey @BuffaloSabres did you see this #SCTop10 save from Erik Portillo? ? pic.twitter.com/a1I3SL7OSa

— Michigan Hockey (@umichhockey) February 13, 2021

That’s the upside to having Portillo in net. Mann was a trusty and reliable metronome in net. Portillo has the ability to be dominant. The question is if he can get there in year 2, and if he can grow to be as consistent as Mann.

Season Expectations: Portillo will be the starting goalie most games for Michigan and will certainly be the starter in all high-leverage games. His role on the team based on that assignment is hugely important, but I’m very optimistic about the possibility that Portillo is as good as his draft position suggests. He’s now in his D+3 season, so him turning into a very good NCAA goalie (if he isn’t that already) is the base expectation at this age based on where he was picked. The expectation is that Portillo will start ~30 games and though it’s a bad idea to predict goalie stats, something roughly in the ballpark of Mann’s numbers last year is my expectation.

 

Noah West

Year: Sophomore

Height/Weight: 6’2”, 185 lbs.

NHL Draft Position: -----

Stats: .915 SV%, 2.66 GAA in 19 games (at RMU)

One of the tragic victims of the COVID-19 pandemic in sports was the Robert Morris men’s hockey program, which was discontinued this spring due to financial reasons, leaving its players wayward mercenaries in need of new homes. Michigan, looking for a goalie after Strauss Mann departed for Sweden, swooped in and scooped up RMU’s goalie Noah West. West is a Nov. 2000 birthday who came to RMU as a single overager and has just one year of college hockey experience under his belt, though it was a good season. West finished 4th in the Atlantic Hockey conference in SV% and was named second team All-AHA at the goaltender position. I must admit that I did not watch any RMU last season, but looking at their statistical profile, they appear to have been more of a Run-N-Gun team, which means that West probably faced a higher shot quality than other goalies in his league, hence his postseason award recognition.

Of course, we should note that the AHA is by far the worst conference in college hockey, so there will be an opponent adjustment upcoming, but West’s numbers in the NAHL as a junior player were quite solid. Michigan is not bringing West in to be the starter, they’re bringing him in to give them ~5 games as a backup when Portillo needs rest. I think the chances of him giving the Wolverines 5 solid games are pretty good. One of my favorite metrics for assessing a goalie is comparing his numbers to that of his teammate at the same position, and West’s SV% was significantly better than that of his RMU backup. He should probably be fine in the role Michigan wants him to play.

Season Expectation: Will be Michigan’s backup, splitting time with Portillo for the easier series but not getting many high-leverage assignments. It’s somewhat pointless trying to predict goalie stats, but West should be decent.

 

Jack Leavy played on Saturday! [James Coller]

Jack Leavy

Year: Senior

Height/Weight: 6’5”, 205 lbs.

NHL Draft Position: -----

Stats: DNP

Jack Leavy is Michigan’s depth goalie. Michigan has had good injury luck with goalies over Leavy’s three seasons here, which means the emergency goalie has never been needed and thus Leavy is a senior who has still yet to appear in a regulation NCAA game (he did play in the exhibition on Saturday!). Leavy knew he wouldn’t play when he committed to Michigan, as all 3rd goalies do. It would be nice to see him get into one game this year, and I think Mel will probably try to do so. If there’s a game Michigan expects to win in a blowout, they should dress Leavy and if it’s 5-0 after three periods, then put him in. Outside of that hypothetical circumstance or one that involves bad injuries to the goalie position, you will not see Leavy this season.

Season Expectation: Will not play much, if at all.