Previously: Freshmen Forwards 

Last week we covered the freshmen forwards, as Michigan Hockey re-stocks the roster with seven highly talented youngsters up front. They also return eight players at forward from last year's roster, a mix of potential leading scorers, complementary top six pieces, regulars in the bottom half of the lineup, and seldom-used spare parts. That's who we're looking at today. 

 

Mackie Samoskevich 

Year: Sophomore 

Height/Weight: 5-11/190 

NHL Draft Position: 24th overall, 2021 NHL Draft, Florida 

Stats: 10-19-29 in 40 games last season 

Samoskevich might be the player I am most excited for this season, a highly talented forward who wasn't one of the headliners last year but by the end of the 2021-22 season, he was rounding into a star. Now should be his time to shine. Samoskevich was a 1st round pick in the 2021 Draft by the Florida Panthers, overshadowed by Power/Berniers/Johnson/Hughes, but still an extremely talented player that most NCAA teams would love to have on their roster. It took Samoskevich a bit of time to get going last season, but by the turn of the new year, Samoskevich was becoming a highly effective player. 

Mackie did his best work on a line with the departed Johnny Beecher and Dylan Duke, the latter of which will be mentioned in this piece later on. That line was Michigan's third line during the stretch run of the season and Samoskevich was the best player on that line. In the final 19 games to close the season, Samoskevich was a point-per-game player, scoring 7 goals and 12 assists for 19 points.

The package of tools matches that production: Samoskevich is a very good skater and he can make high skill plays on the fly, allowing him to be one of Michigan's best players off the rush. His passing in those situations was nasty at times: 

ROOKIES came to play! pic.twitter.com/SILKys73tk

— Michigan Hockey (@umichhockey) March 20, 2022

As great of a passer as Samoskevich can be at times, his best tool right now is his shot. He doesn't have much of a slapshot to speak of at the moment but Samo's wrist shot is the best on the team among returning players. It explodes off his stick with little effort and he can place it anywhere around the net: 

Mackie Samoskevich is having himself a night! First three-point game since Nov. 20 pic.twitter.com/i9fd22nLMP

— Michigan Hockey (@umichhockey) January 29, 2022

Samoskevich relied on his shot early in the year to generate offense before the rest of his game started to come together. Now that the package has started to gel, you have a dynamic playmaker who is as much a threat to pass as shoot when he comes down the wing on the rush. I don't vote in the Preseason All-B1G nominations, but I would've had Samoskevich on my 1st team. If Samoskevich takes another step forward, which is expected going from being a freshman to a sophomore, he should be one of the best players- and highest scorers- in the B1G. 

Season Expectations: Samoskevich will be on one of Michigan's top two lines and should be driving it, if the center isn't. I would prefer to see him play with Frank Nazar III because I think those two playing together would be incredibly fun to watch, fast, dynamic and hard to stop. But if he plays with Adam Fantilli, that will be fine too. Either way, Samoskevich will get lots of ice time at even strength, PP1 assignments, and should score more than a point-per-game. After the season is over, I expect he will be off to the pros, either in the NHL or AHL. 

[AFTER THE JUMP: Complementary players]

 

[JD Scott]

Dylan Duke 

Year: Sophomore 

Height/Weight: 5-10/181 

NHL Draft Position: 126th overall, 2021 NHL Draft, Tampa 

Stats: 10-9-19 in 41 games last season 

Samoskevich's often linemate from last season, Dylan Duke is one of several netfront garbage men who Michigan returns at the forward position. Duke was graded out as a second round prospect by most scouting services who tumbled all the way to the back-end of the fourth round in the 2021 Draft. The concern at the time was Duke being undersized and not a particularly great skater. A toxic mix in the NHL, it is less of a problem in the NCAA and Duke was able to come to Michigan and have a solid freshman year. He wasn't given many important assignments, but playing on that third line, Duke carved out a niche. 

The irony of Duke playing with Samoskevich and Beecher, two players larger than him, is that Duke was the player most likely to drive the net. The skill of being able to battle around the net also earned him occasional use on the power play. Unlike some netfront guys, who play there because they are big and don't have much other skill to speak of, Duke showed impressive hand-eye coordination to justify his usage in that role: 

Dylan Duke bats in a power-play goal pic.twitter.com/xAlrrxFzy9

— Michigan Hockey (@umichhockey) February 13, 2022

Duke got to play more minutes on the PP when the Olympians were away and he notched two of his three tallies with the man-advantage during that stretch of the season. Even when not on the PP, Duke was very comfortable around the net because his off-puck positioning is above-average for the college game. He displayed a good sense of where to be and when to be there to receive passes from his more talented teammates. This goal is an example of that: 

Nifty between the legs pass by Johnson for Power at the point and Duke finishes it off! pic.twitter.com/VFmxapQGpW

— Michigan Hockey (@umichhockey) November 28, 2021

I would love a heat chart of Duke's season because I am not sure he scored a single goal from beyond 15 feet out. He did his damage right in front of the net and that was all you needed to know about him. That skill will remain valuable on the 2022-23 team, but the question for Dylan Duke this season is whether he can grow his game in other ways. Can he become more dangerous with the puck on his stick? Is there more for him to give in the physical or defensive component of the game? Can he become a better transitional player? The latter point is particularly interesting, as Connor Earegood of The Michigan Daily recently wrote about Dylan Duke's work with a skating specialist in the offseason. A faster, more dynamic Duke could unlock all of those areas where he wasn't as strong last season and could hatch a more complete player. What is already there is pretty solid, though. 

Season Expectations: Last season Duke was a very solid middle six forward and that should be considered the floor. At worst, Duke will be a competent netfront player who makes good players better and chips in a half point-per-game, as he was last season. At best, Duke could be more of an all-around player, a better on-puck creator who is more comfortable in the rush and playing from the wings in the offensive zone. That sort of player may approach a point-per-game in terms of production. He might get there even without major evolutions to his game if he gets to play PP1 the whole season. 

 

Mark Estapa

Year: Sophomore 

Height/Weight: 6-2/206 

NHL Draft Position: N/A

Stats: 2-9-11 in 34 games last season 

Estapa was also a freshman last season and he was one of the feistiest players on the team. Estapa is a big boy; though 6'2" is not towering, he is the heaviest skater on Michigan's roster at 206 lbs. and he plays with an edge befitting of his physique. Estapa has a snarl to him, which allowed him to slot in well in the bottom six of the lineup early in the 2021-22 season. As the year went along, he started to get more opportunities to play up in the lineup and didn't look terrible in those roles. 

In early January, Estapa moved up to play with Brendan Brisson and Thomas Bordeleau and that line combination worked pretty well. Estapa felt comfortable playing a role similar to Duke, going into the corners and battling around the net next to two players who were going to do the damage in the offensive end with the puck on their stick. Then the Olympics came around and Michael Pastujov slotted onto the line in place of Brisson, and that combination would stick for the rest of the year, even after the Olympians returned. Estapa didn't see prodigious production during that period, but he did close the year with eight points in his last fourteen games. 

One thing for Estapa to improve on is actually scoring goals. He spent a good chunk of time with skilled players and collected points, but scored only two goals on the season and just one was on a goalie. Here's that one: 

Keep that puck! It's Mark Estapa's first goal as a Wolverine pic.twitter.com/lX53p42o98

— Michigan Hockey (@umichhockey) December 5, 2021

We saw glimmers of Estapa having the skill to make more of a difference offensively last season, including this nice pass to Nick Blankenburg for a crucial goal against Ohio State: 

Blankenburg pulls out the guns after netting his own rebound pic.twitter.com/b8VxHRD3K5

— Michigan Hockey (@umichhockey) February 19, 2022

This is also a player who scored a goal that I am told by commenters on the last preview piece I must call the Michigan when he was with Tri-City in the USHL, so he has some innate skill to go with the physicality, physicality that was apparent as a freshman in the NCAA. Estapa racked up 45 penalty minutes in 34 games last season, which was 2nd on the team. The "FREE ESTAPA" chants at Yost last season were pretty humorous, but the five game stretch where he took a penalty every game and 27 penalty minutes in total, was less funny.

Estapa needs to play hard and contribute a sandpaper edge to the lineup while also being a little smarter about which penalties to take. If he can't be, his role in the top nine may be in jeopardy, unless more offense comes along. Which it could! I expect progress on that front this season, but right now he is projected to play in the top nine for his ability to bump and grind, not score. He can't overdo it, though. 

Season Expectations: Estapa is an interesting player for me to watch because in theory, he's a guy that Brandon Naurato should be able to make some real progress with. Right now Estapa is big and tough and plays with a lot of energy, but he's not terribly skilled. Again, glimmers are there, but it's not his forte. As a former skills coach, I'm curious to see in what ways Naurato improves Estapa's game and makes him into more of a dangerous offensive player. I don't expect big improvements right away, but I'd like to see Estapa score 5 goals this season at least, if he is playing in the top nine regularly, which I expect he will be. Whether he's on the top line with a guy like Fantilli or a third line, it remains to be seen. 

 

[James Coller]

Eric Ciccolini 

Year: Senior 

Height/Weight: 6-0/180 

NHL Draft Position: 205th overall, 2019 NHL Draft, New York Rangers 

Stats: Played four games scoring zero points before season-ending injury last year. Scored 23 points in 50 combined games across 2019-20 and 2020-21. 

Eric Ciccolini was a player that I was very excited to write about last year in the preview. I felt that we had seen some glimmers of a big time player through two years but that year three was poised to be his breakout on a hyper-talented team. Unfortunately for Ciccolini, he never got a shot to have that breakout, suffering a season-ending injury only a couple weeks into the 2021-22 campaign. What we know about Eric Ciccolini in this year's preview is the exact same as last year's preview. Therefore, I'm going to quote from last year's preview: 

(Ciccolini) put together a promising freshman season, scoring 11 points in 26 games, and I hoped he would make a leap forward as a sophomore with the better talent joining the roster. That didn’t really happen. He scored a nearly identical 12 points in 24 games, down in the assists column, though his goals perked up from 1 to 7 (mostly the result of his shooting regressing to the mean, from 3.6% in 2020 to 18.9% last year).

But just because Ciccolini didn’t make the leap didn’t signal that he was a bad player. He was a very solid top nine winger, and every NCAA team could use players like that on their roster. It’s just a question of whether Ciccolini can get to the next level and move beyond “decent”. Right now, Ciccolini is a forward with a decent shot who works hard, and can generally be trusted to chip in here and there. But he’s not a player who drives a line, and he’s not someone who jumps off the screen. 

I went on to write about how some of Ciccolini's offensive ceiling as a sophomore may have been tied to playing with Johnny Beecher and a promotion to a line with Beniers or Bordeleau could do wonders for Ciccolini. Alas, that was never meant to be. But the point still stands: if you put Ciccolini on a line with a Nazar or a Fantilli, I think there's a 0.75 points-per-game player here who can score goals and facilitate offense. He can pass the puck with authority in his best moments: 

Johnny Beecher knots this one at 1-1 with helpers to Eric Ciccolini and Nick Granowicz pic.twitter.com/QrXaHlU6cb

— Michigan Hockey (@umichhockey) January 9, 2021

His shot is also pretty good too: 

Ciccolini has doubled his output from last season with his second goal of the season! pic.twitter.com/NRgXEQN5Nd

— Michigan Hockey (@umichhockey) November 20, 2020

Ciccolini is not an explosive skater or a terribly brainy player, but there's a solid package of offensive traits to make me feel comfortable putting him in the top six. He'd be fine on a third line too. Michigan didn't miss Ciccolini too much last season because the forward roster was deep enough to stomach an injury like that. I have a hunch that this year we will understand properly that last year's team could've been even better with a healthy Ciccolini. 

Season Expectations: I am very curious with how Naurato chooses to use Ciccolini this season. At the exhibition game, he played on the third line with Jackson Hallum. I could also see him playing further up in the lineup, perhaps with Nazar or Fantilli, the latter of which would be a fun connection between two Toronto-area Italian boys. Wherever you play him in the lineup, Ciccolini is likely going to play on one of the two PP units and should be able to chip in assists and points. Depending on how high in the lineup he plays, an improved and veteran Ciccolini could approach one point-per-game if things go well. Likely not a star, but a solid player to reinforce the scoring depth. 

 

Nolan Moyle 

Year: GRAD 

Height/Weight: 6-2/185 

NHL Draft Position: N/A

Stats: 7-8-15 in 36 games last season. Has 39 points in 124 games across four seasons at Michigan. 

In the span of a few months this summer, Nolan Moyle went from transferring away from Michigan to being named captain of the 2022-23 squad after revoking his entry into the transfer portal. I can't say why he decided to enter the portal, but the decision of his teammates to name him captain shows what Moyle means to that locker room. It also helps that he's the longest tenured Wolverine, using his COVID-shirt to play a fifth year in a winged helmet. 

Moyle arrived in the fall of 2018 and quickly was placed on a line with center Garrett Van Wyhe and winger Dakota Raabe, a scrappy energy-and-defense line that would become a fan favorite, lasting two seasons as one of Michigan's best lines during a period where the roster was devoid of talent. They would grind out greasy goals, killed penalties, and made the team more watchable. In 2020 Raabe departed and the cavalry of talent arrived, reducing the role of the GVW/Moyle line and forcing them to find a new third winger. Several options rotated through and they settled in comfortably to a 4th line, defense-only capacity. That continued on last season's uber-talented squad, soaking up loads of minutes on the PK and not doing much beyond that. 

Well, until the NCAA Tournament. With Jimmy Lambert the new winger on that line by the time the postseason rolled around, the fourth line suddenly made a splash in the biggest games of their careers. The line scored a goal against AIC (Moyle got an assist) and then Moyle opened the scoring against Quinnipiac in the Regional Final:    

Michigan on the board first! Nolan Moyle from Owen Power and Jimmy Lambert

Catch the game LIVE on ESPN2 pic.twitter.com/DRxolGriaQ

— Michigan Hockey (@umichhockey) March 27, 2022

Moyle would get another one in that game, a big deal for a player who scored seven total goals on the year, and then he got the primary assist on the first goal in the Frozen Four, a tally for Lambert. Those performances raised the legend of Nolan Moyle, cementing him as a gamer who shines bright in the biggest moments. Overall, there isn't much to say about him as an offensive player. Most goals are hustle-focused, although his shot isn't terrible: 

Moyle one-timer makes it 4-0 Michigan pic.twitter.com/FY5Hqn1uQq

— Michigan Hockey (@umichhockey) February 12, 2022

But defensively is where Moyle shines. Killing penalties, grinding down opponents, and hitting. Like Estapa, Moyle had some problems in the discipline department last season that I'd like to see cleaned up. His 49 PIM led the team and racked up two game misconduct major penalties. If he is a little bit smarter with the physicality and otherwise replicates the usual Moyle mold (and let's say, brings back the beast mode tourney performance), he will be doing his job. 

Season Expectations: Moyle will have an every night role on the fourth line, one would think. However, in the exhibition on Saturday, Naurato placed Moyle on a second line with Rutger McGroarty and Gavin Brindley, the highest in the lineup Moyle has ever played. Instead, Estapa was sitting on the fourth line and I wonder if those two players are considered interchangeable, both getting looks in different spots in the lineup to see what works best. I think it's possible Moyle could play the Estapa role up in the lineup, although I think I still prefer him on the fourth line. Where Moyle ends up playing will determine his offensive output but he will be in the lineup for every game. 

 

[Patrick Barron]

Philippe Lapointe 

Year: Junior 

Height/Weight: 5-11/185 

NHL Draft Position: N/A

Stats: 3-1-4 in 11 games last season. 6 points in 25 games at Michigan over two seasons. 

In 2020, a sizable crop of freshmen forwards arrived in Ann Arbor, six of them in all. Just two years later, only one made it to his junior year... Philippe Lapointe. Four of them didn't last to their junior year for good reasons: they were ready for pro hockey. That was the story of Thomas Bordeleau, Brendan Brisson, Matty Beniers, and Kent Johnson, all of whom will likely see time in the NHL this season. Josh Groll didn't make it because he could get more playing time at a different program (Minnesota State) and opted to pursue that route. Lapointe chose to stay, and now he's the only junior forward left. 

Lapointe is the son of longtime NHLer Martin Lapointe and was an accomplished player out in the BCHL with the Trail Smoke Eaters. He was a teammate of Kent Johnson's and came in as a double overager, not seeing a ton of ice time as a freshman. He played a little bit with GVW and Moyle on the fourth line except for the Minnesota series which overlapped with the WJC. Last season Lapointe got into fewer games but made a bit more of an impact, scoring three goals in total, which included this one: 

Knock knock! Who's there? Phillipe Lapointe at the back door 🚪 pic.twitter.com/dziGQwP1Wt

— Michigan Hockey (@umichhockey) February 20, 2022

Much like Estapa and Duke, Lapointe has played around the net quite a bit in his Michigan career. During the brief moments where he's gotten to play on the PP, it's exclusively been as a netfront guy. He doesn't have the ideal size for that role but his hands have looked alright, decent enough to give it a try. I don't have a ton else to say about Lapointe because he's only played 25 games in his career and not playing large minutes in those 25 games. He's shown a few flashes of offense but I've covered those already and thus have a general shortage on words. 

Season Expectations: This feels a bit like a make it or a break it year for Lapointe. The more talented guys he came into Michigan with are now gone and with two extra years of experience, this would be the time for Lapointe to shove guys like TJ Hughes and Kienan Draper out of the way and say "no, this is my time". Nick Granowicz is another guy he's scrapping with, as there's only so many spots available. Will he be able to do that? Not sure, but it's hard for me to see him sticking at Michigan as a senior if he doesn't nail a job down this year. If he does, I could see him chipping in 5 or so goals in a checking line capacity, with perhaps more production possible if his abilities around the net got him more time on a PP unit. 

 

Nick Granowicz 

Year: Senior  

Height/Weight: 6-1/174

NHL Draft Position: N/A

Stats: 1-3-4 in 19 games last year. 26 points in 65 career games at Michigan

Granowicz has been one of the more unlikely stories on the Michigan Hockey team. After being a Who Dat recruit in the class of 2019, he drifted along for half a season rarely in the lineup before suddenly exploding after New Year's Day. On a team starved for finishing, Grano started pouring in goals. He scored his first career goal in South Bend, scored again the next day, and then notched two more goals in a game against Penn State the following weekend. Not long after that, he scored a damn hat trick against Wisconsin: 

Nick Granowicz recorded his first career hat trick on Friday night in Michigan’s 8-4 win vs Wisconsin pic.twitter.com/Nrq6ObK5aF

— Michigan Hockey (@umichhockey) February 11, 2020

Granowicz was doing it by picking up rebound goals around the net, hard work and luck paying off for a player without a ton of physical gifts. That was the story of his meteoric rise as a freshman, something that turned out to be more of a one hit wonder than anything else. Granowicz was the hero that the 2019-20 team needed, but as the roster around Granowicz grew to be much more offensively gifted, his utility and playing time got cut. Granowicz was not nearly as notable in 2020-21 and then was  sparingly used last season, playing small roles when he was in the lineup. Granowicz scored just four points in 19 games last season and just one goal. That goal was classic Granowicz, a tap-in off a Beecher pass against MSU in the Duel in the D, but it was his lone highlight as a junior. 

Season Expectations: As a senior, Granowicz's path to playing time likely involves locking down one of the fourth line spots. I mentioned in the freshmen piece that the top nine seems rather hashed out to me between blue chip recruits who are poised to be impact players and returning production. Granowicz is in neither of those buckets, but there are free spots available on the fourth line and Granowicz plays decent enough defense and is comfortable physically in such a way that makes me believe he could fit fine next to Moyle and someone else (Kienan Draper?) on that unit. If he does, don't expect a ton of goals, but the ones that come will probably be just like those in the embedded tweet above. 

 

[James Coller]

Jay Keranen

Year: Senior

Height/Weight: 5-11/183

NHL Draft Position: N/A

Stats: 1-0-1 in 17 games last season. 4 points in 31 career games at Michigan. 

I'm putting Jay Keranen in this category because Michigan has a lot of defensemen so I suspect we will see more of him at forward than defense this year (although he did draw in on defense in the exhibition due to scratches/injuries). For those unfamiliar, as you could probably glean from that sentence, Keranen is the ole two-way player, suiting up at both forward and defense. Keranen joined Michigan Hockey during the 2019-20 season, being added to the roster mid-season due to an academic situation that delayed his ability to make the team. He didn't appear in a game that season before mixing into the defensive rotation in 2020-21, often as a seventh defenseman. Keranen scored his first career goal against MSU that season and his usage on defense led me to list him in the defense bucket in last year' preview. 

That decision proved to be wrong. Keranen played more forward than defense last season, again as a spare parts player (often the 13th forward) and he didn't contribute much in the way of offense. His one goal from last season was a tip-in. 

Keranen redirects a Holtz shot and Michigan leads Minnesota 5-1! pic.twitter.com/spK18LOcWe

— Michigan Hockey (@umichhockey) December 5, 2021

There's not much to say about Keranen. The most interesting part of his profile is that he plays both positions. He doesn't do either position particularly well or memorably, but the existence of such a player is a luxury for a coach because they can dress Keranen as the 13th forward and know that if a defenseman goes down mid-game, he can slide to defense and fill in there. He doesn't make you have to decide whether you want a 13th forward or a 7th defenseman. You get both! Pretty neat. 

Season Expectations: I assume that Keranen will make a healthy number of appearances in that same role this season, the utility guy who only gets a few shifts per game. Doing so means it is unlikely that Keranen will produce much in the way of counting statistics unless major injuries occur.