AMHERST — When he was hired just under a year ago, UMass coach Greg Carvel knew he had a challenge on his hands as he began the process of remaking the hockey program.
Now, with his first season under his belt, he said there’s still much work to be done and to expect some roster upheaval after a 5-29-2 season. With 12 freshmen committed to join the program next year and five seniors (three who played regularly) graduating, some players from the 2016-17 squad won’t be back.
“We’ve done a ton of recruiting. We’re bringing in a big class next year because what we’re putting on the ice right now isn’t good enough,” Carvel said. “We’ll have to evaluate which guys should be back here next year. We’ll meet with each player and tell them where they stand in the program.
“We won five games this year. We can’t put the same product on the ice and think things will be much different,” continued Carvel, who said the staff would help anyone who wanted to keep playing. “We have a good group of kids. They played hard this year. Any kids that don’t return we’ll do the best we can to help them find a new place to play. For a kid we don’t think can do it for us, we want to help find a place they can get the most out of their college hockey experience.”
The players who do return have a challenging offseason in front of them.
“It’s going to be a rude awakening for our guys in the offseason. A big part of our evaluation this year is realizing where our deficits are,” he said. “One of our major deficits is our physical strength. It’s going to be a lot of hard work for our guys who are returning.”
Four of the incoming freshmen have landed on the NHL Draft Prospect Rankings from Central Scouting.
Defenseman Cale Makar is an almost certain high first-round pick, landing No. 10 among North American skaters (non-goalies).
“He’s an outstanding players. There’s not a lot of players who pop out when you watch them play. This kid pops out there,” Carvel said. “He has outstanding skill, outstanding compete. He’s going to most likely be a top-10 draft pick. His ability with the puck and his offensive ability will help our forwards score a lot better.”
Every player is eligible to be drafted by the NHL when he is 18 years old. If the player attends college, whomever selects him retains his draft rights throughout his NCAA career.
Makar, a 5-foot-11 Calgary, Alberta native, has 71 points (24 goals, 51 assists) in 54 games this season for the Brooks Bandits of the Alberta Junior Hockey League.
“A lot will depend on who drafts him. I’ve spoken to a handful of NHL teams who said they’d like to see him (enroll at UMass),” said Carvel, a former NHL assistant coach. “They’re comfortable with the fact that I coached in the NHL and I coached Erik Karlsson and I coached Zdeno Charra and I have experience at that level.”
If Makar does enroll, he’ll likely never have a senior night.
“He’s too good of a player,” Carvel said. “He won’t be here four years.”
Fellow defenseman Mario Ferraro, a Toronto product who has 33 points (seven goals, 26 assists) in 49 games for Des Moines in the USHL, is the No. 107 North American skater.
Center Philip Lagunov, a center from Hamilton, Ontario who has 55 points (27 goals, 28 assists) in 51 games for the Burlington Cougars of the Ontario Junior Hockey League, was the No. 171 skater, while goalie Matt Murray was No. 24 among North American goalies. The St. Alberta, Alberta product has a 2.36 ERA for the Fargo Force of the USHL.
Amherst product John Leonard wasn’t listed by Central Scouting, but Carvel singled him out as someone who could help reverse UMass’ scoring woes. Leonard has 15 goals and 13 assists for the Green Bay Gamblers of the USHL this season.
“It’s important we bring in players like Leonard, who is a proven scorer,” Carvel said. “Probably half of our lineup next year will be freshmen that we’re hoping can come in and be effective players from day one.”
Carvel said the players are just part of the evaluation process.
“We’ll do a full program review, every part of it. We’ll speak to administrators about where we need improvements and what our vision is. A lot of big picture stuff combined with recruiting,” he said. “It’ll be the most important offseason. It takes time to understand what’s needed to move forward.”
Carvel could face a shake-up in his staff. Assistant Ben Barr has long been considered a likely future head coaching candidate and has already been rumored for the opening at RPI, his alma mater.
“He’s obviously one of the top assistants out there,” Carvel said. “His track record is outstanding. We love him here. He’s a great guy to work with. If he starts interviewing there, then we’ll worry about it. Right now I’m just hoping we can keep him here.”
Matt Vautour can be reached at mvautour@gazettenet.com. Get UMass coverage delivered in your Facebook news feed at www.facebook.com/GazetteUMassCoverage