Arvils Bergmanis transfers to RPI
Who said it was too late for one last portal move?
It was perfectly reasonable to believe the rebuild of the blueline was complete once Elliott McDermott and Will Gilson announced their transfers in late May. RPI desperately needed some veteran, puck-moving defensemen to come in and that’s exactly who they went out and got. They would presumably slot in alongside Strom and Smolinski to fill out the top-four, leaving the remaining five defensemen (a mixture of freshmen and returners) to compete for the last spots.
But apparently they weren’t done just yet. With just a few weeks to go before the season starts, RPI picked up Arvils Bergmanis off the transfer portal.
Bergmanis put up 6 goals and 38 points in 99 games at University of Alaska-Fairbanks. He’s played internationally for Latvia, including appearances at the each of past three World Championships. He’s even had a quick, three-game stint in the KHL. For a team looking add high-level experience to the defense, Bergmanis certainly fits the bill. Let’s jump into his style of play:
His strengths and weaknesses pop out on the player card pretty quickly. His chance creation numbers were some of the highest in the country among defensemen. His vision jumps off the screen when watching him. He excels at opening up space for his teammates with his passing and movement, allowing them the time to get good shots off.
Bergmanis scores a lot on the powerplay – nearly half of his points (17) at Alaska came on the man-advantage. The one caveat worth putting in here is that a lot of his points did come against weaker teams, and it is absolutely possible to inflate your points total with a strong powerplay unit against those kinds of teams. All that being said, a good chunk of RPI’s opponents this year will be at that level anyway.
Defensively, Bergmanis might not be the guy getting in and winning every puck battle, but he will be the guy to do the work to exit the defensive zone and move the puck forward. The ability to play through a forecheck without giving the puck back to the other team is something RPI lacked so much last season, and Bergmanis will be a huge help in that area.
How does this leave the defense?
Bergmanis will slot right into the top-four for RPI similar to the role he played in Alaska. The pairings will likely be fluid at the beginning of the season until things really start to click, but barring injury, I’m expecting the top two defensive pairings to feature Bergmanis, McDermott, Gilson, and Smolinski.
Strom, Agnew, and Goffredo seem to be the next likely candidates for the 5, 6, and 7 spots on defense. That leaves Matta, Maguire, and Ozolins as the three out of the lineup, but who will still get playing time as injuries and such come about throughout the year.
All-in-all, it’s a pretty veteran-heavy group. These guys have a lot of games under their belt in college hockey. Now, can they put it all together and help the team win some more games? The bar is pretty low after the past couple of seasons, but I think so.
35 days to go. Let’s Go Red.