RPI's 2024 Offseason To-Do List
How the Engineers can use the offseason to get back on an upward trajectory
Another season has come and gone, and it was not a fun one to say the least. A team that had some optimism around it due to returning scoring and defensive experience ended up falling flat due to poor puck possession, defensive play and goaltending on the ice. Off the ice, the team dealt with numerous injuries once again with key players missing significant time and being not close to 100% when they were in the lineup.
Like last year, we will have some more in-depth coverage of the season coming soon, which will go over the year and more of the on-ice details. This post, however, is meant purely to go over the state of the roster and what it needs to start moving the program up the standings in the win column.
You can take a look at our future roster to see who is slated to be here next season.
1. Bring back Lee and Gagnon at forward
According to our future roster, RPI has 12 forwards slated for next season, but it’s really 11. Jackson Kyrkostas has delayed his enrollment to 2025, per this UNH hockey blog interview with UNH commit Jack Sadowski. If you don’t feel like clicking the link, basically, Sadowski (who played with Kyrkostas at Kimball Union last year) said a big reason he committed to playing with West Kelowna next year is because Kyrkostas is returning there for another year. We also expect that Tapper will be delayed, but that is not confirmed yet.
The fact that Kyrkostas delayed probably bodes well for these players returning for 5th years. In our mid-season interview with Coach Smith, he mentioned that Gagnon and Lee wanted to return for 5th years at RPI. While it has been a long time since that interview and things can change, that also gives me a good feeling they will return, but we’ll have to wait and see if they choose to come back, go into the transfer portal, or sign a pro contract.
Both of these players bring different qualities to the table that can help the Engineers in 2024-25.
Lee has a good mix of grit and skill that allows him to be an offensive threat, and he’s particularly good at doing the dirty work with skilled linemates (like he did with Hotson and Tinling this year). He’s also versatile with the ability to play all 3 forward spots and good defensively and on the PK. He needs to stay healthy though as he continues to get injured and miss lots of time, and he also needs to do a better job of staying out of the box.
Gagnon is a pure shooter and goal scorer with good compete and grittiness to go with it. He’s also good defensively and on the PK, and you have to mention his leadership as the team’s captain. Returning the team captain can only be a good thing for the locker room. Gagnon doesn’t have the skill or versatility of Lee, but he’s still a good player.
For those wondering why I didn’t mention Heidemann, he signed a pro contract on Monday.
I also think there’s an argument for bringing back John Beaton in a bottom 6 role. We have not really kept our 5th year forwards, so it’s hard to know if they’re looking to keep a player who would play more of that depth role. If they are, I think it makes sense to bring back Beaton as well.
As for the other senior forwards, there isn’t really room for Brackett or Nykanen, and both of their replacements are already on the roster currently. Payant is Brackett’s replacement as a speedy forward in the bottom 6, while Sullivan fills Nykanen’s role of a bigger forward with skill. Both those freshmen have higher upside as well.
2. Get 2-3 top 9 forwards in the portal
Let’s say both Lee and Gagnon come back. Then, your forward lineup looks like:
Hotson - Tinling - Lee
X - Muzzatti - X
Caron - X - Gagnon
Payant - McNeil - Ciccarello/Sullivan
You have some clear holes in the top 9, particularly at wing in the top 6. Caron and Gagnon could theoretically be in the top 6, but I think both are more suited for the 3rd line next year. Barring late decommits, it’s unlikely a top 6 freshman wing becomes available at this stage in the year, so the Engineers will have to look to the portal to fill these spots. There’s not a ton of quality players in the portal yet since it does not open until the 31st (except for grad transfers, players who were cut, and players on teams with coaching changes), but once the floodgates open, there is sure to be many good players looking for new homes. The only players currently in the portal who would project as top 6 wingers would be Princeton senior Ian Murphy (who I’ve heard is looking at bigger schools) and Northeastern senior Gunnarwolfe Fontaine (lol not happening), but there will no doubt be more coming.
As for 3rd line center, that is much easier to fill with a freshman if the staff chooses to, or that can also be filled through the portal. If Beaton comes back, he can fill that role as well, so there’s plenty of options there.
3. Rebuild the defense through both incoming freshmen and the portal
The defense was a huge problem this year, and there needs to be some changes here to ensure improvement next year.
For example, as much as I like Sertti, he was disappointing this year. There’s not really room for him on the roster right now either with 6 LD there. I think the recent commitment of Ozolins was a signal that Sertti will not be returning.
Speaking of Ozolins, I think he and Maguire are a good start to improving the defense. They’re both more defensively minded players who can come in and play at the bottom of the lineup. They will compete with Matta and Ardanaz for time there.
I think Adrian might get delayed because he is also a player who is best suited to play towards the bottom of the lineup now. They already have a lot of players more meant for that role with the aforementioned Matta, Ardanaz, Ozolins and Maguire. I would personally probably delay him and look for an experienced top 4 LD in the portal.
At RD, Regula will be gone and potentially Agnew too. I would bring back Agnew as a third pairing option who can play higher in the lineup if needed. Then, I would recruit a younger player who can play in the top 4 behind Smolinski.
Overall, there’s probably going to be at least 4 new faces on the blue line. Those new players combined with development from the returners should be enough for improved defensive play next season. The lineup would look like this:
X - Smolinski
Strom - X
Ozolins - Goffredo
Agnew
Personally, I think that would be a pretty good looking blue line, but a lot will depend on who they can get to fill those X spots.
4. Find a goalie to compete with Watson
Goaltending as a whole was an issue once again this season. Watson had his moments where he was good, but overall, he was below average this season even when you factor in the defensive struggles. He also has now had 2 straight seasons dealing with injuries that either caused him to miss time or play through them. Once again, Cherepak and Miller were not up to the task. They each had a couple good games, but overall, they were not good. RPI needs some insurance behind Watson even if he does play more consistent just given his injury troubles, and it really should be a goalie capable of starting in the case that he struggles again.
They should probably be looking to a young goalie for this spot. Cherepak will be a junior and Watson will be a senior, so ideally, this spot is a sophomore transfer or an incoming freshman. Most of the junior hockey goalies capable of competing for a starting job are off the board now, but there are a couple left. For the portal options, there’s no way to really know who will be available, but given the way it usually goes, I’d imagine there will be some quality options.
Overall, this will be a busy offseason due to a high number of seniors and the way the season went. There is shaping up to unsurprisingly be a lot of roster turnover, and you could even argue that type of roster turnover is necessary given how the team did not meet expectations.
There will be even more roster turnover if some underclassmen choose to transfer. I could see some leaving in search of more playing time, but in this day and age, you never truly know.
The Elephant in the Room
We’ve seen some fans call for a coaching change, and I’d be surprised if there was a change made, which I agree with currently.
First, there has been basically zero smoke around a coaching change coming from any sources with intel. No college hockey reporters, such as Mike McMahon and others, have brought up RPI as a place where they think a coaching change might occur. There also has been no reporting by local sources or sources with ties to the RPI AD. The only exception was Ken Schott wondering aloud about it in his ECAC playoff preview, but he doesn’t even cover RPI.
Second, Coach Smith signed his contract extension only a year and a half ago. Not only is it a recent extension, but it was for 5 years, a pretty long-term one. They could have done less than that if they wanted, but they did not. To me, that signaled a commitment to Coach Smith to give him some runway to rebuild the program after COVID.
Those are facts. Here is now my opinion, which is shared by all 3 of us here at the Field House. I think people forget that not only did RPI cancel the season causing most of the core to transfer, but they also:
Locked the players out of all facilities entirely with no practices allowed, the only program in the country to do that as far as we know
Didn’t allow fans in 2021-22, the only program in the country to do that
Let Coach Smith’s contract expire, further hurting recruiting and causing questions about commitment at the top
No coach would succeed under those circumstances, and that combines to have a larger effect than just cancelling the season like Union and the Ivies. It takes time to build back from that, and while I do NOT think COVID is an excuse any longer, this is really the first truly bad year we have seen. Last year wasn’t good, but retroactively, the expectations were way too high given how much the team had lost. And they still finished 7th in the league, which isn’t great but not bad either. Coaches usually don’t get fired for one bad year. I’d be surprised if they pulled the plug so soon, and I also don’t see them eating 3 years of a contract. There definitely needs to be improvement next season, and these offseason moves are a big step towards that.
Thanks gents for your commitment here on TFH blog(podcast) I share the same assessment, but how about one coaching change this team is calling out loud for an experienced defensive coach either from the pro ranks or college system.. been my biggest issue with the Cherry Red & White? Is the goalie Sanborn ready to come in 24/25? If not then definitely a transfer or big time junior goalie must come in or will better defensemen(stay at home D-men) be key. My last hope is a super-duper New York State player to come in either TP or Juniors?... talk soon! Let's Go Red!!!
Great insight as always, any chance would they look at Noah Beck or Brandon pierson
and what is the future of John Evans