UNH Roster Changes for 2022-23: Incoming Players

In "UNH Roster Changes for 2022-23: Outgoing Players", I explained how roster spots open up at the end of a season and why I think there is currently 13 open roster slots available for incoming players to fill for the 2022-23 season: One slot for a goalie, 4 for defensemen and 8 for forwards. This is based on the presumption the 2022-23 roster will have the same overall makeup as 2021-22 - 29 players overall, 3 goalies, 9 defensemen and 17 forwards.

There are two types of players who will earn a spot on next season's UNH men's hockey team. One type are transfer students, currently on the roster of other NCAA Division I or III teams, who have verbally committed to UNH through the transfer portal. The second is the traditional source of young prospects who have graduated from high school and have committed to study and play at UNH.

Historically, the UNH men's hockey roster for the coming season is announced by the UNH head coach sometime in the summer. For example, coach Mike Souza announced the 2021-22 incoming freshman class on July 6, 2021. On August 13, 2021 he announced the addition of one more freshman plus two transfer student-athletes which rounded out the final roster.

As I write this article on April 20th, it's important to remember that my projections on which transfer players and pre-college hockey commits will make the final 2022-23 roster is only a prediction based on currently available information. For each player I identify, I'll describe some of the circumstances which may arise between now and the official roster announcement that would result in the projected player not making the 2022-23 roster.

Transfer Players Committed to UNH

Any Division I or III hockey player with one or more years of athletic eligibility remaining has the option to utilize the one-time transfer exception. The "student-athlete" must meet the following criteria:
~ Transfering from a 4-year collegiate institution to an NCAA Division I school.
~ Leaving their current 4-year school academically eligible.
~ Have not transferred previously from another 4-year institution.
~ Certify in writing, along with their new head coach, they did not have direct or indirect communication with the new school’s athletics staff prior to entering the NCAA Transfer Portal.

Last week, three transfer players announced they had committed to play for UNH next season. They are:
Nico DeVita (5/24/2001, Freshman Defenseman/Ferris State)
Jack Babbage (8/3/2000, Freshman Defenseman/Quinnipiac)
Ryan Black (3/24/1999, Senior Forward/Babson College)

Back in February, forward Conor Lovett (DOB: 4/7/2001) committed to UNH. He entered the transfer portal last May at the end his freshman season with Merrimack College. This season, Lovett is back playing junior hockey with Cedar Rapids (USHL).

My understanding is a transferring hockey player and the school make a verbal commitment to each other. The commitment does not become official until the player enrolls at the receiving school and attends classes. In addition, either the player or the hockey coach can terminate the verbal commitment at any point up until the time of enrollment.

With those caveats in mind, I project that DeVita, Babbage, Black and Lovett will be on the 2022-23 UNH roster. That would mean 2 of the 4 projected, open slots for defensemen and 2 of the 8 projected slots for forwards would be filled.

Junior Players Committed to UNH

There's a pool of 10 junior players who I think are under consideration for roster spots at UNH next season. These 10 had verbally committed to UNH over the last few years and subsequently signed a National Letter of Intent.

The NLI is a written agreement in which the college or university commits an athletic scholarship for one academic year and the student-athlete agrees to attend the school full-time for that year. NCAA Division I ice hockey is an "equivalency sport" meaning an athletic scholarship can be either a full or partial one. Each DI program is allowed a total of 18 full athletic scholarships each season, to be divided and distributed as the coaching staff sees fit. It is my understanding that players who sign an NLI are not promised a roster spot for the following season.

Here's the list of 10 UNH commits who have signed an NLI:
GOALIE (1)
Tyler Muszelik (7/1/2004, Long Valley, NJ 6'3" 195 lbs.)

DEFENSEMEN (3)
Cade Penney (3/23/2001, West Chester, PA 6'0" 165 lbs.)
Damien Carfagna (12/12/2002, Wood Ridge, NJ 5'11" 175 lbs.)
Brendan Fitzgerald (10/26/2003, North Reading, MA 5'11" 195 lbs.)

FORWARDS (6)
Kristaps Skrastins (11/20/2001, Riga, Latvia 5'11" 180 lbs.)
Jake Dunlap (12/5/2001, Windham, NH 5'9" 170 lbs.)
Morgan Winters (12/8/2001, Osprey, FL 6'0" 174 lbs.)
Cy LeClerc (8/17/2002, Brentwood, NH 5'9" 175 lbs.)
JP Turner (1/31/2003, East Falmouth, MA 6'0" 195 lbs.)
Stiven Sardarian (2/7/2003, St. Petersburg, Russia 6'1" 157 lbs.)

Which NLI Commits Will Make the UNH 2022-23 Roster?

The 10 NLI Commits are at various stages of their junior hockey career. Junior hockey leagues in North American include players who range in age from 16 years old to 20. Players who are older than 20 years old as of the 31st day of December of the current season are ineligible to play junior hockey. That means any current junior player with a birthdate in 2001 will have no junior eligibility left at the end of this season. This is a major factor in projecting which UNH NLI commits will make the 2022-23 roster.

NLI Commits Who Will Age Out of Junior Hockey

There are 4 UNH NLI commits with 2001 birth years who will have no more years of junior eligibility at the end of the 2021-22 season. They are:
~ Cade Penney (Defenseman, Surrey Eagles/BCHL)
~ Kristaps Skrastins (Forward, Amarillo Wranglers/NAHL)
~ Jake Dunlap (Forward, Madison Capitols/USHL)
~ Morgan Winters (Forward, Omaho Lancers/USHL)

It is unusual for an NLI between a player and the school to be voided. Occasionally, a student-athlete will not meet the academic requirements of the NCAA Eligibility Center or the college/university. That can make the NLI null and void. Sometimes, the student-athlete will request a release from the NLI, due to extenuating circumstances, but the school has the authority to reject it. For example, if the school loses it's hockey head coach, the incoming player can request a release from the NLI but the school is not obliged to grant the release.

Since most NLI's are honored by the student-athlete and the college/university, I project Penney, Skrastins, Dunlap and Winters will be on the 2022-23 UNH roster. That would mean an increase in the number of filled defenseman slots from 2 to 3 (i.e., Babbage, Devita, & Penney) and an increase of filled forward slots from 2 to 5 (i.e., Black, Dunlap, Lovett, Skrastins & Winters).

If those projections turn out to be accurate, then there would be open roster slots available for 1 goalie, 1 defenseman, and 3 forwards. These openings would be available for the remaining UNH NLI commits who won't age out of junior hockey at the end of the current, 2021-22 season.

NLI Commits Who Have 1 or More Years of Junior Eligibility

The UNH NLI commits who were born in 2002, 2003, and 2004 will have 1, 2, and 3 years respectively of junior eligibilty remaining at the end of this season. If, for any reason, any one of them does not make the 2022-23 UNH roster, he would have the option of returning to junior hockey and enrolling into UNH for the 2023-24 season.

GOALIE:
I project the goalie slot will go to Tyler Muszelik. He is the highly-skilled goaltender for the elite USA Hockey National Team Development Program and the only committed goalie who has signed an NLI with UNH.

FORWARDS:
According to my current projections, there would be 3 remaining roster slots available to forwards on the 2022-23 UNH team. As it so happens, there would be 3 NLI committed forwards left to fill them:
~ Cy LeClerc (8/17/02, Janesville Jets/NAHL)
~ JP Turner (1/31/03, Fargo Force/USHL)
~ Stiven Sardarian (2/7/03, Youngstown Phantoms/USHL)

As I explained earlier, it is unusual for an NLI to be nullified. For that reason, I think it's unlikely to happen with these 3 forwards.

There is one possible event that would likely effect the availability of these 3 roster openings for forwards. If an additional transfer forward, beyond Conor Lovett and Ryan Black, commits to UNH for next season, then one of these forward slots could become unavailable to one of the NLI committed forwards. A 4th transfer forward could put another forward roster slot out of reach to the NLI commit.

DEFENSEMEN:
Finally, my projections would allow for 1 remaining roster slot available to a defenseman on the 2022-23 UNH team. There are 2 remaining NLI defensemen who could vie for it:
~ Damien Carfagna (12/12/02, Sioux City Musketeers/USHL, 2 years of junior hockey experience)
~ Brendan Fitzgerald (10/26/03, Cedar Rapids RoughRiders/USHL, 1 year of junior hockey experience)

The same factors (e.g., voided NLI; additional transfer players) could effect the availablity of open roster spots for defensemen.

SUMMARY

If nothing happens to alter the projected openings on the 2022-23 UNH men's hockey roster, between now and when the final roster is announced this summer, then I think the incoming players will be (in alphabetical order):

GOALIE
G1) Tyler Muszelik

FORWARDS
F1) Ryan Black (Transfer)
F2) Jake Dunlap (NLI Commit)
F3) Cy LeClerc (NLI Commit)
F4) Conor Lovett (Transfer)
F5) Stiven Sardarian (NLI Commit)
F6) Kristaps Skrastins (NLI Commit)
F7) JP Turner (NLI Commit)
F8) Morgan Winters (NLI Commit)

DEFENSEMEN
D1) Jack Babbage (Transfer)
D2) Nico DeVita (Transfer)
D3) Cade Penney (NLI Commit)
D4a) Damien Carfagna (NLI Commit)
OR
D4b) Brendan Fitzgerald (NLI Commit)