Thoughts on an early look at the roster

RPI’s overhauled roster features a plethora of newcomers

Photo: TB Lightning

RPI released its roster for the first year of the Eric Lang era last week in what all signs point to being a developmental year. The roster is ironically not up on the website now, but I feel like we have a strong inclination at what it’ll look like. The roster looked as expected with the exception of Ethan Elias and Joseph Henneberry, who Stephen reported had committed in June. I am willing to chalk this up to a communications error and expect them both in Troy next year. It has been a while since we got any content out there, so I wanted to go through some initial thoughts on the roster.

The Youth Movement

The coaching staff did a nice job finding veteran pieces that can help now, but this is going to take a year or two to build a “core”. It took Seth Appert a few years to develop his first core of Chase Polacek, Tyler Helfrich, Allen York, and others. Dave Smith’s best group was the classes that had Jake Johnson, Ture Linden, Owen Savory and others. I think even if there are growing pains, there is reason to be excited by the freshman class and I will add in the talented sophomore transfers as well, Filip Sitar and Kaz Sobieski. Retention is not guaranteed in this era, but there will be opportunities for these players to contribute and grow into a top-tier core for the roster going forward. I think Nathan Krawchuk has high-end starter potential, Lucas Lemieux and Joseph Henneberry have all-league potential, and all of the others are very solid prospects that will contribute.

Depth, Depth, Depth

I certainly won’t be penciling in any line charts, but those of you that have been reading the blog a while know I like to game out line charts. This would be my preliminary depth chart right now.

Wilson-Tinling-Tapper
Wallace-Rullers-Sitar
Henneberry-Lindberg-Buckley
McNeil-Gordon-Bono
Bourgault-Scherzer-Kyrkostas
Gorton

Lemieux-Russell
VanDamme-Sobieski
Ozolins-Elias
Klassek-Goffredo
Matta-Hilditch

Bruveris
Krawchuk

I feel so significantly better about this roster than I have in prior years. The top end is not as strong as it was last year after the Gilson, Hotson, and Muzzatti losses but the depth is drastically improved. It truly feels like everyone on the roster either does right now or will contribute significantly during their career.

Centers

Coach Lang really prioritized depth at center in the portal, and it feels as if the Engineers have 8-9 guys that can line up in the middle. There is definitely more depth on the lefthanded side so I would expect the Wallace’s and Bono’s of the world to go to LW. Tinling, Sitar, Rullers, Wallace, Bono, Lindberg, Buckley, Kyrkostas, Scherzer, McNeil, and Gordon all have significant experience at center. This makes it a bit harder to forecast a lineup, but I equate centers to shortstops and centerfielders in baseball. The learning curve is steeper at those positions, so I would rather have depth there and flex guys to the wing than vice versa.

I think this roster lacks the firepower at the top to score a lot and probably doesn’t have the goaltending to be superb defensively either. However, the depth is exciting as Lang begins his rebuild. Fans should be excited by the depth he is accumulating, as there is a “build through the draft” feel to this offseason as he stockpiles young talent. There are a few top players that will graduate after this year, but I think retention and development of this young core is the path to success. Much more to come on the blog and hockey season will be here before we know it. It is an exciting time in Troy as we ramp into the first season with Eric Lang at the helm!