Penn State men’s hockey may be faced with a harsh reality next season after loss of top players
Prior to this offseason, Penn State hockey had four players — Andrew Sturtz, Casey Bailey, Eamon McAdam and Vince Pedrie — sign directly from college to NHL contracts in the program’s seven years at the Division I level.
In this offseason alone, Penn State has matched that number. Having four more players sign NHL contracts shows the growth of the program, but also brings with it a harsh reality for next season.
Seniors Nate Sucese and Brandon Biro both signed NHL deals right after the season was stopped short to do COVID-19, but the big blow to the Nittany Lions was juniors Evan Barratt and Cole Hults forgoing their senior seasons and signing with the Chicago Blackhawks and LA Kings, respectively.
Both Barratt and Hults were drafted by their respective teams.
This news isn’t necessarily shocking, as people were anticipating Penn State losing one or both of these players last offseason.
The time is also right.
Hults, a CCM/AHCA All-American, first-team All-CHN honoree and finalist for Big Ten Player of the Year and Defensive Player of the Year, has developed into one of the best defensemen in the country, and Barratt has proven through his gritty, tough style that he can score against anyone, in various different spectacular ways.
Looking at Penn State’s final line chart of the season — its win against Minnesota that would end up clinching the program’s first-ever regular season Big Ten championship — seven of the 12 forwards won’t be returning next season.
Then looking at defenseman, three of the six won’t be returning. The Nittany Lions are also losing their starting goalie in senior Peyton Jones.
And there are still players who could sign professional contracts.
This group of 11 outgoing players accounted for 58 percent of Penn State’s total points last season and 57 percent of its goals.
These are almost impossible shoes to fill; however, it’s not all bad news for Penn State.
The next step for its program, off the ice, is having players consistently go to the NHL and showing that it’s no longer the “new kid on the block” and capable of molding players into NHL talent.
Having four players sign NHL contracts in one offseason is going to boost recruiting. However, the effects of this boost won’t be seen for years down the road.
And Penn State will still have some stars on its roster next season, players like Alex Limoges, Aarne Talvitie and Sam Sternschein.
These three players alone accounted for 20 percent of Penn State’s points last season.
The Nittany Lions freshman line will also be expected to take its next step and could fill some of the void in production.
Penn State also reportedly picked up a graduate transfer from Maine in Tim Doherty, who finished the season ranked No. 18 in points nationally.
But no matter how, you look at the roster next season, no matter what transfers Penn State brings in, it’s going to be a struggle to replace this group of players that has meant so much to the program. This combined with the fact that many other star players across the conference are not moving on to the professional level, gives teams like Michigan the edge over the Nittany Lions next season.
Penn State won’t have the same depth and talent level from the top to the bottom of its roster next season.
It seems more and more likely that Penn State is going to be faced with a rebuilding season next year, but that was exactly what people said heading into the 2016 season, a season that saw the outgoing senior class, as freshmen, help take the team to its first-ever Big Ten tournament title, first-ever NCAA Tournament and first-ever NCAA Tournament victory.
While the loss of these players will certainly be felt next season, Penn State knows a thing or two about being in the underdog position.
