Positional Preview: Where will UConn's scoring come from?

UConn men’s hockey’s 2023-24 season was defined by an inability to score despite ample talent and opportunity. As the new campaign dawns, the Huskies still have question marks surrounding their goal-scoring, though it has more to do with the personnel this year.

Gone are three of the team’s top producers — Matthew Wood (16 goals), Chase Bradley (11 goals) and Samu Salminen (seven goals). With no major transfer portal additions, UConn will have to rely on improvement from returners and a strong group of freshmen to improve its offense.

Returners

Hudson Schandor

Schandor is back for his fifth season and will likely be a barometer for the offense. He’s one of the better players to come through UConn under Mike Cavanaugh — he ranks in the top 10 in career goals (27, 10th), assists (58, third), and points (85, third) in the program’s Hockey East Era — and will be counted on to lead the group.

While Schandor sets up goals more often than he scores them, he’s plenty capable of lighting the lamp — like when he totaled 11 as a junior. A perfect example to follow would be Jachym Kondelik, who had 16 goals through his first three seasons then 12 as a senior. A similar breakout (or bounce-back) from Schandor would be a welcome boost to the offense.

Jake Richard

Richard had a strong freshman season with seven goals (tied for third-most on the team) and 11 assists — while arguably playing better than his production indicated. The Buffalo Sabres draft pick routinely got himself in dangerous spots and flashed an impressive shot with a shooting percentage of 11.3, which tied him for third-best on the squad.

Those numbers could’ve been even better, though. All too often, he deferred to teammates on a chance in the offensive zone instead of taking a shot himself. With a year under his belt and plenty of scoring talent out the door, Richard needs to be far more selfish with the puck this season.

If he is, the sophomore should be one of the favorites to lead the team in scoring.

Jake Percival

Percival has been as steady as they come through two seasons in Storrs. As a freshman, he had six goals and six assists, then followed it up with seven goals and seven assists last year. He plays a 200-foot game and is especially good in 6-on-5 situations, where he’s collected three empty-netters in his career.

Still, Percival has untapped offense in his game. He’s been almost comically snake-bit in his time with the Huskies. While it’s not an official stat, he probably leads the team in posts hit. If Percival could get some luck to go his way, it’s not hard to imagine him putting up double-digit goals.

Tristan Fraser

While UConn struggled to score last season, Fraser actually had a breakout campaign in which nearly everything seemed to find the back of the net. He scored seven goals on just 27 shots — good for a sky-high shooting percentage of .259. That’s almost certain to drop, so he’ll need to put more shots on net to maintain a similar level of production.

Ryan Tattle

After a lost freshman season, Tattle started slowly in 2023 with zero points through his first 10 games. Then came a two-assist contest at Boston College, his first collegiate goal on the one-year anniversary of his mother’s death, and soon, the sophomore became one of the steadiest players in UConn’s lineup.

Tattle finished with a solid line of four goals and eight assists, but few players will be counted on more to take a leap and replace some of the production lost over the offseason.

Tabor Heaslip

Heaslip put together a strong sophomore campaign doing yeoman’s work on the penalty kill, in the corners, and on defense, but only had one goal to seven assists. Considering all he does for the Huskies, any point production he provides is a bonus.

Joey Muldowney

Muldowney earned his spot in the lineup out of the gate and never gave it up, playing in all 36 contests. He got better as the season went on and notched all five of his goals in the second half. Considering the San Jose Sharks selected him in the fifth round of the 2022 NHL Draft for his scoring prowess, Muldowney is a top breakout candidate for 2024-25.

Oliver Flynn

Despite being the least-heralded member of his class, Flynn had a solid freshman campaign in which he played 25 games. The Wolcott native is a nice fourth-liner who doesn’t make many mistakes — he took just three penalties all season — but needs to dramatically improve his shot to be anything more than that.

Huston Karpman

Karpman played in just one game this past season and will likely be at the bottom of the depth chart barring a major leap this summer. At the same time, UConn only has 15 forwards on the roster — and will likely have just 14 available early in the season — so it wouldn’t take much for the junior to see the ice.

Additions

Hugh Larkin

The lone forward that UConn brought out of the portal, Larkin put up limited production in four years at Western Michigan. He scored just 15 goals total and only surpassed the 10-point mark once. Larkin did have better numbers as an upperclassman — six goals, eight assists as a junior; five goals, four assists as a senior — so the Huskies are hoping he can provide some secondary scoring.

Larkin should contribute in other ways as well with his defense, leadership, and experience, so while he’s not a flashy pickup, he’s a well-rounded forward.

Kaden Shahan

While Cavanaugh prefers not to rely too much on freshmen, he won’t have a choice this season. Not only will first-year forwards likely take up a third (or more) of the spots, they have some of the best scoring chops on the roster.

Chief among them is Shahan, whose 39 goals were third-most in the USHL. While the Everett, Washington native didn’t hear his name called during the NHL Draft, he impressed at the Vancouver Canucks’ development camp.

From The Hockey News:

Kaden Shahan may have been the most impressive forward during the scrimmage. A camp invitee, Shahan delivered a fantastic tape-to-tape pass on the first goal of the game, while his willingness to not give up on the puck allowed him to score what was the final goal of the scrimmage.

With plenty of speed and a shot that is up there with the best, Shahan should make an impact from day one in Storrs.

Filip Sitar

The final addition to UConn’s roster, Sitar flipped his commitment to UConn from Northern Michigan after head coach Grant Potulny left the program. He’s a top-six center who’s regarded as a steady, high-IQ forward who plays a 200-foot game.

The Huskies will have to make do without Sitar early in the season, though. The freshman will be suspended a still-undecided number of games after playing 11 games in the SHL last season.

Ethan Gardula

In his lone season of juniors, Gardula piled up 20 goals and 29 assists for a total of 49 points in 58 games. He’s a well-rounded forward who became a high-energy puck-hound in the USHL but should also provide some point production as well. Expect Gardula to do a little bit of everything for the Huskies.

Ethan Whitcomb

On the other end of the spectrum, Whitcomb spent three seasons in the USHL and is the oldest of the freshman forwards. Still, his 44 assists were eight-most in the league and he paired it with 18 goals as well. Whitcomb was a coup for UConn — he picked the Huskies over Michigan — and should be in the lineup from the jump.

Mike Murtagh

While the other three came through the USHL, Murtagh cut his teeth in the BCHL. There, he piled up the fourth-most points (63) and the sixth-most goals (27) in the entire league with the Nanaimo Clippers. Murtagh was especially lethal on the power play, scoring 11 goals and 13 assists on the man-advantage. For reference, UConn scored 14 power-play goals as a team last season.

It's not hard to see where Murtagh could help out.