Well, now I'm looking at birth years -- to see who might push a year.
'03s: Bonkowski, Borberg, Hilman, Lurie, Schneider, Van Houtte-Cachero
They're all coming next year.
'04s: Jules Boilard, Charbonneau, Ellertson, Ludtke, Maltais, Prokopetz, Watkins, Whitcomb (and Spicer)
...can all return to juniors without playing as an overager. We know Spicer will (assuming Robbins comes back).
So then we have to figure out who is ready, or who fills a need for a departed player.
Pivonka, Tychonick, and Weiss are all done after this year. I believe both Kucharski and Zab will leave, though I've heard Kucharski does have another year available. Proctor, Randl, and Sullivan also have a COVID year available. I don't see any of them having professional offers, so they could all return.
I'd keep an eye on Mancini. He's likely to receive overtures from the Rangers. And there will certainly be another player or two who portal themselves out of Omaha.
But I see the same roster crunch. That said, adding a couple more players to the roster isn't a big issue for the Mavericks. We're only scratching four players.
