Neutral Zone analyzed the All Freshman Teams throughout NCAA D1 Men’s hockey, and this week we follow it up with a look at the All-Conference teams across the 6 conferences in NCAA D1 Men’s hockey.
One of the questions has been how are the transfers performing this season? We saw the highest number of players entering the portal last season in NCAA hockey history and there are no signs it’s going away. So we wanted to take a look at the all-conference teams as a measure of the best player in their respective leagues, see how old they are, what graduation year they are in, how good they were before they entered college hockey, and lastly, what impact transfers had.
First-Team All-Conference Selections
| Name | Team | Conference | Grad | Age | NZ Rate |
| TJ Hughes | Michigan | BIG 10 | 2026 | 2001 | 4 |
| Porter Martone | Michigan St | BIG 10 | 2029 | 2006 | 4.75 |
| Charlie Stramel | Michigan St | BIG 10 | 2026 | 2004 | 4.5 |
| Matt Basgall | Michigan St | BIG 10 | 2026 | 2002 | 4 |
| Ben Dexheimer | Wisconsin | BIG 10 | 2026 | 2002 | 4 |
| Trey Augustine | Michigan St | BIG 10 | 2027 | 2005 | 4.5 |
| Michael Hrabal | UMass Amherst | Hockey East | 2027 | 2005 | 4 |
| Brandon Holt | Maine | Hockey East | 2026 | 2001 | 3.5 |
| Cole Hutson | Boston Univ. | Hockey East | 2028 | 2006 | 4.5 |
| James Hagens | Boston College | Hockey East | 2028 | 2006 | 4.75 |
| Dylan Hryckowian | Northeastern | Hockey East | 2027 | 2004 | 4.25 |
| Josh Nadeau | Maine | Hockey East | 2027 | 2003 | 4.5 |
| Max Plante | Minn Duluth | NCHC | 2028 | 2006 | 4.5 |
| Tyson Gross | St. Cloud | NCHC | 2027 | 2002 | 3.75 |
| Cruz Lucius | Arizona St | NCHC | 2026 | 2004 | 4.5 |
| Eric Pohlkamp | Denver | NCHC | 2027 | 2004 | 4.5 |
| Jake Livanavage | North Dakota | NCHC | 2027 | 2004 | 4.25 |
| Jan Spunar | North Dakota | NCHC | 2029 | 2004 | 4 |
| Jonathan Castagna | Cornell | ECAC | 2027 | 2005 | 4.25 |
| Ethan Wyttenbach | Quinnipiac | ECAC | 2029 | 2007 | 4.25 |
| Hayden Stavroff | Dartmouth | ECAC | 2028 | 2004 | 3.75 |
| Elliott Groenewold | Quinnipiac | ECAC | 2028 | 2006 | 4 |
| Tyler Dunbar | Union | ECAC | 2027 | 2003 | 3.75 |
| Alexis Cournoyer | Cornell | ECAC | 2029 | 2005 | 4 |
| Oliver Peer | Bemidji St | CCHA | 2027 | 2003 | 4 |
| Stiven Sardarian | Michigan Tech | CCHA | 2026 | 2003 | 4 |
| Lucas Wahlin | St. Thomas | CCHA | 2026 | 2001 | 3.75 |
| Jack Anderson | Michigan Tech | CCHA | 2026 | 2002 | 3.75 |
| Evan Murr | Minnesota St | CCHA | 2027 | 2003 | 3.75 |
| Joshua Kotai | Augustana | CCHA | 2027 | 2003 | 3.5 |
| Felix Trudeau | Sacred Heart | AHA | 2026 | 2002 | 3.75 |
| Jack Stockfish | Holy Cross | AHA | 2026 | 2002 | 3.75 |
| Jake Black | Bentley | AHA | 2026 | 2002 | 3.75 |
| Chris Hedden | Air Force | AHA | 2026 | 2002 | 3.75 |
| Mike Adamson | Sacred Heart | AHA | 2026 | 2001 | 3.75 |
| Justin Cataldo | Army | AHA | 2028 | 2003 | 3.5 |
SecondTeam All-Conference Selections
| Name | Team | Conference | Grad | Age | NZ Rate |
| Michael Hage | Michigan | BIG 10 | 2028 | 2006 | 4.75 |
| Brodie Ziemer | Minnesota | BIG 10 | 2028 | 2006 | 4 |
| Gavin McKenna | Penn St | BIG 10 | 2029 | 2007 | 4.75 |
| Tyler Duke | Michigan | BIG 10 | 2026 | 2004 | 4.25 |
| Jackson Smith | Penn St | BIG 10 | 2029 | 2007 | 4.75 |
| Jack Ivankovic | Michigan | BIG 10 | 2029 | 2007 | 4.25 |
| Lawton Zacher | Northeastern | Hockey East | 2027 | 2003 | 3.75 |
| Vincent Borgesi | Northeastern | Hockey East | 2026 | 2004 | 4.25 |
| Larry Keenan | UMass Amherst | Hockey East | 2028 | 2005 | 4 |
| Joe Muldowney | UCONN | Hockey East | 2027 | 2004 | 4 |
| Jack Musa | UMass Amherst | Hockey East | 2027 | 2003 | 4 |
| Ryan Tattle | UCONN | Hockey East | 2026 | 2001 | 3.75 |
| Bennett Schimek | Arizona St | NCHC | 2026 | 2003 | 4 |
| Benjamin Strinden | North Dakota | NCHC | 2026 | 2002 | 4 |
| Austin Burnevik | St. Cloud | NCHC | 2028 | 2005 | 4 |
| Abram Wiebe | North Dakota | NCHC | 2027 | 2003 | 4.25 |
| Ty Hanson | Minn Duluth | NCHC | 2028 | 2005 | 4 |
| Hampton Slukynsky | Western Mich | NCHC | 2028 | 2005 | 4.5 |
| Antonin Verreault | Quinnipiac | ECAC | 2029 | 2004 | 4.25 |
| Brandon Buhr | Union | ECAC | 2026 | 2002 | 3.75 |
| Hank Cleaves | Dartmouth | ECAC | 2028 | 2003 | 3.75 |
| Xavier Veilleux | Cornell | ECAC | 2029 | 2006 | 4 |
| Isaiah Norlin | Colgate | ECAC | 2028 | 2003 | 3.75 |
| Emmett Croteau | Dartmouth | ECAC | 2027 | 2003 | 4 |
| Max Koskipirtti | Michigan Tech | CCHA | 2027 | 2004 | 3.75 |
| Tristan Lemyre | Minnesota St | CCHA | 2026 | 2001 | 3.75 |
| Lucas Van Vliet | St. Thomas | CCHA | 2029 | 2006 | 4.25 |
| Chase Cheslock | St. Thomas | CCHA | 2027 | 2004 | 4 |
| Breck McKinley | Bowling Green | CCHA | 2027 | 2003 | 3.75 |
| Alex Tracy | Minnesota St | CCHA | 2026 | 2001 | 3.75 |
| Tanner Klimpke | Robert Morris | AHA | 2027 | 2002 | 3.5 |
| Jacob Ivey | Army | AHA | 2028 | 2004 | 3.75 |
| Stephen Castagna | Bentley | AHA | 2026 | 2001 | 3.75 |
| Mack Oliphant | Holy Cross | AHA | 2026 | 2002 | 3.5 |
| Dominic Elliott | Robert Morris | AHA | 2028 | 2004 | 3.5 |
| Jakub Krbecek | RIT | AHA | 2028 | 2003 | 3.75 |
While there is a slight difference between first team and second team selections in their ages, on average, and their graduation year on average are almost identical. If we break it down further between Hockey East, NCHC and Hockey East compared to ECAC, CCHA and Atlantic we see a bit of stark difference in star rating – suggesting a higher caliber player coming into college hockey with a difference in average star rating from 4.26 to 3.83 for first team and 4.18 to 3.81 for the second team. In the second team selections, we see grad year almost identical, but age, the Hockey East/NCHC/Big 10 are over a year younger than their counterparts.
First Team All-Conference Averages
| Grad | Age | NZ Star Rate | |
| Cumulative | 2027 | 2003.5 | 4.05 |
| Big 10, NCHC, HE | 2027.06 | 2003.83 | 4.26 |
| ECAC, CCHA, AHA | 2026.94 | 2003.17 | 3.83 |
Second Team All-Conference Averages
| Grad | Age | NZ Star Rate | |
| Cumulative | 2027.36 | 2003.78 | 3.99 |
| Big 10, NCHC, HE | 2027.39 | 2004.44 | 4.18 |
| ECAC, CCHA, AHA | 2027.33 | 2003.11 | 3.81 |
If we take a further look into the data to pull out the transfers to better understand their impact on the college hockey landscape and how they are represented in the All-Conference teams.
First Team All-Conference Transfers
| # of Transfers | % of Transfers | Grad | Age | NZ Star Rate |
| 7 | 18.92% | 2026.29 | 2002.86 | 4.07 |
Second Team All-Conference Transfers
| # of Transfers | % of Transfers | Grad | Age | NZ Star Rate |
| 6 | 16.22% | 2026.67 | 2002.83 | 3.92 |
The transfers overall had some impact but not signifcant from an all-conference team perspective; they represent nearly 19% of the First Team selections and 16% of the Second Team selections. They historically have about a 4.0 star rating coming into college hockey but their ages are older than the average by nearly a year both in grad year and birth year. Worth noting this was the last year of the COVID exemption that allowed fifth year eligibility so that could decrease in the future. It shows, on average, the all-conference level contributors were mostly seniors and mostly 23-25 years old.
Transfers among Top 15 Ranked Teams in College Hockey
Given that the all-conference data was a small sample size, just 13 players in total we felt that wasn’t a complete illustration of the impact of transfers in college hockey so we broke down the top 15 teams in NPI in NCAA D1 mens hockey. How many transfers do they have and how many of those transfers made all conference teams.
| Rank | Team | # of Transfers | All Conference |
| 1 | Michigan | 5 | 1 |
| 2 | North Dakota | 6 | 0 |
| 3 | Michigan St | 3 | 1 |
| 4 | Western Mich | 7 | 0 |
| 5 | Denver | 2 | 1 |
| 6 | Dartmouth | 1 | 1 |
| 7 | Providence | 2 | 0 |
| 8 | Minn Duluth | 5 | 0 |
| 9 | Penn St | 2 | 0 |
| 10 | Quinnipiac | 3 | 0 |
| 11 | Cornell | 2 | 0 |
| 12 | Wisconsin | 2 | 0 |
| 13 | Minn State | 13 | 1 |
| 14 | UCONN | 2 | 0 |
| 15 | Augustana | 5 | 0 |
The data here shows that there are 60 transfer players in total among the 15 teams which is an average of four per team. There is a bit of an outlier with Minnesota State who has 13 which is six more than the next highest team. If you took out Minnesota State and averaged the other four teams it would be an average of 3.35 tranfer players per team.
If you contrast that to how many of the 60 transfer players on the top teams in the league were all-conference selections there were a total of five or 8.33%. There are some interesting insights where you have teams like North Dakota, Western Michigan and Minnesota State who combined account for 43% of the total transfers and have just one transfer in the all-conference teams. Then there are teams like Dartmouth, Denver and Michigan State who combine for just six transfers but half of them were selected to all-conference teams.
Conclusion
We’d have to do a more thurough breakdown of all the players in college hockey this season – who were transfers, how they did based on games played, minutes played and other metrics to gauge their overall impact but this gives a quick look that transfers are making an imapct in college hockey but it’s fairly limited. The top teams in the country are averaging between 3 and 4 transfers on their repsective teams and very few of those will make an all-conference team.
Every team in the Top 15 has at least one transfer; seven of the fifteen teams have two or less transfers and eight of the fifteen teams have three or more. With that being said, the average number of players on these teams is just over 26 players so 3-4 players per team average is 10-15% of the roster make-up.
So the answer is yes – transfer are impactful in both the all-conference teams from around the country as well as on the Top 15 programs in the country. How impactful? It’s not in the same degree of college basketball where several teams in the NCAA tournament have all their starters as transfers and over 80% of the minutes played on a team is done by transfers. In college football this past season teams like Indiana, Miami, Ole Miss, Texas Tech and others had the majority of their staring roster come from the transfer portal. That isn’t the case in college hockey at this point; but transfers are having an impact and are certainly part of a teams overall recruiting strategy.