The second day for the portal may not have been as hectic as day #1 but it was arguably more fruitful. Eight players in the Top 25 Ranked Transfer Portal Prospects committed and six new players ranked in the Top 55 were added.
What we are hearing from the agents and coaches invovled
- NIL has played a low role in this portal cycle thus far; most agents saying playing time/role has been their biggest factor, development plan/coaching, facilities and in some cases relationships with other players on the team. Most players that have committed in the last two days have not been guaranteed any immediate cash outside of revenue share. This has been a bit of suprise to coaches as well as we had several coaches who told us this cycle would be about opportunity to win and NIL bidding wars and thus far it’s been more about fit, coaching staff and relationships.
- NHL clubs with draft picks in the portal are mostly staying on the sidelines – they’ll give their opinions (encourage or discourage) the move but are staying away from pushing their picks to certain schools.
- Several uncommitted blue chip prospects in the CHL are impacting teams level of aggressiveness in the portal. Roster spots are limited, NIL is limited and NCHC, Big 10 and prominent Hockey East Schools are trying to balance leaving room for CHL difference makers and addressing immediate needs in the portal.
- Players are asking for playing time and guarantees like power play and top six minutes, starting goalie, etc. This is a sticky point in several negotiations and coaches are weary as there has been several horror stories this past season of coaches writing checks (metaphorically speaking) in recruiting they couldn’t cash during the season.
Interesting Phenomenon: The Recommit
Today we saw not one but two players who recommitted, meaning they transferred back to their initial school after a year apart. Matthew Wilde who had a successful freshman and sophomore season at RIT went to UMass Amherst this season and struggled to find minutes and now returns back to RIT for his senior year. Similar story in Jack Richards who left Niagara after a promising rookie campaign to attend Merrimack where he’s been mostly out of the lineup the past two years and decided to head back to upstate New York. Technically you could also say #1 ranked prospect in the Transfer Portal Cullen Potter has recommitted as he verbally committed to Michigan State in the recrutiing process then flipped to Arizona State where they let him enroll early so that he could play college hockey in his draft year. Potter recommitted to Michigan State today after entering the transfer portal yesterday.
Higher Profile Commitments
While there were noticeably more commitments yesterday it was a lot of pre-made deals and smaller market players. Today 8 of the top 25 portal prospects found a new home. For a full list of Transfer Portal Prospect Rankings.
| Rank | Name | Pos | Rate | ’25-’26 | ’26-’27 |
| 1 | Cullen Potter | F | 4.5 | Arizona State | Michigan State |
| 11 | Miguel Marques | F | 4.25 | Maine | Northeastern |
| 12 | Cade Christenson | D | 4.25 | Penn State | Providence |
| 16 | Andrew Strathmann | D | 4 | North Dakota | Quinnipiac |
| 17 | Daniel Shlaine | F | 4 | Minnesota Duluth | Arizona State |
| 20 | Michael Neumeier | D | 4 | Colgate | Western Michigan |
| 21 | Barrett Hall | F | 4 | St. Cloud | Minnesota Duluth |
| 22 | Carmelo Crandell | F | 4 | Arizona State | Colorado College |
| 23 | Joel Kjellberg | D | 4 | Arizona State | Northeastern |
| 24 | Ben Muthersbaugh | F | 4 | Union | Arizona State |
New Wave of Talent Enters the Portal
Six new players joined the portal today tha were ranked in the Top 55 of Transfer Portal Prospects. For a full list of Transfer Portal Prospect Rankings.
| Rank | Name | Pos | Rate | ‘25-26 Team | ‘26-27 Team |
| 5 | Alexis Cournoyer | G | 4.25 | Cornell | |
| 15 | Hagen Burrows | F | 4 | Denver | |
| 20 | Michael Neumeier | D | 4 | Colgate | Western Michigan |
| 25 | Quentin Miller | G | 4 | Denver | |
| 47 | Matt Mania | D | 4 | Michigan | RIT |
| 54 | William Ahlrik | F | 3.75 | Lake Superior |
Brother Swap
Will Dawson, who is coming off a strong sophomore season where he earned a top six role, power play and notched 25 points in 37 games at Air Force. He has entered the Transfer Portal and will be headed to Bemidji State where he’ll play for his current head coach’s younger brother.
The deal was done yesterday but it was reported today the the Buttazzoni brothers out of UMass Lowell will be transfering together to Sacred Heart.
The Winners & Losers of Day 2
The Transfer Protal is nearing 300 entrants as of 11pm EST on Day #2 and only 80 players have a commitment at this point so there is still a lot of deals to be struck. With that being said there were some clear winners today, not as much as the losers as there wasn’t a ton of volume today entering the portal – much of that was yesterday. For a full list of the Transfer Portal Team Rankings
Winners
Arizona State – They were the talk of the portal yesterday losing the #1 rated prospect in 1st Round NHL Draft pick Cullen Potter as well as a host of impact players with plenty of eligiblty remaining but they were active picking up pledges from some of the top portal prospects in #11 ranked Daniel Shlaine from Duluth, #24 ranked Ben Muthersbaugh from Union, #31 ranked Filip Nordberg from Merrimack and #45 ranked Matthew Mayich from Clarkson and now stand at #2 overall in transfer portal class rankings just under Minnesota.
St. Thomas – The Tommies were nearly off the board last night in portal pick ups and then committed four more prospects headlined by Daimon Gardner from St. Cloud and immediate impact defenseman in 4-star Justin Kipkie out of Arizona State. They finished the day with #7 ranked class in the portal.
Northeastern – The Huskies entered this morning without a single commit and they added three players today – all of which help them in key areas. Alex Pineau is a veteran college player with size and versatility out of Brown, #23 ranked protal prospect Joel Kjellberg is well-rounded, two defender who has NCHC experience, and #11 ranked Miguel Marques brings pace, skill and playmaking ability to their roster immediately. They are now the 8th ranked team in the transfer portal with just three players and an average star rating of 4.0.
Quinnipiac – The Bobcats entered Day #2 without a commit and they lost both their goalies yesterday. Howeveer, they picked up one of the best goalies in the portal in #27 ranked portal prospect Rorke Applebee from Lake Superior and one of the best puck moving defenders in the portal class in #16 ranked portal prospect Andrew Strathmann out of North Dakota.
Losers
Lake Superior – The Lakers lost a lot of volume yesterday in the portal including arguably their most important asset in goaltender Rorke Applebee who committed to Quinnipiac. However, it still had leading point produce William Ahlrik but he entered the portal today to extend their total losses to 10 and many of their key players.
Denver – We type this almost chuckling because Denver’s depth at every position puts them in a rare space where they aren’t going to fret any portal exits outside of their goaltender Johnny Hicks who didn’t lose a game the second half of the season once taking over the starting job. The guy he replaced Quentin Miller entered the portal today as did depth forward Hagen Burrows. With that being said anytime you lose two players who are ranked in the top 25 of portal prospects you have to put them in the losers club.