Podcast: Who has impressed in college hockey recruiting season?

CJ Watroba committed to Merrimack on Aug. 1. (Brian Kelly/NEHJ)

The latest college hockey recruiting season is only 15 days old and already, there’s been tons of news swirling.

Most of the top local prospects have picked their future college home. On Aug. 1 and in the first few days after, lots of local prospects announced commitments.

So, host Stephanie Wood and editor Evan Marinofsky (Framingham, Mass.) broke it all down and gave their reactions to all the early recruiting news on the latest episode of the RinkWise podcast.

This was recorded on Aug. 8, so some big-name prospects like Thatcher Bernstein (Brookline, Mass.) and Teddy Mutryn (Norwell, Mass.) announced their commitments after.

On the biggest steal of recruitment

Marinofsky: “The one that I think is the ‘steal’ and one that I think is a value-get and obviously it’s not one that Boston University or Boston College or Harvard had, but CJ Watroba (West Springfield, Mass.) committed to Merrimack. Watroba is coming from Pope Francis and helped them win a Division 1 state title and he’s from West Springfield and was dominant with the ’07s at the Mass. State Festival. I thought he was one of the better ’07s there and arguably the best. And then he had a very good Select 16 Camp.”

On Richard Gallant committing to Harvard

Marinofsky: “I’m really curious to see what role [Gallant] carves out with the NTDP this winter. Is he someone that moves into the top six? Is he someone that has more of a bottom-six role for them? His compete is so high and he’s not afraid of bigger guys and contact, which can lead to injury. But at the same time, it’s someone that you can rely on to work hard. …I think he can really slot anywhere for them and should be sort of a Swiss Army knife. It’s a big commit for Harvard. That’s a big commit. …Good for them and good for Gallant.”

MORE COLLEGE HOCKEY RECRUITMENT READING:

• Teddy Mutryn commits to Boston College and more
• Thatcher Bernstein commits to Harvard and more
• Richard Gallant picks Harvard and more local commitments
• We tracked all the local commitments from the first week
• 9 takeaways from Aug. 1 — the first day of college hockey recruitment
• College hockey commits from 2022 give advice to future recruits