Daily Skate: Erik Largen's new contract a sign of college hockey's next arms race
Brad Elliott Schlossman, Grand Forks Herald
Updated 5 min read
Apr. 13—GRAND FORKS — Alaska coach Erik Largen signed a new contract this week after leading the Nanooks to within a game of the NCAA tournament.
It's a five-year deal worth $200,000 annually. It goes through the 2027-28 season.
But the most interesting part of his contract is not his salary or term.
Largen's deal spells out several investments into the hockey program — increased salaries for support staff like the strength and conditioning coaches, equipment manager and operations director, an increased recruiting budget, game guarantees for opponents traveling to Fairbanks and, perhaps most notably, salaries for three assistant coaches.
Yes, three.
Beginning next season, college hockey teams will be allowed to pay three assistant coaches. Right now, two is the limit.
Speculation has been rampant about how many programs would actually pay a third assistant coach and how many would keep the third on a volunteer basis.
Alaska has one of the lower salary pools for coaches in the country. Consider: Minnesota-State Mankato hired Luke Strand this week and his base salary will be $140,000 per year more than Largen's.
So, if the Nanooks are going to pay a third assistant, it will likely set off a chain reaction for the rest of the country.
Every coaching staff will be pointing to the Nanooks as evidence that they're going to get left behind without a third paid assistant.
It could be a busy summer with, presumably, a lot of assistant jobs opening up.
Largen's contract calls for his associate coach to make $120,000 per year. The other two assistants will make $90,000 and $40,000.
Several former UND players are chasing championships in Europe.
In the top Austrian league, former UND teammates Andrew MacWilliam and Chay Genoway are once again defensive partners, playing for Salzburg. They're playing against former UND teammate Matt Frattin and Bolzano (Italy-based) in the final. Salzburg leads the best-of-seven series 2-1.
In Finland, Ben Blood and the Lahti-based Pelicans won their best-of-seven semifinal series 4-2, beating Ilves 3-1 in the Game 6 clincher Thursday. Top-seeded Tappara is awaiting Blood and the Pelicans in the final.
In Norway, Ludvig Hoff and Stavanger are tied 2-2 in the finals against Storhamar. Hoff scored in one of Stavanger's wins and tallied an assist in the other.
In the England's top league, Danny Kristo (Sheffield) and Gabe Bast (Northern Ireland-based Belfast) are both in the semifinals with their teams. The semifinals and championship games are one-game shots like the NCAA tournament.
Kristo, who scored two goals and tallied three points in the quarterfinal clincher, will play against Cardiff on Saturday, while Bast and Belfast play against Nottingham.
The championship is scheduled for Sunday. The final four will all be played in Nottingham.
Head coach Mike Hastings and associate head coach Todd Knott, who went from Minnesota State-Mankato to Wisconsin earlier this month, will be bringing some of their old players to Madison, too.
A pair of Maverick freshmen committed to the Badgers out of the transfer portal this week in forwards Christian Fitzgerald and Simon Tassy.
Fitzgerald scored 16 goals and tallied 29 points as a rookie. Tassy, who was injured at the start of the season, had one goal and five points in 15 games.
There's still a big name from the Mavericks sitting in the portal: center David Silye, who scored 23 goals and tallied a team-high 39 points last season.
One of Minnesota State's top recruits, defenseman Aaron Pionk of the Waterloo Black Hawks, set off speculation this weekend that he was interested in de-committing, when the Maverick logo was no longer next to his name on Waterloo's line chart. Pionk has signed a National Letter of Intent, though, so he would have to get out of it to go elsewhere.
Former UND and Warroad High standout Brock Nelson scored two goals to lead the New York Islanders to a 4-2 win over Montreal on Wednesday night, clinching the final available playoff spot.
Nelson finished the season with 36 goals and 75 points. It marked his second-straight season of scoring more than 35 goals. He had 37 a year ago.
Zach Parise, age 38, finished the regular season with 21 goals and 34 points in 82 games, while playing with a league-minimum base salary.
UND recruit Jayden Perron is having one of the most prolific United States Hockey League seasons of any UND recruit in the last 20 years.
Perron, of the Chicago Steel, currently has 69 points with four games to go. In the last two decades, the only UND commits who had more were Jackson Blake (77 in 2021-22), Mike Cichy (76 in 2008-09) and Owen McLaughlin (72 in 2021-22).
Jason Gregoire had 69 in 2007-08 and Brock Boeser had 68 in 2014-15. After Boeser, UND incoming freshman Michael Emerson is next with 63 points.
Perron and Emerson will be Fighting Hawks rookies in the fall.
* St. Cloud State got a big boost this week with Zach Okabe announcing his intent to return for a fifth season. Okabe had 18 goals and 36 points last season for the Huskies. He was third on the team in both goals and points.
* Denver defenseman Mike Benning, the National Collegiate Hockey Conference's offensive defenseman of the year, signed with the Florida Panthers on Wednesday, giving up his final two years of college eligibility.
* Bowling Green standout Austen Swankler said he
plans to return to the Falcons
next season. Swankler was one of college hockey's top undrafted free agents. He tallied 19 goals and 44 points last season.
* Three of the four starting goalies in the NCAA Frozen Four have now signed pro deals. Quinnipiac's Yaniv Perets signed as an undrafted free agent with the Carolina Hurricanes, whose head coach is Rod Brind'Amour. Notably, Brind'Amour's son, Skyler, was teammates with Perets at Quinnipiac. Boston University goalie Drew Commesso signed with the Chicago Blackhawks and Michigan goalie Erik Portillo signed with the Los Angeles Kings organization.
* Michigan lost a third player early to an NHL signing Wednesday. Sophomore forward Mackie Samoskevich, a first-round pick, signed with the Florida Panthers. He joins Portillo and defenseman Luke Hughes (New Jersey Devils) as pro signees from Michigan so far this offseason.
