Plenty of players leaving, staying, following Michigan’s latest Frozen Four trip – The Rink Live

ANN ARBOR, Mich. — There will be added incentive for fans in maize and blue to buy a game program when they arrive back at Yost Ice Arena in October for Michigan’s 2024-25 hockey season opener.

While changes are always happening at the end of a season — and for the most recent group of Wolverines, that meant a third consecutive trip to the Frozen Four — there have been a dozen player transactions for the team since they left St. Paul a week ago.

We will start with the familiar names that fans will see returning to campus in the fall. Rising junior forwards Rutger McGroarty (a first-round Winnipeg draft pick) and

T.J. Hughes

announced their return for another college season, as did defenseman Jacob Trucott, who will spend his fifth season with the Wolverines. McGroarty led the Wolverines in assists with 36 in 36 games last season.

In addition, they pulled off the transfer portal’s version of a goalie trade, with Michigan’s Noah West heading to Ferris State for his fifth year, while Logan Stein from Ferris State will come to Michigan for his fifth year. Stein played in 21 games for the Bulldogs last season, with a .910 saves percentage and a 2.90 goals against average.

The Wolverines also added defenseman Tim Lovell from Arizona State via the transfer portal. Lovell, who has one season of eligibility remaining, led ASU’s defensemen with 32 assists in 36 games last season.

Three of Michigan’s fifth-year players signed pro contracts in the past week, with their college eligibility exhausted. Defenseman Marshall Warren is now a member of the New York Islanders organization, while goalie Jake Barczewski signed with the Colorado Eagles of the AHL, and defenseman

Steven Holtz

signed with the Kalamazoo Wings in the ECHL.

And three Wolverines departed early, with Frank Nazar III scoring a goal in his NHL debut with the Chicago Blackhawks.

Gavin Brindley, the Big Ten’s MVP last season, received a notable round of applause from his own personal cheering section of former Michigan teammates when he took his rookie lap prior to making Brindley’s NHL debut with the Columbus Blue Jackets last week. Brindley was Michigan’s leading scorer with 25 goals and 28 assists in 40 games, and was a second roud pick by Columbus in the 2023 draft.

Wolverines forward Dylan Duke, who was a fourth round draft pick of the Lightning in 2021, signed with…