The State of Sun Devil Hockey: What Arizona State can do to build on this year

It's been nearly a month since the Devils closed the book on the 2024-25 season with a loss to Denver in the Frozen Faceoff semifinal. If you're anything like me, the next 173 days will feel like they drag on endlessly.

Before the Devils can take to the ice on October 10th, the roster needs to be rebuilt. 10 players from last season have graduated, with 8 of those players signing professional contracts.

• Noah Beck (San Jose – NHL)
• Dylan Jackson (Deggendorfer SC – Germany)
• Ty Jackson (Deggendorfer SC – Germany)
• Ryan Kirwan (Toronto – AHL)
• Ty Murchison (Philadelphia – NHL)
• Luke Pavicich (Orlando – ECHL)
• Artem Shlaine (Texas – AHL)
• Ethan Szmagaj (Savannah – ECHL)

At the time of this writing, Benji Eckerle and Lukas Sillinger remain unsigned by any professional team.

Adding to the graduating players, another 8 Sun Devils have entered the transfer portal, with 4 committing to new schools

• Ryan Alexander (Colorado College)
• Gibson Homer (North Dakota)
• David Hymovitch (Holy Cross)
• Charlie Schoen (St. Thomas)

Tony Achille, Zakari Brice, Cole Gordon, and Cole Helm remain in the portal, which remains open until May 15th, with exceptions in place for changes to player aid or coaching changes.

With 14 players gone, and possibly four more joining them, who will be on the ice next season? The core of the roster sits with Kyle Smolen, Bennett Schimek, and Cullen Potter. All three of these players should be wearing letters next season, and as last season progressed, Smolen could be seen taking on more of a leadership role in postgame press conferences.

Cruz Lucius is also set to return for his senior season, and will hopefully bounce back after being limited to 19 games due to injury. The Devils are set up well on the blue line with Brasen Boser, Sam Court, Anthony Dowd, Joel Kjellberg and Tucker Ness set to return.

That being said, who will lace up the skates for the Sun Devils at forward and goaltender? Thankfully we've got some answers there, and we'll go player by player on the new transfers who will be calling Tempe home this season.

CONNOR HASLEY

With Gibson Homer and Zakari Brice both entering the portal, goaltending was the biggest focus, and Coach Powers pulled off some incredible recruiting to bring in Connor Hasley from Bentley. After splitting the net in his first two seasons for the Falcons, Hasley started 36 games in Waltham this season as a junior, going 21-13-2 and helping lead the Falcons to their first ever NCAA tournament appearance.

His 1.96 goals against average ranked 10th in the nation, and a .925 save percentage was good for 11th nationally. Most impressive in his stats was his 11 shutouts, most in the nation and outpacing Richter Award winner Jacob Fowler by 4. A finalist for the Atlantic Hockey Goaltender of the Year Award, Hasley's senior season will be in the teeth of decidedly stronger competition in the NCHC.

LOGAN MORRELL

After a great freshman season, the Mesa, AZ product returns home and will trade in the gold and black of Michigan Tech for the Devils maroon and gold. The 6'3", 194 lb forward has seen time both at center and on the wing, and will provide the net front presence that the Devils have desperately needed.

With the top line currently projected of Smolen-Potter-Ben Kevan (commit to be addressed later), Morrell should at least start out the season as the second line center with Bennett Schimek and Cruz Lucius on the wings. His playmaking and puck-handling skills will open up the ice for his two wingers, and create many high quality scoring chances.

JOHN WALDRON

Another strong, physical forward, John Waldron comes to Tempe by way of Oxford, OH, leaving the Miami RedHawks after three seasons. Tied for the team lead with 20 points this season, Waldron carries a career scoring line of 22 G-34 A-56 P in 93 career games. Projected as a third line winger, the most likely line combination to start the season looks to be with fellow transfer Cole Spicer (more info below) and CHL commit Braxton Whitehead.

COLE SPICER

Cole Spicer is a bit of a curious case. After being ruled academically ineligible to remain on the team at Minnesota-Duluth, Spicer remained enrolled in classes to regain his eligibility. Following the 2023-24 season, Spicer stepped away from the Bulldogs and played for the Dubuque Fighting Saints of the USHL with his final season of junior hockey eligibility.

The 2022 4th round pick of the Boston Bruins tallied a 9 G-26 A-35 P line in 37 regular season games, and a 1 G-1 A-2 P line so far through two games of the USHL playoffs. As noted above, he will likely start the season on the 3rd line as he gets re-acclimated to the NCHC again, but has the speed and potential to break into the top 6 forwards.

OTHER COMMITS

Having covered the incoming transfers (for now), let's take a quick glance at incoming freshman commits that will be in Tempe this season:

• Samuel Urban (G) – Slovakia (Sioux City Musketeers – USHL)

• Richard Baran (D) – Slovakia (Des Moines Bucs – USHL)

• Ben Kevan (F) – Fairfield, CA (USNTDP)

• Braxton Whitehead (F) – Palmer, AK (Regina Pats – WHL)


Urban appeared to be the goaltender in waiting and seemingly pushed Zakari Brice out of a job, though the hope was that he would get his freshman season in under the mentorship of Gibson Homer. A member of the Slovakian team at the 2025 World Junior Championships, he will be joined by fellow countryman Richard Baran, who adds a solid offensive presence from the blue line.

Braxton Whitehead was the focal point of the early negotiations regarding eligibility for players in the Canadian junior leagues, being the first player to commit from the CHL to an NCAA program. In 5 seasons with Regina, Whitehead has tallied 46 G-70 A-116 P in 254 games. Ben Kevan, originally a 2026 commit, will be coming to Tempe a year early after two seasons in Des Moines, registering 100 points in 110 USHL games.

CLOSING THOUGHTS

The roster is far from complete and there are still moving pieces with any of the still six potential 2025 commits that are in the fold for the Sun Devils. It's looking like the Devils will have a decidedly younger team than has been put out in recent seasons, but the returning core has shown that they are up for any challenge presented to them and they will rise to the occasion to meet it. Look for the final roster to be announced as early as the end of May. Until then, Forks Up and Be The Tradition!