Who Won the College Hockey Transfer Portal? A Team-by-Team Breakdown and Rankings

The transfer portal in college hockey closes on Monday after being open for 15 days, but that's a bit of a misnomer. The portal only "closes" in that players may no longer enter their names and be eligible to play at a new school for the 2026-27 season. Any undergraduate already in the portal may sign with a new school at any time, along with .graduate players.

So the process isn't over. There may be some final submissions, players from the national championship or having gone through a coaching change may have a little more time. Plus, there are some really good players available like Maine's leading goal scorer last season with 18 as a freshman, Justin Poirier, a fifth-round draft pick of the Carolina Hurricanes in the 2024 NHL Draft. He only submitted his name on Thursday.

Regardless, most of the moves have already happened. Of the 300-plus players who entered the portal (along with the entire Mercyhurst team after the program was cut), roughly half have signed the necessary paperwork to move on.

The following lists each team and conference by how they've fared, whether it by overhauling a good part of their roster, or simply by making some tweaks. It's an effort to gauge which teams and leagues improved the most, however, please keep in mind that the departures figure into the analysis as well.

A good example is with Arizona State. If only the additions were considered the Sun Devils would be included with our top teams, however they also lost a lot of production. Coming off a 14-21-1 season we're curious to see how things gel in the desert, especially with the numerous incoming additions in recruiting.

Something else that needs to be pointed out is that there's been little movement among Ivy League schools, which is pretty normal, but Yale stands out for not losing anyone — at least not yet — after having a coaching change. Granted, it makes sense that they'd have less activity due to the stringent academics, but Brown had a coaching change as well and subsequently lost a goalie and pair of significant contributors.

Overall, to the surprise of no one the rich got richer as the smaller schools and independents got raided by the bigger conferences and name programs. Regardless, these five programs stood out in terms of how they handled the transfer portal:

1) Minnesota: The Gophers lost numerous players after the coaching change, including a part of seventh-round draft selections in Jimmy Clark and Alexis Cournoyer, but Minnesota added a lot on the plus side including three proven players who followed new head coach Brett Larson from St. Cloud State, underrated defenseman Evan Murr from Minnesota State, and Michigan State backup goaltender Melvin Strahl (a 2023 fifth-round draft pick). However, the player we're really curious to see at UM is Ontario Hockey League forward Christian Humphrey, who had previously committed to Michigan State and Michigan, and is coming off a huge 81-point season with the Kitchener Rangers.

2) Wisconsin: Adding forward JJ Wiebusch out of Penn State, who had 16 goals and 20 assists last season, might be huge for the Badgers. They also secured Alexis Cournoyer from Cornell, a fifth-round selection by Montreal in the 2025 NHL Draft, to compete for the starting job with Daniel Hauser, who only led UW to the national title game as a freshman. Cournoyer is 18-10 with a 2.05 goal against average and .915 save selection so itll be interesting to see how that works out.

3) Notre Dame: Yep, another Big Ten school. The Fighting Irish lost three players who had combined to score just one goal in 24 combined games, yet had four solid additions with forwards Hagen Burrows and David Klee, and defensemen Leo Gruba and Michael Quinn, who together had 48 points at Denver, North Dakota, Minnesota and Miami, respectively.

4) New Hampshire: The Wildcats have had 11 departures, including two goaltenders, but the list includes five players who didn't notch a goal last season. Outside of Connor MacPherson (who is heading to the QMJHL), only one player had more than three assists. Instead, UNH added Rasmus Svartstrom, who had 17 goals from St. Lawrence, two players who had 10-plus assists, and Swedish defenseman Malte Vass from Boston University.

5) North Dakota: The Fighting Hawks lost seven players, including three drafted players, but three of the departures were defensemen like Andrew Strathmann. Don't be surprised if UND adds at least another defenseman out of the portal. The four additions all produced for their former teams, including Kasper Magnussen, who had 31 points for Bemidji State.

Just out of the top 5: Michigan State, Western Michigan, Quinnipiac, St. Thomas

The conferences are ranked in order, and the teams within each conference based on transfer portal moves so far (through April 26). Note that the players listed include graduate transfers. Also, * means there was a recent coaching change. This story still will be updated with additional moves.