Michigan hockey team seeks greater offensive production from returners

As the University of Michigan hockey team prepares to open its season Friday at Alaska, the Wolverines’ toughest challenge could be putting the puck in the net.

Michigan has a surplus of defensemen, as well as one of the NCAA’s best returning goalies, Bryan Hogan. But the Wolverines also have a gaping offensive hole where 50-point scorer Aaron Palushaj used to play.

“That’s a question - where are we going to get our offense from?” coach Red Berenson said.

Michigan can expect plenty of offense from junior Louie Caporusso, who last season had 24 goals and 25 assists. Caporusso also led the Wolverines with 10 power-play goals and five game-winners.

“I’ve gotta put pressure on myself to produce, because that’s my job,” he said.

After Caporusso, the next most productive returner is Carl Hagelin, a Swedish junior left-winger who had 31 points last season. But too often, Hagelin has seen his scoring chances end with the puck landing off target.

Hagelin last weekend took the first step in putting that trend behind him, scoring two goals in each of Michigan’s two exhibition wins.

“Last year (those shots) would have hit the post or the goalie,” Berenson said. “It’s good that he is gaining some confidence and had a great weekend.”

Hagelin knows there will be increased pressure on him to cash in on scoring opportunities.

“I need to be more efficient this year,” he said. “That’s something I talked about with coach, so that’s what I’m gonna try to do. I wasn’t patient enough with some shots (last year). The puck went in this week, and hopefully I’ll continue to do that throughout the year.”

As for the rest of the team, Hagelin said he’s not concerned about where points will come from.

“Everyone that returns should be a better player, and should have more points,” he said. “A guy like (freshman A.J.) Treais should be able to put up 35 points. We’ll have a skilled offensive team. We should be able to replace all the points we lost.”

Treais finished the exhibition season with two goals and two assists, showing the Wolverines might be able to count on him for scoring.

“I thought he was gonna have more assists than goals,” Hagelin said, “but he really showed he can score goals, too.”

If the Wolverines can get consistent production from Treais, as well as improvements from David Wohlberg (30 points last season) and Matt Rust (22), they should be able to score more than enough, given their defense and goaltending.

“I think you’ll see Carl Hagelin step up, as you saw (during exhibition),” Caporusso said. “You’ll see Matt Rust, I think A.J. Treais is a huge pickup as a freshman. I think we’ll definitely have a lot of scoring.”

James Briggs covers University of Michigan hockey for AnnArbor.com. Contact him at 734.623.2557 or jamesbriggs@annarbor.com.