2023-2024 Hockey D Artyom Levshunov headed to MSU
Well, shoot. Was really hoping we'd snag Levshunov to boost the offensive contribution of our defensemen, and take a little bit of the sting out of losing Fantilli.
https://twitter.com/Nathaniel_Bott/status/1683497193271963648
HUGE add for Michigan State 2023-2024 hockey roster.
— Nathaniel Bott (@Nathaniel_Bott) July 24, 2023
Defenseman Artyom Levshunov, ranked as high as third overall on 2024 NHL Draft boards, is on campus and will suit up for the Spartans this upcoming season.
13 goals and 29 assists with Green Bay in the USHL last year.
They finally made a good hire. Annoying.
As reported by a literal Twitter Bott
Ahem, “X” Bott
Don't they suck? i can see not coming to UM, but msu??
they are on their way back. This kid would be an upgrade on the RW, but M has so much depth, probably not a huge deal. Plus, admissions from international students is often an issue for UM.
MSU will not be a shit show but rather mediocre at least for the next year or two.
1) He's a defenseman.
2) He's projected top 5. Losing that guy is never good.
3) They were mediocre last year in Nightingale's first year. Give him talent and they'll be good.
Legit question... since I don't follow closely though I track... Is our coach actually good? Does he have staying power, given how he got the job etc?
Short answer is it's too early to tell but he generally did the things last year you'd expect a competent guy to be able to do
Well put. He’s proven to at least be competent as a coach, he’s well-liked by the players and NHL circles regard him as a very bright young mind.
annoying but probably made the right decision for him. MSU is an interesting young team and their blue line is not really rife with puck-moving D so he can go there and be a focal point, get a lot of PP time, etc. rather than fighting with Casey and Edwards and others at Michigan on the depth chart
If he is that highly ranked, will he be there for long? It also sounds like he wants to be The Guy on a decent team rather than another guy on a possible championship team. Like you said, that may be the right call for him.
Following the trend in recent years of first round picks that play their draft eligible year in college, the most likely scenario is that he’ll play his freshman year at MSU and then get drafted next spring, then come back to college for one more year before signing his ELC.
Yeah, he's a talented guy but I can see wanting to get a lot of ice time and UM simply doesn't have enough of that to go around.
Bummerrrr. I thought we had a solid chance of landing this guy. MSU is annoyingly on the rise
Still confused how a top 5 talent ended up with a final 3 including MSU and Vermont. You'd think that guy would have his pick of sexy programs. MSU is mediocre and on the rise, Vermont is Vermont. You'd think he'd be picking between the Denvers and BUs of the world
And Vermont just fired their coach a few days ago so it was probably down to us or MSU.
Why would anyone voluntarily play for that trash school? What an idiot.
It would have been cool to have him, but it's not surprising. Based on previous articles (here is one: https://gopresstimes.com/2022/12/27/levshunov-speaking-hockey-language-…), Arty did not speak English before going to Green Bay. Given his two years there, I would have been surprised if he could meet UM English proficiency standards for international students.
Besides, it's probably the right move for the kid. He'd be a second pairing defenseman and fighting for time on the second power play at UM. He'll be top pairing and on the PP1 unit at MSU.
Regardless, I'm happy he is at MSU. Tightening the talent gap between MSU and UM will increase competitiveness and make the games more interesting. Honestly, with Nightingale bringing in other transfers (notably former NTDP and first rounder Isaac Howard and the gritty and skilled Red Savage) and flipping the top prospect net minder Trey Augustine from Michigan, I now see Minnesota, Michigan, and MSU contending for the B1G.