Tuesday transfer portal thoughts
Early winners? Why so many early entries? Are we seeing more roster cuts?
The first day of the 2026 transfer portal is finally in the books — and it delivered plenty of chaos.
In total, 273 players have entered the portal, easily the highest number ever recorded on opening day (some of those were pre-entries as grad students or coaching changes). For context, last year’s full cycle produced 308 entries, which itself set a record.
Here’s how the numbers stack up year by year:
2026 (ongoing): 273
2025: 308
2024: 294
2023: 293
2022: 247
I’ll have a more complete breakdown in a later newsletter, but with the pace of movement already this brisk, it felt necessary to get some early thoughts on paper this Tuesday morning.
In the meantime, subscribers can access the full portal tracker, with complete with rankings based on 2025–26 performance and per-60 analytics from InStat (link below the paywall), while the free page continues to update with daily entries and commitments.
2026 NCAA Men's Hockey Transfer Portal
Newsletter subscribers have access to my full portal tracker, which ranks players using their overall and situational analytics. Sign up below.
A few takeaways from Day 1:
— The early surge is no surprise. This is the first year operating under a shortened transfer window, trimmed to just 15 days. In previous seasons, players had up to 40 days — and in some cases nearly two months — to make a decision. With less time to weigh options, the urgency to enter early has intensified, leading to a front-loaded wave of movement.
Historically, most entries came within the first three to five days. That trend may now be compressed even further.
