The only reason Lauder is not a more disappointing loss is due to our large stable of very good middies with potential. We definitely won't feel the loss at all this year and only have a slight chance of feeling it next year due to the guaranteed presence of Lipka, Curry, Trimboli, Buttermore, and Dordevic in the middie lines. He is one of the many guys battling for that 6th spot or occasional 3rd line minutes. Other than that maybe he had a chance to grab some minutes at attack, but now with Scanlan in the righty spot that would be unlikely as well unless he was the first backup, competing with Berkman, Seebold, Nelson, etc. He certainly has a lot of talent (had an amazing toe drag goal in the Denver scrimmage) and Desko really did try to keep him in the fold by having him in during clears a handful of times last year, but we have so many guys at roughly his skill level that it's hard to lose sleep over it. Lack of potential for serious playing time could easily be a factor in him leaving. Hope he ends up somewhere where he gets the time he deserves.
Obviously ethnicity/identity is not what defines these guys, but it is not a great look that we have lost two Native Americans before the season starts (Owen Hill and Lauder).