Are The Michigan Wolverines NCAA National Championship Favorites After Securing Landon DuPont?

The Michigan Wolverines added the presumptive No. 1 pick in the 2027 NHL draft, Landon DuPont, but in the evolving landscape of college hockey, is that enough to win a national title?It's an arms race in college hockey now.With former CHL players now eligible to play NCAA hockey, the top teams across the country are loading up on high-end talent in a way they never could before.Michigan State, for example, is about to start its season with an all-time NCAA-record nine first-round picks on the roster, including some of the biggest names from the last two drafts.But just down the road in Ann Arbor, the University of Michigan pulled off the coup of the summer, luring projected 2027 No. 1 pick Landon DuPont to the school for his draft season. The former WHL exceptional status defender and CHL Rookie of the Year is coming off an 18-goal, 55-assist, and 73-point championship-winning campaign with the Everett Silvertips, and that's as a 16-year-old defenseman.DuPont steps onto a team that, just last season, went to the Frozen Four for the fourth time in five years and then, somehow, brought almost everyone back. The question, then, is whether the addition of DuPont is what gets the organization over the hump and wins the Wolverines' first national title since 1998.The good news is that, apart from leading scorer T.J. Hughes, they return with their next 12 highest-producing players, including Hobey Baker candidates like Michael Hage (13 goals, 39 assists and 52 points) and Will Horcoff (25 goals, 14 assists and 39 points), Mike Richter candidate Jack Ivankovic (.921 save percentage), and extremely valuable depth players like Cole McKinney, Malcolm Spence, Adam Valentini, Ben Robertson, Jayden Perron, Nick Moldenhauer, among others. They'll also welcome back 2024 Calgary Flames third-round pick Henry Mews, who was supposed to be an impact defenseman for them but suffered a season-ending injury just 10 games into his freshman year.On top of that, Michigan brings in three other first-round-pick freshmen: Nashville Predators' 21st overall pick in 2025, Cameron Reid; Philadelphia Flyers' 2025 12th overall pick, Jack Nesbitt; and Detroit Red Wings' 2026 23rd overall pick, JP Hurlbert. While the roster might be a bit on the younger side, that blue line is stacked with talent.The question is ultimately how much a 17-year-old defender, even an elite one, can impact things on the ice. DuPont can control the game with the puck on his stick, but he's moving on from the WHL, where his oldest competition was 19 or 20, into the NCAA where he will be lined up across from guys as old as 25. It's a big change, and we saw as recently as last season that even a No. 1 pick like Gavin McKenna doesn't always acclimate immediately and can go through a learning curve. Moreover, DuPont is something of an anomaly. Only one other defenseman who was ever the presumptive No. 1 pick in the following summer's draft has started his college season at 17. That was another Wolverine: Owen Power, although he did turn 18 in November, compared to DuPont, who will play the entirety of his season as a 17-year-old. There were some limiting factors (COVID, among others), but Power wasn't exactly the world-beater some might have expected, so it's both a small and suboptimal sample for comparison. But over the past decade or so, elite defenders who were all high first-round picks, like Zach Werenski, Charlie McAvoy, Noah Hanifin, Zeev Buium, Quinn Hughes, and Keaton Verhoeff, were more impactful, and if DuPont plays at their level, that could indeed be the thing that gets the Wolverines back to the top of the mountain.That said, it's certainly not a guarantee. College hockey teams that won National Championships in recent years aren't the ones with the youngest and glitziest rosters, but rather those that are a little older. In recent seasons, teams like Boston University have learned, to their dismay, that a bunch of veterans are needed to give them that final lift. The good news for Michigan is that it has six seniors and five juniors on the roster. So in theory, they should be fine on that front. It's when you start overly relying on freshmen that trouble can find you in the NCAA tournament.On the other hand, it's not like Michigan is the only elite team loading up on highly regarded prospects to take them to the next level. Reigning national champions Denver, for example, just added two 2026 first-round picks to their own blue line: Buffalo Sabres' fourth overall pick Daxon Rudolph and San Jose Sharks' 21st overall pick Ryan Lin. Michigan State had three incoming freshmen go in the first round. Boston University is adding a pair of two-way centers selected in the top 15. North Dakota's blue line will be patrolled by the Flames' sixth overall pick, Carson Carels, and the Sharks' ninth overall pick, Verhoeff. So, can Michigan win it all with DuPont in the fold? Absolutely. But it will be tougher than ever to make the step from the semifinals to winning the title.For action-packed issues, access to the entire magazine archive and a free issue, subscribe to The Hockey News at THN.com/free.