While many familiar names are gone, the Aberdeen Wings have proven performers returning, joined by an infusion of talent for the upcoming NAHL hockey season.

The Wings, who start the regular season by hosting Minot on Friday night at the Odde Ice Center, have a double-digit amount of players back for another campaign.

“We ended up getting 10 back, which is a pretty good number for us,” said Wings coach Scott Langer. “Obviously, we had to go out and do quite a bit of recruiting and fill some major holes. The staff did a really a good job of that, and I think you’ll see that with the product on the ice.”

Willum Braun is returning to his goaltender position. Braun was a key reason why the Wings were able to make a deep run in last year’s playoffs.

“Anytime you can start with a veteran goaltender, especially the guy who was our go-to guy in the playoffs, I think it was the third game he took over, and did such a really good job,” Langer said. “He’s a kid that’s confident and he’s certainly someone you can build a team around.”

The offense will be bolstered by Brody Dustin, a key member of last year’s potent offense.

“Really, really serious about his game, really strong physical-type player and mentally,” Langer said. “Obviously, getting him back is a big deal. He was playing 20-plus minutes a game there by the end of the year. Brody is just a good hockey player.”

The defense will be led by returning member Price Grimes, who brings a physical style of play.

“Grimer was big to get back. He’s got a lot of leadership to him as well,” Langer said. “He’s a very physical, hard defenseman, which you need in our division, against these teams. They all kind of built them that way.”

Jonathan Doucette is dealing with an injury, but will also be counted on for major contributions this season.

Langer likes the chemistry makeup of this year’s roster.

“You get those type of players back, not just on the ice, just kind of how they operate off the ice. They’re all non-selfish individuals,” Langer said. “On the ice, yeah, you can have some selfishness which is fine, but off the ice they’ve been doing such a good job in the locker room, and it’s become a pretty tight group already. I have to praise those guys for the job that they’ve done so far. Obviously, we had to bring in some extra bodies with the size of our draft and our tenders, and they’ve done a really good job.”

The Wings have added a pair of players from Sweden who will have a major impact on the squad this season.

“I think you’re got to look Filip Henriksson, you’ve got to look at Melker Hof. Those guys came over from Sweden. They have a really good chemistry together,” Langer said. “I don’t dislike anybody on the squad right now and even the guys that have to continue to develop, they’re so willing to work on their game and get better. It’s been a fun group, and there is a little bit of that excitement around with the staff.”

The Central Division will have a new look this season as the number of teams has been cut by two. North Iowa and Minnesota are no longer in the group, which means that the top squads will face each other more times this season.

“It certainly makes it harder, because you’re playing the upper echelon teams over the years in the division more times. The nice thing is the teams that picked up and took their toys and went home, those guys, they were bigger trips for us,” Langer said. “We’d rather play against those teams that are in our division, because they’re all well-coached, they’re good organizations, and they’re fun to play.”

The Wings are coming off a season in which they had two five-game series in the postseason, defeating Bismarck and falling to Austin. Langer is anticipating another competitive season ahead.

“It’s going to be intense hockey. Everybody in this division plays that way,” Langer said. “We have to have a short memory from last year, being a goal from going to the Robertson Cup, but that was one more goal that Austin had, and they found their way there. We just have to have a short memory and get after it again.”

Look for the Wings to play fast on offense, physical on defense, and bring maximum effort each time out on the ice.

“We wanted to add a little more playmaking ability and we have done that. I think you’ll see that where guys are making a little more plays,” Langer said. “We’re pretty big on the back end. We just didn’t want to get against these teams that have the ability to have their way in the offensive zone. We’re big and strong. We’ve got lumpsters there on the back end. We’ve always wanted to play fast and this group can skate, so there’s no reason to say that we won’t be a fast team again.”

Langer has enjoyed working with the current group in the days leading up to the regular season and is looking forward to seeing what the players can do.

“I love this. I love what I do. When you get a group a guys that come in and they’re not entitled and all the stuff that you can find in the generation, it’s exciting,” Langer said. “They want to learn. They just want to be taught, they want to win games, and they have a lot of fun together.”