4 OUT OF TOP 5 NHL DRAFT POSBANG
I'm sorry, but it deserves one.
https://www.michigandaily.com/ice-hockey/wolverines-dominate-centerstage-utop-nhl-draft-selections/.
? ?
Historic accomplishment - and should be a memorable season to come. Go blue!
Pretty nice write up over at ESPN about the recruiting process of this group ($):
Mackie slides into the end of the first as well!
And yet despite this well-spring of talent, underperform every year while at Michigan. Would rather they win something for Michigan than become high draft picks.
Jeez who pooped in your Cocoa Puffs? So you’d like them to win a national championship as a teenager and then get drafted? Those be pretty high standards. How about they get drafted and then win a national championship?
Unbelievably selfish! I'm happy for them and gives us huge notoriety.
Take a neg, Jacques!
I came to this thread to POSBANG but am making an exception and negging your comment. Do you have any clue at all what happened during and especially at the sudden end of our 2020-21 Hockey season?
Enough on that, though.
Although we'll have to see how things play out this coming fall and winter with the career decisions each of our draftees will be making, here's to hoping they all return as expected for a shot at some Championship hardware, an opportunity they were denied the last two seasons by circumstances beyond their control.
POSBANG!!!
Fine with me. Look, I'm happy for them personally. But you can't say if you are honest with yourself, 2020-2021 excepted, "why aren't we winning more often with this overflow of talent?". If it isn't frustrating to you then I don't know what is.
I'm not saying we should be winning every year or even every 5 years, but you would think we should win the Frozen Four championship at least once a decade. Similar to Oklahoma St/Iowa's preeminence in wrestling, we are a true blueblood of hockey but haven't performed nearly as well as those two in their top sport. This is a big reason why we can't challenge Stanford for the Directors' Cup. The other is that that they sponsor 50,000 minor sports. If we want to claim all-sports supremacy we've got to occasionally win at the sports where we are supposed to be a semi-dominant team.
Dude, 2020-21 was their ONLY season (Hughes hasn't even arrived yet), and all of them could come back, at least most of them will. I don't think you understand how hockey drafts work.
Exactly the case with those drafted Friday evening.
As for the upperclassmen on the team, some of whom will be back either as seniors or even taking advantage of the covid-year exemption, this Michigan Hockey Team was hitting on all cylinders when the 2019-20 season was completely shut down nation-wide by covid.
We're just now getting to the point where this is Mel's team, not Red Berenson's team. I love Red, but it was a year or two overdue when he finally retired. The silver lining was the return of Mel, this time though as head coach.
I don't mind folks complaining when there's a legitimate reason to do so, but in this case, Mr Strappe has got it wrong.
Dude why being such a Strapphole. This is excellent news. Hockey is such a different dynamic than any other sport and this a great accomplishment for the Michigan program. Your beef seems misplaced and I feel bad for you if you can't enjoy an accomplishment such as this
You clearly do not follow hockey very much. Many teams with top picks are not always considered the best teams. You have to realize the kids drafted yesterday are all 18 year olds going up against 20-21 year olds and a lot of those kids being drafted but still playing in college. These kids are studs but still are developing
This is such an idiotic take on multiple levels. (1) Michigan hasn’t had an ‘overflow of talent’ until last year. Due to the nature of hockey recruiting, and how young kids are when they typically commit, there was a notable lack od talent in the late red/early mel years. (2) 3 of those kids have only played one season and despite the less than stellar w/l record, they were statistically one of the best teams in the country, but young and inconsistent. (3) hughes and another first rounder weren’t even on the fucking team. (4) single elimination hockey is the randomest of sports - anything can happen and often does. (5) they were a 2 seed last year ffs but got cancelled due to covid - you have no idea what would’ve happened if they actually got to play. (6) a few of those kids missed significant time to play in the world juniors. (7) you probably think your username is funny, but it’s not and your failure to come up with a coherent thought beyond ‘WIN MOAR’ makes you come off . . . not great
Wrong sport.
Totally understand how the draft works. Most of our guys get drafted before get to Ann Arbor, some play Canadian Juniors or AHL. Personally, I'm glad we have all of this talent and am glad that they have secured their personal and professional futures. But my real passion is Michigan Hockey not NHL hockey. It's kind of like Brady's NFL success. Sure, I'm proud that he is an alum and possibly the greatest NFL player ever. I still would have prioritized him winning a national championship here, a place where I have a shared connection, rather than a professional franchise that I have no connection to.
I, too, am angry the one guy who hasn’t stepped foot on campus and the 3 other guys who played 1 season they didn’t even get to finish because of Covid didn’t win the national championship.
If you are a huge hockey fan, why don’t you seem to understand how this works?
FIRE DAKICH!!1!
trash take.
3 of these kids were freshmen last year and had their season cut short by covid when they were rounding into form...
Obviously you don't follow hockey, but Red slipped a little late in his career and recruiting took a hit with him. Mel got into the Frozen Four his first year, followed by a bad year and last year the team was ranked 8OA and seeded #2 in the tournament..
2 of the kids drafted tonight haven't even played a game for Michigan yet.
Yes, I follow hockey. I had season tickets all 4 years as an undergrad. I understand we got submarined by COVID in 2020-2021 and ecstatic that Power and Bernier went #1 and 2 in the NHL draft, a half-century historic showing for M hockey talent. I'm just impatient. I want to win now after Red's final years in Ann Arbor where we had great teams that failed to ascend the final step.
Whatever the Michigan program's faults were, these kids were not a part of that dry spell. Michigan did start tailing off as Michigan entered the 2000s and that was exacerbated when Mel left.
Unfortunately, the NHL doesn't have an age barrier to entry, so some of these kids leave much earlier than something like football. There's a chance that Power, Beniers, Hughes and Johnson all make their NHL clubs next year....
While there is talent obviously, if they only stay a year, the underperformance looks worse than it actually is...
It looks like Mel is really turning the program into a juggernaut - however, I would agree that if the majority of this group returns, they need to capitalize on it.
You say you follow hockey but you don't seem to be able to understand how long it takes to build a program. Red stayed too long and it was always going to take at least three years for the program to get to a place where we can expect great things.
And in addition to the age differences (18 vs up to 24 y/o), as seen in the recent posts explaining all of the different offensive and defensive "plays" that are utilized, older teams that have played multiple seasons together and become increasingly proficient at this are at an advantage.
Fuck off troll
Why don't people realize that high expectations for anybody but themselves makes them an asshole?
High expectations is not a positive trait brother.
My God we have the most miserable fucking fan base
I guess you're speaking for Jacques.
Jacques négativité.
I regret that I have but one minus one to neg this.
The only thing worse than this take is all the hate it has received. Your take is dumb because you don’t understand college hockey. It should just be ignored. But with responses that downgrade the entire fanbase just because a guy that doesn’t watch college hockey has to wonder why they didn’t win the national championship and he can’t jump on the bandwagon and buy a tshirt is worse IMO.
Who do we expect to get called up and who comes back to UM? I know there was something abt that on this site, but not sure whether the specific team that drafted them changes that up at all. 1st World problems, I know
Ultimately it’s up to the player himself on what he wants to do. They’ll discuss with the team that drafted them on what path they feel is best for their development and whether they’re ready for an NHL spot or not, and that will determine whether the player signs his deal and leaves UofM.
So we won’t REALLY know until those conversations are bad and the players decide whether they want to come back to college, develop for a year or two in the AHL, or if they’re offered a Day 1 NHL spot.
Power said he was leaning towards coming back, and I’d expect Hughes and Johnson back for sure. There’s no real threat for Mackie to go anywhere else. So Beniers is the real wildcard for me.
Seattle doesn’t have a ton of talent right now. So I think Beniers definitely could make their roster. It’s a matter of whether Seattle wants to rush his NHL career or if they want to develop him more. Then it’s up to Matty on whether he wants to take that year of development back in college, or play minor league hockey.
CRAZY LATE NIGHT THOUGHT ALERT--Could a team like the Sabres sponsor Powers to do promotions for the team? I'm guessing the NHL steps in on that?
What a great night for the hockey program. Cannot wait for the season to start.
Hail effing yeah!
I just watched this about a hundred times.
Never gets old
I loved it at the time and still love it. I get sad when I realize it was 25 years ago.
Wow!!! Congrats to the players, to the team, and to Coach Pearson - this is a helluva showing!! Can't wait to see these guys on the ice again this year, when they all return! And if some head out to the NHL, I wish them the best of luck.
This is a transcendent moment in the history of drafts. Four of the top five! In a draft that includes non-collegiate leagues! Nothing like this has ever happened before, not football, basketball, or baseball. I wish them all success in their future careers, regardless of their decisions to stay or go, this is a singular moment in Michigan athletics. As Emeril would say, Bam!
LFG!!! Here’s to exciting seasons from the UM Icers and Cagers!!
Yaaaasss
Yes it does !
Go Blue !
So Michigan hockey = Kentucky basketball
Except minus the “done” part of one-and-done.
Jumping in way late --- this is actually pretty incredible by objective observation.
Did I mention --- we are the best university in the world?
Go Blue.
I look forward to the day Matthew finally suits up for the Kraken. Love that pick. But after he finishes at M and wins a title of course :)
I’ll be at the games and will wave an M flag waving from time to time. Section 22 row V for any other Seattle MGoBlogger headed to games.
Go Wings, Go Kraken
(Side note: i will never root against the Wings, too many epic memories at the Joe. The season ticket holders around me will hate me when they come to town. Haha )
Was just thinking the same thing. I’ll wear a Beniers jersey until the Wings come to town. I was in NC when the Hurricanes moved there. Wore a Wings jersey to every game. So much fun