Owen Power: 1st Overall in the 2021 NHL Entry Draft
And just like that, Michigan goes back to back! Beniers is the 1st draft pick selection in Seattle Kraken history!
And Beniers at #2 damn. It will probably never happen again that a college team has the #1 and #2 picks
First time ever!
Lets keep it going . Lots of other talented Michigan players available in this years draft.
If Anaheim doesn't select him, expectation is Luke Hughes goes to 4th to New Jersey, joining Jack.
Booooooooo Anaheim
3 of the top 4 with Luke Hughes now!
I've never seen someone so excited in life as I just saw Jack Hughes, when the pick was announced.
Being able to play with your brother in any pro sport , is pretty special .
Be UEFA went 2 and Hughes 4
Talk about loaded for Michigan
Luke Hughes looks like he's 15.
Summary:
#1 Michigan
#2 Michigan
#3 Some guy
#4 Michigan
Edit: #5 MICHIGAN !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
When I told some friends (who don't have an understanding of college hockey) that Michigan recruits at a level above even Alabama Football, they thought I was crazy.
lulz
#5 KENT JOHNSON MICHIGAN
FOUR OF THE FIRST FIVE!!! HOLY SHIT!
Now if we can just make sure they’re all in Ann Arbor this next season.
All that talent and nothing to show for it
Not to be Debbie Downer but how is this even possible…
Eliminated from the NCAA tournament due to CoVid and being the youngest team in the country will do that
The team was 15-10-1. I’m not buying this Covid excuse. Yes it sucks they got bounced but it was highly unlikely they were going to win a championship.
There was also a stretch in the middle of the year where we were missing a bunch of guys for the World Juniors tournament that resulted in a few losses. Even when those guys returned, you’re still looking at a young team that lost out on about a month of playing together, which is pretty important for developing chemistry.
As for the record, Michigan was the youngest team in the country and plays in one of the most talented leagues. Our freshmen were the source of our success, while most other teams relied on veteran players with young talent as complimentary pieces. The Big Ten beats itself up all season long and consistently has teams ranked higher than teams with better records as a result. Looking at record alone doesn't tell the story. The conference got 4 teams into a 16 team tournament for crying out loud. Record doesn’t really play a factor here.
All that being said, Michigan still made the NCAA tournament as a two seed. Meaning they were viewed as one of the 8 best teams in the country. The two teams that met in the finals... both were also two seeds. Michigan had every bit of a chance to do VERY well for themselves in that tournament.
Now hockey is already a high variance sport. Even the best teams require some puck luck now and then. Add in a single elimination tournament and its “highly unlikely” for ANY specific team to win the championship. Two of the top 4 seeded teams lost their first game of the tournament. ZERO 1 seeds made the Frozen Four.
Point being, we have absolutely no idea what would have happened in that tournament. Michigan had a lot of raw talent and one of the best goalies in the country. What we DO know, is any chance Michigan had was thrown out the window due to CoVid. So it’s pretty unfair to sit here and call them out for not winning anything.
Pick for the Wings has to be Eklund, no?? They did not expect him to fall.
Either he or Dylan Guenther but my money is on Eklund.
Booo Herbstreit , but glad he had to announce a U of M Player .
4 out of the 1st 5 from U of M. How awesome is that?
My expectations for the upcoming Hockey season are growing more and more if we have such talent .
I don't really follow Michigan hockey as I do with football.
How did Michigan hockey have all of these supposedly great players, but weren't a dominant team last season?
Young team, very young team. Most of the top end talent were 18 year olds.
Plus they didnt even get to play in their tourney . No telling how far they would have gone .
This, with the context that NCAA hockey ages average 20-21 yo. with many 23-24
Covid. Legit.
Young players, and Hughes is a commit for this year.
Michigan was ranked 8th, seeded #2 but couldn't play a game
They were just young and inconsistent. Lots of weekends where they won by several goals in game 1 only to lose on a bad bounce or a soft goal in game 2. IIRC, by goal differential they were one of the best teams in the country, but the problem was that those goals weren’t spread evenly over all games - Lots of 5-1 wins followed by 2-1 losses. Really looking forward to this season. They’ll be just as talented with an additional year of strength/maturity - should be fun to watch
Curious to see how many of the four are with Michigan next year, I say two or three. As long as the goaltending holds up, which it should, it should be a really strong season.
One more factor that played into the inconsistency of the hockey team was that a handful of them temporarily left for up to a few weeks in mid-season to play in the World Juniors. Not all of them returned at the same time; a couple of them returned from Canada with the Championship.
It's asking for a lot, with all those absences of varying lengths, to expect an extremely young team to jell under such circumstances. This team did seem to start hitting their stride over the final few weeks, only to have it all come to a screeching halt.
What might have been.
Crazy... was expecting 4 Michigan players in the top 9.... Not four Michigan players in the top 5.
I hope that these guys stick around one more year and win a Frozen Four.
Helluva job by Mel Pearson in recruiting these guys
Same here with when I expected the 4th to go. Going to be a huge push for Mel recruiting going forward.
Next step: coach them.
Fire Pearson, am I right? JFC dude, lighten up, (5)1st round picks, it’s a good day.
Kind of a surprising pick by the Wings . Lets get this kid working with Nick Lidstrom asap .
I like that pick for the Wings. Him and Seider could make up a fantastic back line.
Yes. Trust in Stevie Y.
If anyone is interested, Bob McKenzie, aka The BobFather aka Bobby Margarita is destroying this draft on twitter, predicting every pick before they're made. Semi-retired and still the best in the game... any game!
4 of 5?! Is that even possible? I know that it happened, which suggests it IS possible, but still.
Insane draft for Michigan.
Really like the pick for Wings.
Trust the Yzerplan.
I was looking for your take on the 1st round pick of the Red Wings, "goblueram", and you didn't disappoint.
Edvinsson is a total unicorn. Potentially a great pick, but even his floor is top-4.
If they all return to Ann Arbor to play next fall, there's an awful lot of pressure to win title #10 now.
Good.
It's been over 20 years we've won. That's inexcusable considering how well we recruit...
pretty sure Red's teams took a bit of a dip recruiting wise, especially after Mel left for Tech.
This is an incredible group now however and Michigan does need to capitalize on its talent
College hockey is weird. You have a sport where it takes a level of puck luck to win games, add a single elimination tournament and you have a scenario where the “best team” rarely wins the national championship.
So it’s hard to say “National Championship or bust” in any given year. Too much luck and timing involved for even the best teams to win it.
Nice that this shiny new partnership with ESPN is really paying dividends. The duece coverage is so prime. Totally respect that they had to put The Tourney hoops on the main channel. It’s hoops but capitalized. Nice work Bettman