Trouba reportedly considering new OHL Offer Update: Kitchener response
After the draft, sources were saying that Trouba was around 50/50 toward Michigan or the OHL. Well that all changed earlier tonight. From a Matt Slovin article, a new OHL source speaking anonymously spoke that apparently the Kitchener Rangers have put a huge new offer on the table for Trouba. Huge as in Trouba could be compensated around 200,000 dollars in place of an education package. This same source went on to say that he "believes it will happen.”
Hopefully this doesn't happen, but I'm not so optimistic about our chances. And if (when?) Trouba leaves, I think Yost Built might just spontaneously combust from all this
Source: http://www.michigandaily.com/blog/hot-commodity-trouba-5050-between-mic…
Now the Kitchener president has responded on his twitter page, that the source in Slovin's article is "utterly false"
posted twice at 12:15. Damn I love this place.
You fool!!!! This was already posted 30 seconds before you finished previewing it. /s
Michigan Hockey Summer™
Et tu, Trouba??
This Is Michigan. This program has not been bad in 20 years.
I really wish he would come out and reconfirm he's coming here. I can just see him heading for the OHL everyday I read news. Hope I'm proved wrong.
Fuck the OHL. Leeching all of these blue-chip would-be college players.
Absolutely false. He gave his word before the draft, and confirmed at the draft that he was solid on Michigan. He deliberately waited to commit until he was sure.
The issue is that there is now $200,000 on the table for two years. That's a lot of money--if someone offered me that kind of money I could get a house and be set up for 30 years. That's hard to turn down. If you were offered $200,000 to do what you've always wanted to do, would you turn it down?
Yes, the scholarship value might be high (though I think $150k per year seems a bit excessive for a kid from Michigan [and yes, I know all athletic scholarships are considered at out-of-state, but let's be reasonable here]), but I would imagine this $200k is on top of the normal stipend CHL players get, sort of like a signing bonus.
For a kid in Trouba's position, he's almost guaranteed, barring injury, to get at least an entry-level NHL contract regardless of whether he goes to Michigan or Kitchener. For a top-10 pick, he'll probably see around $900k a year for 3 seasons plus bonuses. So the question really comes down to him of whether he thinks the OHL or NCAA is the route that gives him the best shot at a bigger second contract. If it's the same, why not cash in a bit now? I would have loved to start my career with an extra $150k in my pocket.
Let's face it, most of us are biased to wanting to see him in a Michigan jersey. And I too dislike the way the OHL does business (that is, if this story and the Cam Fowler story are to be believed). But it's the way things are, and the OHL isn't going to punish teams for attracting top-shelf talent because it makes the league as a whole look better from a talent perspective.
Strange and bizarre and weird as it may seem, there are also some of us who truly believe that getting a Michigan education is in the long run more valuable to the kid and to the larger world than playing hockey in Ann Arbor.
I don't blame anyone the choices they make in life. My point is that chasing money (or a puck, as Don states) are the dreams of youth. At a different stage in life, there are more important things and one of them would be an education/degree from the University of Michigan.
Sports is a business, and the kid is one injury away from losing his chance in that business. So, I wouldn't be surprised or angry if he chose to take the money at this point.
I'm pissed as well, but I can't blame the guy for having his head turned by this amount of money.
As always fuck the OHL, but I have a hard time holding a grudge against the guys signing with those leaches.
I think I'm going to go insane. I'll do my best to keep it off the internet, but depending on the time of day it may not be possible.
This is solid reporting by Slovin, but I don't actually think this indicates a significant "change" in the situation. Other than the words "new offer," we already basically knew that Kitchener was putting the hard sell on to get Trouba to report and could reasonably assume that large cash figures were involved; now we know the number.
What's scary about this is that we can put genuine, tangible value on what $200,000 would mean for us, and, consequently, what it would probably mean for the Trouba family. Assuming they aren't filthy rich, that's a hard sum to turn down.
And if it's hard to turn down we have reason to be scared. If Trouba wears Maize and Blue this year he should be lionized forever regardless of how good he is or how long he stays.
The CHL has anyways given top prospects deals like this, I just can't remember another time the information was put out in this manner.
I had heard of guys like Patrick Kane getting huge money under the table but it was never more than a rumor, certainly not an accusation or whatever you want to call it. I hope Slovin hasn't bit off more than he can chew here.
I am friends with his brother and I spoke to him last right before they left for the draft. At that time I know he was 100% Michigan. This however might have changed things, but from the sounds of it he was pretty set coming here. My bet would be he comes.
I hate to say this, and I probably deserve to be negged in perpetuity for it, but it probably makes more sense for him to take the OHL route. I would love to see him play for Michigan, but it sounds like he never intended to graduate regardless. If you’re going to go two and done, having an additional $200,000 out of the deal just makes better life sense.
Not playing four years is not the same as not graduating. Not at all.
Going to have to agree with Owl. Also, everyone acts like the choice is either juniors or college but this is not true.
If you are going to the NHL, it is unlikely you go to college after playing junior. If you go the NCAA route, you probably don't graduate.
If you are not going to the NHL, and stop playing hockey, and you went the NCAA route, you are now 22/23 and you have a college degree.
If you are not going to the NHL, and stop playing hockey, and you went the junior route, are now somewhere between 18-20 and have graduated high school, and can now go to a college if you choose, with at most a 2 year lag from the NCAA kids.
And let's be honest, if you're going to play minor-pro or pro hockey your whole life it really doesn't matter if you have your college degree because: you are either playing hockey or have enough connections from playing hockey that it won't matter.
Those who come here in the first place will be champions.
This pisses me off, if true. Even though there is no solid source, I believe this story to be true because this is how the OHL works. All the Americans now know that the CHL teams will pay you if you play hard to get, and they are all cashing in. I'll be the first to admit that there are some seriously shady dealings in the CHL, very similar to what most believe occurs in the SEC (although unlike the SEC, the OHL is a business and feeder league, they don't claim to be anything else).
Believe it or not, this pisses off current players as well. I remember when Cam Fowler went to Windsor for one season and was reportedly (see: definitely) given a large sum of money to flip. Well, current players were very pissed. Stars like Hall and Henrique who put asses in the seats since 15 years old and were loyal got $45 a week because their teams knew they weren't going to go anywhere while other people were being hugely compensated for being unloyal. Bullshit.
This goes back to the discussion in the Carrick thread about the CHL being a "professional" hockey league. Say what you want about the hasn't-been-raise-since-the-80s $45 stipend, but would anyone feel comfortable with Trouba playing a year in Kitchener after this "reported offer" and then showing up and playing at Michigan the following year as an "amateur" athlete?
They let Cam Newton keep playing, didn't they?
Not sure if thread worthy but, statement from Trouba family via Michigan Hockey twitter;
“There is absolutely no truth or merit to the recent media reports that the Kitchener Rangers have offered Jacob any remuneration. We have the utmost respect for the Kitchener Rangers and those that choose the CHL as an option but Jacob will be attending the University of Michigan next fall as a student athlete."