Of the current junior class, who is likely to be drafted and signed by the MLB amongst this group?
Benedetti
Adcock
Wenson
Brdar
The way this team flamed out once the calendar turned to May, I'm not so sure how strong the returning lineup will be. Team did not really seem to have any real strengths. The few wins it had at the end of the season were hardly of the signature variety (1-0 at Illini, 3-2 vs. Minnesota with bloop hits and wild pitches). I guess a win is a win. But the distance between M and OSU at the end of the season was very telling in the H2H results, two teams headed in opposite directions and M could not compete well against its two rivals.
At Wisconsin was also very rewarding by beating Wisconsin on their home ice. Knuble and Morrison
96 in Cincinnati
St. Cloud Denver weekend in 02
NoDak in 98
95 mike legg goal
2011 no dak frozen four.
Some of the best Michigan lines since my mom sent me to college in 1989...
Felsner-Dave Roberts-Ouimet
then came Stewart-Wiseman-Oliver
then Botterill-Morrison-Knuble
then Botterill-Morrison-Muckalt
Mike Comrie was kind of a one-man team
then a sophomore season of Hilbert-Cammalleri-Ortmeyer
then Porter-Hensick-Tambellini
Pacioretty-Porter-Kolarik
(Hagelin, Rust, Caporusso rarely put it together at the same time)
Connor-Compher-Motte
I will enjoy the next 2-3 weeks of action, but in addition to the three seniors, I am expecting Michigan to lose up to 5 players this offseason. I would be happy if two of them returned. I think there are 7 signed recruits for next year, good luck trying to find a spot to stash the NTDP players for a year after they finish high school.
Believe it was a PSU high stick which deflected puck into corner. Refs or players were yelling, but Selman touched the puck to void the high stick call and de Jong decides to leave the front of the net uncovered while Downing was in the corner.
about a hockey walk-on? I love hockey and all, but this is the equivalent of adding Alex Talcott, Joe Kautz or Andrew Sinelli to the 5th forward line.
You have to wonder how many players arrive next year.
Three seniors in Nieves, Selman and Racine.
2-5 candidates to leave early in Werenski, Compher, Downing and then Connor and Motte depending upon development. There is always the battle with the OHL for recruits too.
I don't see a lot of offensive talent with these recruits, so it will need to come from the likes of Kile, Connor, Marody next season.
11 nhl draft picks with all sorts of accolades ready to drop first game of series against a bunch of older hard working guys. How much of this is goaltending vs. defensive play?
A few things that have obviously impacted Michigan recently.
-Goaltending - not sure how to quantify this weakness relative to team defensive play. Since tiny Hunwick graduated, goalie play has declined. The 2012-13 team (Trouba's year) had lots of issues with goalie play and leadership, that was not a quality tournament type team as it was only a matter of time before all of these players who are recruited as 15/16 year olds did not develop and play dropped off.
The 2013-14 team should have made the tournament as a 3 or 4 seed, but gagged repeatedly against Penn State. This team had several quality non-conference wins, a lot of close one-goal wins early in the season and decent goalie play from Nagelvoort.
The 2014-15 team had its offensive strengths and some underachieving players and did not play well enough to be a tournament team.
College hockey, for the past 5 years or so, has lost about 30 players each summer to the NHL (OHL too) contracts and the top end of the talent pool is not deep enough to sustain high end competition. College hockey no longer attracts the top Canadian talents like it did in the 1990's/2000's with players like Comrie, Heatley, Tambellini, Cammalleri and Toews.
With more players turning pro and early recruits showing variability in their development, some of the WCHA/ECAC schools take the approach to sit back and grab the late developers at 20 and each year you get a couple 23-25 year old senior laden teams who have a turn in the cycle to make an impact.
While some early recruits have panned out, this trend started about 10 years ago and guys like David Wohlberg, Robbie Czarnik and many others did not show much progression in their careers.
Was in DC a few years back and took the train to College Park to check it out in the summer time. Seemed like a nice campus with more of a Southern feel to it (ACC-ish).
I think the Metro is fairly close by. Also have a Chick-Fil-A on campus in their union.
how would he react if Larkin, Werenski, Compher and Downing all walked in his office at the same time a year from now and ready to move on.
Former CCHA schools like NMU complain that Michigan will schedule a six game series, but with 4 always at Yost and 2 on the road. Will be interesting if the MTU series was 2-2, or if they will return to Yost for two more.
Disappointing to hear that story on Copp at the banquet. He has given a lot to the program the past 3 years. Red was interviewed by a Winnipeg radio station after the signing and if I recall, the responses were indifferent. Good things to say about him as a player, but remareked about how soon he could contribute at that level.
He has played three years and is a 4th round draft pick, not high, but not too low and his buddy Trouba is already there.
Does Andrew want to graduate for Red's last year and lead a potentially highly skilled team, or turn pro with only having one GLI banner on his resume at Michigan? He is a World Jr. alum and some NHL teams get itchy after three years for their prospects. It will be up to him to return. His play plateaued this year, but would like to see him center the first line next year.
Tough to compare today to the 90's classes, but the 1990 class had Wiseman, Oliver, C Stewart, A Ward an Shields. This followed a class of D Roberts, Ouimet, Harlock, Tamer and Neaton. Red was able to stack class after class in that timeframe.
Fewer Canadians making an impact in college hockey today.
Rough play on that second mn goal asvlohan got caught pinching at center ice, chipped behind him for 2'on 1 goal.
Before michigans second goal, I can't believe all the refs missed 11 warning pitchfork Selman in the nuts on michigans pp prior to kiles goal.
Serville was 5th, at best, behind Pateryn, Merrill, Moffie and Bennett. Not physical enough to shut anyone down. Too passive. Did you see that little lovetap he gave to the crossbar after allowing the second goal on Saturday. Aw shucks!
Crazy he was a 3rd round draft pick that Michigan lured away from Niagara.
I will be sucked in for one more weekend, just with realistic expectations. Get to Saturday night and end your rivals season.
In the MSU series this year, the winning team has scored the first goal all five times. In State's two wins, they got early third period goals and played four defenseman at a time.
Such an opportunistic opponent in this series, I bet over 75% of their goals came off Michigan turnovers or bounces off Michigan d-men. While Downing knocked in the 3rd goal on Friday night, he knocked down the pass on the winning goal and landed right to DeBlouw. If the saucer pass gets through, maybe its not handled as cleanly.
Find a way to tie (weak first goal), don't lose that game on Saturday night.
Frequent discussion last few years about bad apples and poor chemistry with the likes of Guptill, PDG, Clare and Merrill for off/on-ice issues. I wonder how much the goalie play is weighing on the confidence of the team that is weighted full of top-end talent at forward and shortcomings elsewhere.
Final chance this weekend to make something of the season and a GLI banner won't cut it. Especially when MSU is on top of you in the standings and Penn State is your nemesis for two years. Look at these numbers...
Penn State has 14 cumulative wins in the Big Ten to date with this breakdwon.
6 vs Michigan (43%)
4 vs worst Wisconsin team ever (29%)
2 Ohio State (14%)
1 Michigan State (7%)
1 Minnesota (7%)
How do you account for this, 6 losses, 2 more than mediocre OSU, MSU and a strong Minnesota program combined? PSU has 4 Big Ten road wins, two at Yost. How does this repeatedly happen?
Certainly bulletin board material for this summer.
Any thoughts on the play of the 2013-14 Big Ten Freshman of the Year? Compher has 4 goals this year, none of them have been critical either as they have come in blowout games, like two third period goals in the 8-1 win over Penn State, a late goal in the 6-0 shutout of Rensselaer and one in the 7-5 win over Minnesota at Yost. He played a fourth line role at the World Juniors for the US, and is looking to pass instead of shoot and score. Come March, he and Motte need to provide greater contributions on the road at PSU/MSU and at the BTT.
Nothing but a team of NHL draft picks
Compher, motte Allen of us ntdp.
Team made a real statement to start the year based on
How they finished last year.
Why would next years recruits or future recruits turn the tide?
Must make the NCAA Tournament before winning it. Last year was a very painful end to the season with many underwhelming losses to inferior teams, after such a strong first half.
On paper, Minnesota is by far the top team this year. Miami is probably the second most talented on paper, but they had issues last year.
I expect Michigan to finish second in the B1G, probably closer to the 3rd and 4th place teams than 1st place Minnesota. On a national scale, probably a bubble team from the 10-15 range. It is time for the talent to start producing.
You would think the Ath. Dept. would at least announce the Home schedule before rolling out the season ticket plans. Kind of know what you are paying for.
Interesting and somewhat surprising comments on Szkutnick and Bourque if they do get drafted and sign. Is Jr. Jackson Glines also a candidate to be drafted?
Team needs to make things happen next year in 2015 as M will likely loss Maezes, Hill and Croenenworth to the MLB next June.
2015 newcomer Maryland figures to be a challenger for the BIG with an NCAA #2 seed and decisive victory over perennial power South Carolina to advance to Super Regional at Virginia.
After being a sought after recruit with his high scoring weaks in a lower end Ontario Jr. league, Zach scored 21 points in his first 100 games at Michigan.
Then he scored 14 points in his last 15 games to end this season.
Will need to be an important player for next year, score key goals, be one of the few eligible leaders on the roster.
also say something for the coaches who keep these players on the team? Desperate?
The Daily article mentioned two of Guptill's legal issues in his 3 years on campus, apparently there are other bad situations too.
I assume that Guptill, Clare and Merrill were the "bad apples" people spoke about on the 2012-13 team, not sure if there were more or the role the Sr. class of Treais, Lynch and Moffie played in team chemistry.
Merrill, Clare and Jacob Fallon (now at Vermont) allegedly had issues in High School at the USNTDP, and it seems to have continued throughout their college careers as those red flags continued in college.
Tristin Llewellyn booted in 2011 for drinking with Fallon. Kevin Quick credit card fraud in 2007-08.
Attitude and effort from players like Wohlberg, Czarnik, PDG.
The coaching staff is finding more character problems and limited potential in their recruits as opposed to talent.
Luke Moffatt on the ice, improved throughout each of his four years. He was not a great performer with only a career season high of 25 points.
there was nothing to worry about after the home OT loss to PSU given future games against the likes of OSU and MSU.
I don't like the trends, two annual NHL defections, mix in an annual OHL defection, throw in a couple of underachieving recruits each year, and you have this version of Michigan hockey without a star player (perhaps Compher) and cast to carry the team.
Not that Michigan needs a high end offensive team to succeed, they probably have not had that since 2009, I'm not buying into the pre-college stats and accolades of new players as guys like Wohlberg, Guptill, PDG, K Lynch, Hyman and Boo did not progress or live up to expectations (so far). Diminishing returns from the NTDP this decade compared to the 2000's.
It's challenging listening to the radio broadcast as they (Randall/Trainor) cover-up which d-man made the turnover which led to a goal or great scoring chance. You can be a homer, Call the game, tell it like it is. These aren't 6 year olds.
On the subject of Guptill. Yes, most frustrating player on the team cause he had a higher ceiling. I don't think he was recruited to be a top scorer, but he basically turned out to be one leading the team as a freshman (tie) and a sophomore, while dipping to third (tie) as a Jr. The PSU breakaway was a horrible effort, yet I don't think he got any credit for his backcheck turnover on Moffatt's gametieing goal vs. Wisconsin. Don't think DeBlois/Selman/Downing were fileted as much for their matador 4 on 1 effort vs. Josh Pitt of WMU in the OT loss at the GLI. As you may recall, Pitt was the player who previously tripped over the red line allowing T Lynch to tie the game at 2.
Sounds like there was a lot off the ice too with Guptill and still wasn't learning lessons as a Jr. Probably needed a change of scenery, but I will miss his goal scoring abilities at Yost for a team next year that will have many unproven/underachieving players around still. Despite his weaknesses, I appreciate that Guptill was able to generate some points over the past few years on some offensively challenged teams without dangerous centers leading the attack.
Boo could have had first line minutes as a freshman given his hype. I bet that Red expected Boo to be centering the first line to start his sophomore year in 2013-14.
What did Allen and Kile show scoring five points each on a team looking for offense? Wasn't Allen a healthy scratch for 10+ games as an NTDP player who couldn't always crack the fourth line. Kile, played an extra year of junior, and more was expected as a freshman on the scoresheet.
Now I see why Calderone and Murphy were added as recent recruits at forward.
I hope they surprise me, but I see a potential grind the next couple years as Red finishes his contract.
After Copp, Compher and Zach, how much else is there? Questions on defense, who is going to score? Several players need to step up, like the sophomore class which is relatively small and another year of heavy reliance on freshman. Are all of the most talented players natural centers (Compher, Copp, Larkin and Boo)
Larkin is a top recruit, but over the past 5 years, these recruits need to prove it first before I get excited.
We have a 14-15 Sr. class with Zach Hyman and several walk-on type non-impact players.
After 14-15, Copp and Compher will be flight risks and probably Boo too for lack of development.
Leads to a face off loss as Bennett can't get to loose puck. Hey Red, that line was out for over 30. Seconds, what about a time out in the defensive zone
No reason to believe thinng improve much in the future with the same staff
A ghost was going to cover the loose man
Two straight games with very deflating losses. At least get a tie
Both games they only scored in the first and can't hold leads
Young team and it shows
Recent Comments
Pay that man his mhon-ee.
Of the current junior class, who is likely to be drafted and signed by the MLB amongst this group?
Benedetti
Adcock
Wenson
Brdar
The way this team flamed out once the calendar turned to May, I'm not so sure how strong the returning lineup will be. Team did not really seem to have any real strengths. The few wins it had at the end of the season were hardly of the signature variety (1-0 at Illini, 3-2 vs. Minnesota with bloop hits and wild pitches). I guess a win is a win. But the distance between M and OSU at the end of the season was very telling in the H2H results, two teams headed in opposite directions and M could not compete well against its two rivals.
In the late 90's, we got stung in August with Van Ryn and Comrie going to the CHL.
Then in 2002, I think Cammalleri and Komisarek both left on a late July day.
Some of the best Michigan lines since my mom sent me to college in 1989...
Felsner-Dave Roberts-Ouimet
then came Stewart-Wiseman-Oliver
then Botterill-Morrison-Knuble
then Botterill-Morrison-Muckalt
Mike Comrie was kind of a one-man team
then a sophomore season of Hilbert-Cammalleri-Ortmeyer
then Porter-Hensick-Tambellini
Pacioretty-Porter-Kolarik
(Hagelin, Rust, Caporusso rarely put it together at the same time)
Connor-Compher-Motte
I will enjoy the next 2-3 weeks of action, but in addition to the three seniors, I am expecting Michigan to lose up to 5 players this offseason. I would be happy if two of them returned. I think there are 7 signed recruits for next year, good luck trying to find a spot to stash the NTDP players for a year after they finish high school.
zach werenski to make a difference.
Believe it was a PSU high stick which deflected puck into corner. Refs or players were yelling, but Selman touched the puck to void the high stick call and de Jong decides to leave the front of the net uncovered while Downing was in the corner.
Lots of players signing on, not all will show up and either move to the OHL or USHL.
Goalie Hayden Lavigne signed an LOI in 2013.
Forward Connor Murphy signed an LOI in 2014.
With only three seniors,
Racine (Lavigne)
Nieves (Pastujov)
Selman (Lockwood)
the team is probably bracing for between 3-5 players to sign early this summer.
Werenski (Luce)
Compher (Sanchez)
Downing (L Martin)
with Motte (C Murphy) and Connor (?) as pro candidates too pending how strong their seasons are.
This class does not seem to be offensive-minded.
about a hockey walk-on? I love hockey and all, but this is the equivalent of adding Alex Talcott, Joe Kautz or Andrew Sinelli to the 5th forward line.
You have to wonder how many players arrive next year.
Three seniors in Nieves, Selman and Racine.
2-5 candidates to leave early in Werenski, Compher, Downing and then Connor and Motte depending upon development. There is always the battle with the OHL for recruits too.
I don't see a lot of offensive talent with these recruits, so it will need to come from the likes of Kile, Connor, Marody next season.
Goaltending savior please arrive.
A few things that have obviously impacted Michigan recently.
-Goaltending - not sure how to quantify this weakness relative to team defensive play. Since tiny Hunwick graduated, goalie play has declined. The 2012-13 team (Trouba's year) had lots of issues with goalie play and leadership, that was not a quality tournament type team as it was only a matter of time before all of these players who are recruited as 15/16 year olds did not develop and play dropped off.
The 2013-14 team should have made the tournament as a 3 or 4 seed, but gagged repeatedly against Penn State. This team had several quality non-conference wins, a lot of close one-goal wins early in the season and decent goalie play from Nagelvoort.
The 2014-15 team had its offensive strengths and some underachieving players and did not play well enough to be a tournament team.
College hockey, for the past 5 years or so, has lost about 30 players each summer to the NHL (OHL too) contracts and the top end of the talent pool is not deep enough to sustain high end competition. College hockey no longer attracts the top Canadian talents like it did in the 1990's/2000's with players like Comrie, Heatley, Tambellini, Cammalleri and Toews.
With more players turning pro and early recruits showing variability in their development, some of the WCHA/ECAC schools take the approach to sit back and grab the late developers at 20 and each year you get a couple 23-25 year old senior laden teams who have a turn in the cycle to make an impact.
While some early recruits have panned out, this trend started about 10 years ago and guys like David Wohlberg, Robbie Czarnik and many others did not show much progression in their careers.
Was in DC a few years back and took the train to College Park to check it out in the summer time. Seemed like a nice campus with more of a Southern feel to it (ACC-ish).
I think the Metro is fairly close by. Also have a Chick-Fil-A on campus in their union.
Both courses are now open to the public, but its pricey over $100 each.
http://umgolfcourse.umich.edu/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/mackenzie-dye_promo_card_10-1.pdf
I with college students jingling their keys at games would become obsolete.
groupon offers for the October games. Only three home games have any sizzle this season with 2x Minnesota and MSU.
I'll take Spandau Ballet - True for $200 Alex.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=ldXgK71pgxs
how would he react if Larkin, Werenski, Compher and Downing all walked in his office at the same time a year from now and ready to move on.
Former CCHA schools like NMU complain that Michigan will schedule a six game series, but with 4 always at Yost and 2 on the road. Will be interesting if the MTU series was 2-2, or if they will return to Yost for two more.
Disappointing to hear that story on Copp at the banquet. He has given a lot to the program the past 3 years. Red was interviewed by a Winnipeg radio station after the signing and if I recall, the responses were indifferent. Good things to say about him as a player, but remareked about how soon he could contribute at that level.
http://www.mgoblue.com/sports/m-baskbl/spec-rel/042115aaa.html
from Larkin, get bigger stronger, play in the World Juniors again, and hopefully sign after a successful sophomore season.
I think this hockey team has a one-year window because there could be lots of talent graduating and signing in the spring of 2016.
He has played three years and is a 4th round draft pick, not high, but not too low and his buddy Trouba is already there.
Does Andrew want to graduate for Red's last year and lead a potentially highly skilled team, or turn pro with only having one GLI banner on his resume at Michigan? He is a World Jr. alum and some NHL teams get itchy after three years for their prospects. It will be up to him to return. His play plateaued this year, but would like to see him center the first line next year.
Heatley, Toews, Cammalleri, Comrie are a thing of the past. Why go to college for a year or two, just start major junior at age 16 and turn pro at 19.
Tough to compare today to the 90's classes, but the 1990 class had Wiseman, Oliver, C Stewart, A Ward an Shields. This followed a class of D Roberts, Ouimet, Harlock, Tamer and Neaton. Red was able to stack class after class in that timeframe.
Fewer Canadians making an impact in college hockey today.
No class will surpass Morrison, Madden, Botterill, Luhning, Legg, Sloan, Schock.
My second favorite class was Hagelin, Pacioretty, Palushaj, Rust, Caporusso, Winnett, but this was impacted by early departures.
Trouba, Werenski and Larkin are special talents, Can't afford to have missed opportunities with these types of players
Serville was 5th, at best, behind Pateryn, Merrill, Moffie and Bennett. Not physical enough to shut anyone down. Too passive. Did you see that little lovetap he gave to the crossbar after allowing the second goal on Saturday. Aw shucks!
Crazy he was a 3rd round draft pick that Michigan lured away from Niagara.
I will be sucked in for one more weekend, just with realistic expectations. Get to Saturday night and end your rivals season.
In the MSU series this year, the winning team has scored the first goal all five times. In State's two wins, they got early third period goals and played four defenseman at a time.
Such an opportunistic opponent in this series, I bet over 75% of their goals came off Michigan turnovers or bounces off Michigan d-men. While Downing knocked in the 3rd goal on Friday night, he knocked down the pass on the winning goal and landed right to DeBlouw. If the saucer pass gets through, maybe its not handled as cleanly.
Find a way to tie (weak first goal), don't lose that game on Saturday night.
Frequent discussion last few years about bad apples and poor chemistry with the likes of Guptill, PDG, Clare and Merrill for off/on-ice issues. I wonder how much the goalie play is weighing on the confidence of the team that is weighted full of top-end talent at forward and shortcomings elsewhere.
Final chance this weekend to make something of the season and a GLI banner won't cut it. Especially when MSU is on top of you in the standings and Penn State is your nemesis for two years. Look at these numbers...
Penn State has 14 cumulative wins in the Big Ten to date with this breakdwon.
6 vs Michigan (43%)
4 vs worst Wisconsin team ever (29%)
2 Ohio State (14%)
1 Michigan State (7%)
1 Minnesota (7%)
How do you account for this, 6 losses, 2 more than mediocre OSU, MSU and a strong Minnesota program combined? PSU has 4 Big Ten road wins, two at Yost. How does this repeatedly happen?
Certainly bulletin board material for this summer.
Any thoughts on the play of the 2013-14 Big Ten Freshman of the Year? Compher has 4 goals this year, none of them have been critical either as they have come in blowout games, like two third period goals in the 8-1 win over Penn State, a late goal in the 6-0 shutout of Rensselaer and one in the 7-5 win over Minnesota at Yost. He played a fourth line role at the World Juniors for the US, and is looking to pass instead of shoot and score. Come March, he and Motte need to provide greater contributions on the road at PSU/MSU and at the BTT.
Must make the NCAA Tournament before winning it. Last year was a very painful end to the season with many underwhelming losses to inferior teams, after such a strong first half.
On paper, Minnesota is by far the top team this year. Miami is probably the second most talented on paper, but they had issues last year.
I expect Michigan to finish second in the B1G, probably closer to the 3rd and 4th place teams than 1st place Minnesota. On a national scale, probably a bubble team from the 10-15 range. It is time for the talent to start producing.
Is it likely that three Juniors: Maezes, Hill and Cronenworth will be drafted after this season and sign?
This team will only look good to me if they start winning 25+ games again with players performing to their abilities.
Just win.
I believe greens fees increased for the 2013 season. My guests formerly paid $62, now summer rates on the weekend are about $77.
You would think the Ath. Dept. would at least announce the Home schedule before rolling out the season ticket plans. Kind of know what you are paying for.
Interesting and somewhat surprising comments on Szkutnick and Bourque if they do get drafted and sign. Is Jr. Jackson Glines also a candidate to be drafted?
Team needs to make things happen next year in 2015 as M will likely loss Maezes, Hill and Croenenworth to the MLB next June.
2015 newcomer Maryland figures to be a challenger for the BIG with an NCAA #2 seed and decisive victory over perennial power South Carolina to advance to Super Regional at Virginia.
Probably the softest spot on the schedule, so not getting too excited, but need to take 2 of 3 from Ohio State this weekend.
Team seems to play a lot of small ball with sacrifices.
What is the strength of this team?
After being a sought after recruit with his high scoring weaks in a lower end Ontario Jr. league, Zach scored 21 points in his first 100 games at Michigan.
Then he scored 14 points in his last 15 games to end this season.
Will need to be an important player for next year, score key goals, be one of the few eligible leaders on the roster.
also say something for the coaches who keep these players on the team? Desperate?
The Daily article mentioned two of Guptill's legal issues in his 3 years on campus, apparently there are other bad situations too.
I assume that Guptill, Clare and Merrill were the "bad apples" people spoke about on the 2012-13 team, not sure if there were more or the role the Sr. class of Treais, Lynch and Moffie played in team chemistry.
Merrill, Clare and Jacob Fallon (now at Vermont) allegedly had issues in High School at the USNTDP, and it seems to have continued throughout their college careers as those red flags continued in college.
Tristin Llewellyn booted in 2011 for drinking with Fallon. Kevin Quick credit card fraud in 2007-08.
Attitude and effort from players like Wohlberg, Czarnik, PDG.
The coaching staff is finding more character problems and limited potential in their recruits as opposed to talent.
Luke Moffatt on the ice, improved throughout each of his four years. He was not a great performer with only a career season high of 25 points.
there was nothing to worry about after the home OT loss to PSU given future games against the likes of OSU and MSU.
I don't like the trends, two annual NHL defections, mix in an annual OHL defection, throw in a couple of underachieving recruits each year, and you have this version of Michigan hockey without a star player (perhaps Compher) and cast to carry the team.
Not that Michigan needs a high end offensive team to succeed, they probably have not had that since 2009, I'm not buying into the pre-college stats and accolades of new players as guys like Wohlberg, Guptill, PDG, K Lynch, Hyman and Boo did not progress or live up to expectations (so far). Diminishing returns from the NTDP this decade compared to the 2000's.
It's challenging listening to the radio broadcast as they (Randall/Trainor) cover-up which d-man made the turnover which led to a goal or great scoring chance. You can be a homer, Call the game, tell it like it is. These aren't 6 year olds.
On the subject of Guptill. Yes, most frustrating player on the team cause he had a higher ceiling. I don't think he was recruited to be a top scorer, but he basically turned out to be one leading the team as a freshman (tie) and a sophomore, while dipping to third (tie) as a Jr. The PSU breakaway was a horrible effort, yet I don't think he got any credit for his backcheck turnover on Moffatt's gametieing goal vs. Wisconsin. Don't think DeBlois/Selman/Downing were fileted as much for their matador 4 on 1 effort vs. Josh Pitt of WMU in the OT loss at the GLI. As you may recall, Pitt was the player who previously tripped over the red line allowing T Lynch to tie the game at 2.
Sounds like there was a lot off the ice too with Guptill and still wasn't learning lessons as a Jr. Probably needed a change of scenery, but I will miss his goal scoring abilities at Yost for a team next year that will have many unproven/underachieving players around still. Despite his weaknesses, I appreciate that Guptill was able to generate some points over the past few years on some offensively challenged teams without dangerous centers leading the attack.
Boo could have had first line minutes as a freshman given his hype. I bet that Red expected Boo to be centering the first line to start his sophomore year in 2013-14.
What did Allen and Kile show scoring five points each on a team looking for offense? Wasn't Allen a healthy scratch for 10+ games as an NTDP player who couldn't always crack the fourth line. Kile, played an extra year of junior, and more was expected as a freshman on the scoresheet.
Now I see why Calderone and Murphy were added as recent recruits at forward.
I hope they surprise me, but I see a potential grind the next couple years as Red finishes his contract.
After Copp, Compher and Zach, how much else is there? Questions on defense, who is going to score? Several players need to step up, like the sophomore class which is relatively small and another year of heavy reliance on freshman. Are all of the most talented players natural centers (Compher, Copp, Larkin and Boo)
Larkin is a top recruit, but over the past 5 years, these recruits need to prove it first before I get excited.
We have a 14-15 Sr. class with Zach Hyman and several walk-on type non-impact players.
After 14-15, Copp and Compher will be flight risks and probably Boo too for lack of development.
14-15 roster (? Sinelli F or D)
Boo, Copp, Hyman
Motte, Compher, Allen
Dancs, Larkin, Kile
Calderone, Murphy, Sinelli
Shuart, Selman, Talcott
Downing, Lohan
de Jong, Martin
Serville, Piazza
Chiasson, Szuma, S Hyman
Zach
Racine