Michigan Tech 2015 off-season I: Building on what we've learned...

[eye4talent]

Re: Michigan Tech 2015 off-season I: Building on what we've learned...

The more times a player does that the more likely teams are to sign players between their jr and sr year...not good.

Not necessarily. What teams will do is burn a year off the entry level contract so the player doesn't have to wait as long to sign their second contract.

http://espn.go.com/blog/chicago/blac...ayes-situation

[Shirtless Guy]

Re: Michigan Tech 2015 off-season I: Building on what we've learned...

Not necessarily. What teams will do is burn a year off the entry level contract so the player doesn't have to wait as long to sign their second contract.

http://espn.go.com/blog/chicago/blac...ayes-situation

That is also quite possible, if you think he's worth burning a year...doubt NJ would do that for Pietila if they knew it was that or lose him.

[JohnsonsJerseys]

Re: Michigan Tech 2015 off-season I: Building on what we've learned...

http://espn.go.com/blog/chicago/blac...ayes-situation

Taken from that article:
"The Blackhawks also pulled out the stops to sign college free agents Kyle Baun... and Tanner Kero... Both players had offers in the double digits from NHL teams."
Who knows the quality level of all the offers, but showing that to one of Tech's recruits can't hurt if they wonder if Tech is a good stop-off before pro hockey and if the coaching staff can get their game to the next level. I have to imagine Assistant Coach Muckalt is a good reference to have on the staff as well "Look what Coach Pearson did for me, we can do the same for you..."
Ryan J

[UpNorthHockey]

Re: Michigan Tech 2015 off-season I: Building on what we've learned...

Thanks. Any details on Morgan?

Luke Morgan is a 97 birthyear forward who played for Little Ceasars U18 this season. I think he verbaled via Twitter on March 6th. At 17, he's already 6'0, 180 and seems to be more of a playmaker than a goal scorer, but was a point per game player.

[eye4talent]

Re: Michigan Tech 2015 off-season I: Building on what we've learned...

Luke Morgan is a 97 birthyear forward who played for Little Ceasars U18 this season. I think he verbaled via Twitter on March 6th. At 17, he's already 6'0, 180 and seems to be more of a playmaker than a goal scorer, but was a point per game player.

I haven't seen anything on Twitter or any of the recruiting commitment sites.

[eye4talent]

Re: Michigan Tech 2015 off-season I: Building on what we've learned...

That is also quite possible, if you think he's worth burning a year...doubt NJ would do that for Pietila if they knew it was that or lose him.

With his leg injury, no real hurry for him to sign. If NJ doesn't sign him, somebody else will.

[Shirtless Guy]

Re: Michigan Tech 2015 off-season I: Building on what we've learned...

Luke Morgan is a 97 birthyear forward who played for Little Ceasars U18 this season. I think he verbaled via Twitter on March 6th. At 17, he's already 6'0, 180 and seems to be more of a playmaker than a goal scorer, but was a point per game player.

I assume you're talking about this kid: http://www.eliteprospects.com/player.php?player=283909
EP is pretty good about staying up on verbals, plus nothing on heisenberg and no signs of a tweet? I wouldn't be surprised if MTU is interested, but I got nothing.

[UpNorthHockey]

Re: Michigan Tech 2015 off-season I: Building on what we've learned...

As for your roster question, is there any rule that required Schuldt to not be rostered? I thought he had a number and everything?
We had 18 forwards last year, so I expect that to be the same...that means one of Hannoun, Jackson, Boeing, Lucchini and Cope isn't coming...either that or Cope isn't rostered as you say.
On defense, we lose 2 in Davis and Sweeney so I would expect 2 more to come in, my best guess is Reinke and Watson. Redmond will probably go back another year if Phillips stays.

I wasn't aware that Schuldt was initially rostered but left due to injuries. That makes a lot more sense. Your prediction about Kauppila also makes sense. I thought he had to come this year, but he's actually a '95 birthyear so he's still eligible to wait one more year. I don't see Mel cutting the roster back to 28 with the number of players he has stockpiled. Although there are no rules about roster size, I would guess it's not a good thing to consistently maintain a larger than average roster...probably isn't seen very favorably by recruits. If Mel maintains a roster of 30, he can bring in 6 players, which I would still guess will be: Jackson, Boeing, Lucchini, Hannoun, Reinke and Cope. As was pointed out, this is a good problem to have, but in the future, we'll have even fewer openings because of all the redshirted players. Doesn't this hampers the staff's ability to make openings if a high end player becomes available due to a decommit (e.g. Hanna, Watson).

[UpNorthHockey]

Re: Michigan Tech 2015 off-season I: Building on what we've learned...

I assume you're talking about this kid: http://www.eliteprospects.com/player.php?player=283909
EP is pretty good about staying up on verbals, plus nothing on heisenberg and no signs of a tweet? I wouldn't be surprised if MTU is interested, but I got nothing.

Sorry, I looked back at my notes and Morgan didn't Tweet. He's still just a prospect.

[Shirtless Guy]

Re: Michigan Tech 2015 off-season I: Building on what we've learned...

I wasn't aware that Schuldt was initially rostered but left due to injuries. That makes a lot more sense. Your prediction about Kauppila also makes sense. I thought he had to come this year, but he's actually a '95 birthyear so he's still eligible to wait one more year. I don't see Mel cutting the roster back to 28 with the number of players he has stockpiled. Although there are no rules about roster size, I would guess it's not a good thing to consistently maintain a larger than average roster...probably isn't seen very favorably by recruits. If Mel maintains a roster of 30, he can bring in 6 players, which I would still guess will be: Jackson, Boeing, Lucchini, Hannoun, Reinke and Cope. As was pointed out, this is a good problem to have, but in the future, we'll have even fewer openings because of all the redshirted players. Doesn't this hampers the staff's ability to make openings if a high end player becomes available due to a decommit (e.g. Hanna, Watson).

I don't think this is a bad problem to have when you're getting guys like Chris Gerrie, Keegan Ford, Gavin Gould, etc.

[Shirtless Guy]

Re: Michigan Tech 2015 off-season I: Building on what we've learned...

Interesting, things are reshaping my views of the 2015-16 class...its possible I could have quite a bit of the incoming class shuffled wrong. Sounds like its possible Hannoun defers another year, which makes me feel like it could be Lucchini or Kauppila that comes in next year.

[Pure Mel]

Re: Michigan Tech 2015 off-season I: Building on what we've learned...

Interesting, things are reshaping my views of the 2015-16 class...its possible I could have quite a bit of the incoming class shuffled wrong. Sounds like its possible Hannoun defers another year, which makes me feel like it could be Lucchini or Kauppila that comes in next year.

For some reason i feel Lucchini will be coming in next year but who knows. As for Blacklock and Anderson, were both redshirted due to injury or just couldn't crack the line up?

[Shirtless Guy]

Re: Michigan Tech 2015 off-season I: Building on what we've learned...

For some reason i feel Lucchini will be coming in next year but who knows. As for Blacklock and Anderson, were both redshirted due to injury or just couldn't crack the line up?

I believe one had mono and the other an injury.

[JohnsonsJerseys]

Re: Michigan Tech 2015 off-season I: Building on what we've learned...

I thought I had mono once, but it turns out it was just really bored because Tech only won 5 games that year and there wasn't much good news to talk about...
Ryan J

[JohnsonsJerseys]

Re: Michigan Tech 2015 off-season I: Building on what we've learned...

Things I think about... I've always the viewed the NCAA tourney as such a nearly impossible thing to win in the past, mainly because Tech never had a legit chance. However this year certainly changed my view of just how close they could have been to getting a shot at title #4. Assuming you can put together an above average regular season, it really boils down to just four weekend of play and you can even have a few bumps in the road and still win it all...

Weekend #1 - WCHA first round, you have to win 2 of 3 from a hopefully lesser opponent
Weekend #2 - WCHA championship, you win hopefully 2 or 1 more games, if you've had a good season, even a loss here doesn't kill you (sorry BGSU, sometimes it does)
Weekend #3 - NCAA regional, win two games or you're done, but if you're in the tourney at some point you've swept some good teams and you just need to do that again.
Weekend #4 - NCAA Frozen four, again win two games (with a day off in between) against two of the top teams in the country. Come in with a pretty good team, get a few bounces your way and hoist the plaque.

When you break it down like that, it really doesn't seem like such a tall mountain.
Ryan J