UMASS-NEWMASS Offseason/Recruits

[kahunak]

Interested in this as well. Anyone who watched Barr's press conference yesterday could easily figure out why he was just so successful with his recruiting pitch at multiple programs, and will almost certainly keep that streak alive at UMaine. But his departure does leave a gaping hole in the UMass program. I'm sure UMass is stacked with a few years of recruits in the pipeline due to Barr's previous work, and from competing for (and then winning) the D-1 title for the last few seasons ... can Coach Carvel keep that machine humming beyond the last of the Barr recruits, and if not, when does it start to show? You just don't grow successful recruiters like Ben Barr on trees. Who steps into the breach, and how long can they keep it going?

That's the rub. Do the recruits that Barr signed up for UMASS switch to Maine? Or does the fact that UMASS won the national championship keeps everyone in place? I don't have a great understanding of how successful asst coaches in hockey do when promoted to head coach but I know in bball it is completely hit or miss. My guess is that there will be a lot of people who want to take Barr's place at UMASS and I trust Carvel's approach. I just hope Barr is not too successful in Orono.

[Drew S.]

That's the rub. Do the recruits that Barr signed up for UMASS switch to Maine? Or does the fact that UMASS won the national championship keeps everyone in place? I don't have a great understanding of how successful asst coaches in hockey do when promoted to head coach but I know in bball it is completely hit or miss. My guess is that there will be a lot of people who want to take Barr's place at UMASS and I trust Carvel's approach. I just hope Barr is not too successful in Orono.

It would be poor form for him to try to poach recruits and I doubt he does that. As a Maine fan I definitely don’t want it to happen.

edit: Jerry York is a huge admirer of other teams players and recruits, he is the one I would be more concerned about if I was you.

[J.D.]

LOL at singling out York. He doesn't do anything differently from other "cut throat" coaches (read as bigger programs) across the country. Your strange obsession with York continues. One day you will realize that kids end up going to what is the best situation for them. That is not a problem.

[Chuck Murray]

That's the rub. Do the recruits that Barr signed up for UMASS switch to Maine? Or does the fact that UMASS won the national championship keeps everyone in place? I don't have a great understanding of how successful asst coaches in hockey do when promoted to head coach but I know in bball it is completely hit or miss. My guess is that there will be a lot of people who want to take Barr's place at UMASS and I trust Carvel's approach. I just hope Barr is not too successful in Orono.

I don't see many (if any?) current Barr recruits switching from UMass to UMaine.

I think the key issue will be, once Barr's "inventory" at UMass dries up, can they maintain it without him? If Carvel can keep the program winning on the ice, it'll improve their chances to stay firmly established near the top. But look at UMaine ... first they had to deal with Walsh's passing in 2001, and then they had to deal with Standbrook's retirement circa 2013. The guys who replaced them weren't able to maintain things. Can UMass/Carvel maintain things post-Barr, and if so, how long?

UMass is hardly an established D-1 hockey power, UMaine was on top longer when Walsh and then Standbrook weren't there any more. Just speculating on how it will all play out ...

[kahunak]

Not an expert on assistant coaches but the new guy from Penn State looks like a good choice. Hope he does well.

[Chuck Murray]

Not an expert on assistant coaches but the new guy from Penn State looks like a good choice. Hope he does well.

Looks like a solid hire for UMass to replace Barr, that being former PSU and Princeton AC Matt Lindsay, who appears to be a Williams alum. Carvel continues to handle his business very effectively ...

UMass hockey adds Penn State assistant Matt Lindsay (gazettenet.com)

[kahunak]

A little more about the new Asst. Coach- Matt Lindsay

https://umassathletics.com/news/2021...ing-staff.aspx

[kahunak]

In a bit of a surprise, Goalie Matt Murray is returning for a 5th year. Solid goaltender- glad he will be back. I wonder if this means anything about Lindberg? If both are back, then UMASS will be solid in 21-22!

https://umassathletics.com/news/2021...rGohtrTpuPI7po

[jjmc85]

Yeah. That’s very unexpected. I don’t know what this means for Lindberg. You figure if both are back Lindberg is the number 1, and I’d also expect Murray would want to be the number one somewhere too...

[kahunak]

Big defenseman transfer from Denver- hope he works out.

https://umassathletics.com/news/2021...jpp2hwR6eW1gXs

[kahunak]

Lindberg going pro- too bad. He deserved more recognition at the collegiate level. Had 4 shutouts in the NCAAs including the national championship game. Wish him nothing but the best!

https://umassathletics.com/news/2021...or-season.aspx

[jjmc85]

Good luck to Lindberg. In my opinion he was definitely the best goalie in Hockey East last season, and I can’t imagine there was anyone in the nation better. The nomination process for the Richter Award is stupid and may have cost him the award.

NHL draft rules are more complicated than I thought. I never knew a team’s rights to a player expire earlier if they were drafted after 20 and withdraw from college. I don’t recall anyone from Hockey East using this option to force free agency early. Has it happened before? Good for Lindberg using the rules to his advantage to get paid. Was selfishly hoping he would come back to UMass and become a free agent after his senior year, but this is the better situation for him. He’s already won a title and dominated Hockey East and the NCAAs. Not really anything left to prove at this level.

Murray coming back makes a lot of sense now. Figure Carvel knew Lindberg’s plans and worked it out with Murray to comeback. I know they have a goalie recruit coming in this season, but I’d bet Murray is the number one guy. He’s proven at UMass he has what it takes: number one guy in regular season when the team won the Hockey East RS title, program leader in wins and shut outs, top three all time in Save Percentage and GAA, huge 2001-AFC-Championship-Drew-Bledsoe-esque win in the Frozen Four after not playing for three months. The list goes on. I have 0 concern about the starting goaltending next year. Hopefully he goes on a run like Lindberg did this season and gets a nice pay day himself from the pros as a result.

[kahunak]

Carvel's contract extended with a rolling five-year contract-sounds like it is a big step up compensation-wise. He seems happy in Amherst and will be at UMASS for a long time. The future looks promising at UMASS!

https://umassathletics.com/news/2021...4c8aThgbP_mYDE

[J.D.]

Good luck to Lindberg. In my opinion he was definitely the best goalie in Hockey East last season, and I can’t imagine there was anyone in the nation better. The nomination process for the Richter Award is stupid and may have cost him the award.

7 goalies in Hockey East alone played more minutes than Lindberg last year. It's really not that difficult to understand.

[jjmc85]

7 goalies in Hockey East alone played more minutes than Lindberg last year. It's really not that difficult to understand.

What’s your point? None of the seven of them were as good as Lindberg last season.