BU 2021-22: Albie's Great Adventure

[ericredaxe]

In other news from the Comm Ave rumor mill: evidently as of tomorrow, T-Anthony’s is changing hands.

[brassbonanza]

In other news from the Comm Ave rumor mill: evidently as of tomorrow, T-Anthony’s is changing hands.

It is, but word is there won't be any changes.

[Lemonade]

With the season wrapped up - when will we hear about head coach position? Is Albie staying or going. What players are staying and leaving? Pro signings are starting....should be interesting.

[vicious]

In other news from the Comm Ave rumor mill: evidently as of tomorrow, T-Anthony’s is changing hands.

farther down Comm Ave, what's up with the Dugout? last few times I've been in town, it's been closed...

[Terrier86]

With the season wrapped up - when will hear about head coach position? Is Albie staying or going. What players are staying and leaving? Pro signings are starting....should be interesting.

I would imagine there'll be some sort of announcement or at least a signal from the AD on the head coach this week because you have to shore up incoming recruits ASAP.

[Leonidas]

farther down Comm Ave, what's up with the Dugout? last few times I've been in town, it's been closed...

Oh, man. Don't make me cry!

[ericredaxe]

So does everybody think Umass had a much greater season than us this year? They have essentially the same record. They are number 11 in the pairwise and we are number 19. Can anybody figure out if we had lost four games to Minnesota state and Michigan instead of two games to northern Michigan and pick 2 other losses where our ranking would be now? Seems like a big bump for umass in pairwise by playing (but losing 4 times) to 2 of the top 3 in the nation

I would not say they had a much greater season than we did - but the pairwise is so tight that a bad loss or two (or good win) can make all the difference - it certainly seems that losses to Northern Michigan, Sacred Heart and Cornell (as OOC examples) affect the pairwise more than Michigan and Minnesota State.

Scanning their Hockey East record, they also did not really have any bad losses as we did to Maine and UVM - that hurts too.

Without running a pairwise calculator, I'd bet if we had simply not lost to Maine and Sacred Heart we would be in the top 16. Not playing the "what if" game here, just illustrating how tight the pairwise can be. Perhaps someone has a calculator / predictor and can play with that.

[ericredaxe]

So I'll go out on a limb and predict that Albie will be back next year. I do think that the coaching staff moves from last year, adding Pandolfo and Friedman were good moves and hopefully it pays off. My guess is that BU administration will not be ready or looking to make a move quite yet. Had they not gone on their hot streak in the second half of the season and won the Beanpot it might be a different conversations behind the administrations walls. Of course, if the next season or two go without forward progress and it very well could be a different story then as well. I could very well be proven wrong of course - it will be interesting to follow.

Players - who do we lose beyond the seniors? And - who is in the incoming class for next year?

Schedule - I saw in one of the season ticket holder emails that Notre Dame will be on the home schedule for next year. Will Alaska reschedule? Any other known OOC opponents yet beyond the Beanpot?

[defkit]

So I'll go out on a limb and predict that Albie will be back next year. I do think that the coaching staff moves from last year, adding Pandolfo and Friedman were good moves and hopefully it pays off. My guess is that BU administration will not be ready or looking to make a move quite yet. Had they not gone on their hot streak in the second half of the season and won the Beanpot it might be a different conversations behind the administrations walls. Of course, if the next season or two go without forward progress and it very well could be a different story then as well. I could very well be proven wrong of course - it will be interesting to follow.

Players - who do we lose beyond the seniors? And - who is in the incoming class for next year?

Schedule - I saw in one of the season ticket holder emails that Notre Dame will be on the home schedule for next year. Will Alaska reschedule? Any other known OOC opponents yet beyond the Beanpot?

On the coaching front, it is certainly a good possibility that they won't want to fire the coach. But if I understand correctly, he is at the end of his contract, correct? You would have to think that at a minimum, they have some concerns about signing him for more than a year or two tops.

I do think some people will want to avoid the negative tone of firing a coach (it's been a LOOOOOONG time since that happened). But I think there is one reason that he could be gone despite that. There was some chatter going back a couple years that Albie was in over his head, that he didn't know what he was doing. If there was a recognition within the first year or two by the powers that be that he wasn't cut out for this gig, perhaps they decided to let him finish out the contract work on a succession plan while he is still here, and make a change when his contract is up.

[defkit]

As far as who leaves - I think the big question is with the three Junior defensemen (Fensore, Vlasic, McCarthy). I believe they were all drafted in the second round? Maybe third? I think the rule is still in place that says if they get to their senior year they become free agents (a la Vesey). If that is the case, their teams will be trying to get them to sign this summer.

Hopefully Commesso comes back for one more year - I mean between COVID and other factors, he hasn't really even played two seasons. Perhaps looking at Oettinger's success will convince him that a third year is a good idea. At forward, who knows. There certainly aren't any players ready to play in the NHL. But I could see the Flyers wanting to get O'Brien into the fold. This could be the rare year where we return almost all the forwards, which would be pretty nice.

[defkit]

And in terms of recruits, Rogie can give a better flavor, but from what I have seen, I think Lane Hutson will be the highest-end freshman. He led all USNTDP d-men in scoring, and could be the next of the smaller strong skating d-men to come out of Ann Arbor/Plymouth: Fensore, Farrance, Grzelcyk, Warsofsky, Bryan Miller, Freddy Meyer...

After that, his brother Quinn Hutson, Jeremy Wilmer and Devin Kaplan could be the forwards that are expected to make the roster, and there are a couple others. Charles Alexis Legault seems like a good d-man.

[J.D.]

O'Brien was drafted in 2018 so I would expect the Flyers to put the pressure on.

Bomber is the Blackhawks fan. They suck and I don't know what they have in net right now but I could see them making a run at Commesso.

[DLG]

As far as who leaves - I think the big question is with the three Junior defensemen (Fensore, Vlasic, McCarthy). I believe they were all drafted in the second round? Maybe third? I think the rule is still in place that says if they get to their senior year they become free agents (a la Vesey). If that is the case, their teams will be trying to get them to sign this summer.

Hopefully Commesso comes back for one more year - I mean between COVID and other factors, he hasn't really even played two seasons. Perhaps looking at Oettinger's success will convince him that a third year is a good idea. At forward, who knows. There certainly aren't any players ready to play in the NHL. But I could see the Flyers wanting to get O'Brien into the fold. This could be the rare year where we return almost all the forwards, which would be pretty nice.

They become free agents if they wait until August of their senior year. That is why teams try to sign elite players after 3 years
Expect Vlasic to leave but Fensore and McCarthy could really use an additional year. McCarthy had an injury riddled season

[Rover]

Can anyone answer definitively how long Albie's contract is for? If he's truly at the end of a 4 year deal, how do they possibly re-up him? Is he going to sign a one year extension? Don't you worry about Pandolfo bolting if the coach's Reign of Error continues?

If he's on a 5 year deal, then yes I can see letting him play out the string while telling Pando the job is his. Sucks as a fan but BU is probably too cheap to eat a year of his contract.

[Bomber]

O'Brien was drafted in 2018 so I would expect the Flyers to put the pressure on.

Bomber is the Blackhawks fan. They suck and I don't know what they have in net right now but I could see them making a run at Commesso.

Fleury is under contract for 2 more years. But they’re thin at the position and they suck, so I wouldn’t be surprised to see them make a push to sign Commesso. As long as they’ve forgiven BU for Chad Krys. : )