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UMaine 25-26: Marques My Word: Back to the Big Time

Marques fell far short of expectations. He was a cruiser, not a battler. I won't miss him.

Poirer and Lupinski will be sorely missed if they depart. Those two showed up for every game. JP has been the most talented 2-way guy Maine has had for years.

I wish that Josh had hung around, he was certainly a collegiate-level standout. Can't speculate about his motivation, but he doesn't look anywhere near to being an NHL player to me right now. Not even in the area code.

As far as Barr goes, get a grip, fellas. He pulled this program out of a truck stop shitter. Imagine if Red was trying to negotiate the current state of affairs. He might've won 7 games.

Perhaps Ben hasn't adjusted to the revolving door of the NIL era yet, and perhaps he never will, but it's a Rubik's Cube every season. Would you rather have finished sub-.500, as Minnesota and BU did, with all them biue-chippas they had? Hell, Maine was 2 bad losses from an NCAA berth, as it turned out.

It's new world out there. We just have to wait and see.
 
Fishman'81 said:
Marques fell far short of expectations. He was a cruiser, not a battler. I won't miss him.

Poirer and Lupinski will be sorely missed if they depart. Those two showed up for every game. JP has been the most talented 2-way guy Maine has had for years.

I wish that Josh had hung around, he was certainly a collegiate-level standout. Can't speculate about his motivation, but he doesn't look anywhere near to being an NHL player to me right now. Not even in the area code.

As far as Barr goes, get a grip, fellas. He pulled this program out of a truck stop shitter. Imagine if Red was trying to negotiate the current state of affairs. He might've won 7 games.

Perhaps Ben hasn't adjusted to the revolving door of the NIL era yet, and perhaps he never will, but it's a Rubik's Cube every season. Would you rather have finished sub-.500, as Minnesota and BU did, with all them biue-chippas they had? Hell, Maine was 2 bad losses from an NCAA berth, as it turned out.

It's new world out there. We just have to wait and see.
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I can guaruntee you something this offseason will surprise you. Great post.

Ps- Josh was never really invested in Maine. Before you shit your pants and respond- this was a stepping stone. Watch when he wins one of the three stars of the game. He doesn't give a shit. Watch when Breen, Makar, Renwick, ANYONE this year gets it..they give a shit and clap their hands. Alas.. Fishy is right. He's an AHL player (middle of the road)..no way an NHL player at this point..where he is borderline all star in Hockey East.

PPs what did I say when Bradly left? Daddy is chasing the money and influencing the decisions...hmmm.
 
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AMC said:
I don’t understand the need to trash every player on the way out the door.
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me either, Josh or etc is doing what he wants to do. You can guess at what the reason is or whether he is ready to go further up the hockey chain but it his decision . None of us know what the real reasons are.

I have heard some of the rumors about the locker room and which players are supposedly not buying into the program but they are rumors and unless someone was in there....

There is nothing you or I can do about players leaving to go pro, I enjoyed watching the guys while they were here and we can wish they stayed longer. Wish in one hand and shit in the other as the saying goes. All we can do is watch and hope Barr can bring in the pieces that fit his system.
 
NorthMike said:
His resume was fine, maine was paying a little over 200k at the time, who with a resume would of taken the job.
Barr has some great qualities and potential, I feel like he just isnt there yet and has alot of refinement and polishing to do as a head coach.
You cant go on every interview and complain about the team, at some point he has to buy into what he recruited and how he is making the room of players into a team. Thats his job and it isnt easy.
Every coach talks about culture and playing to their identity, blah blah blah, the coaches who manage to make it happen are the ones who went to the tourney.
Idk I still think Barr could be successful here, its just it seems he needs to work on his team building skills.
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This is what I saw last year. A coaching staff that though said "that's on us", seemingly placed blame on the players more so than themselves. They were unable to adapt to your point to the team THEY had recruited nor did we see any real measurable improvement in the areas which they harped on week after week. I'm not ready to throw in the towel on Barr yet by any means, but the next few years will really be telling.
 
BobF said:
I am puzzled by your comment. He doesn't have the ability to "coach up" players? What did we witness the two years prior to this? Players with less talent than this years squad who were willing to put in the work! We had one draft pick last year and he was a 7th round pick and a transfer in Makar, there were no blue chippers! This year for many programs in the east was a firestorm of trying to bring in CHL guys who were not available until the court ruling. In many ways the team got away from bringing in players who match our culture of working the corners and forechecking for guys who were draft picks, but who had yet to meet their potential and needed to work on their 200 foot game. Clearly we discovered it's harder to get guys like this to buy into that work ethic. If that continues to be the case I would not expect to see them in the NHL any time soon.

Our program was in the dumpster for too many years to count. The right coach is in place. BU with far greater talent suffered through the same growing pains this year. I have confidence in our coach. If you are bemoaning losing some of these players I guess you enjoyed the inconsistency that was this season. I'll take the work ethic we had the prior year with less talented players who were willing to fight for every puck.
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There's a fundamental difference (I think) in having players who already fit the mold/style (whether that be by luck some other circumstance), and molding a group into that style which as we witnessed this season didn't happen. Agree that the verdict is still out and no need to get the pitchforks yet.
 
A lot of recruiting talk, which makes plenty of sense, but I'm still very curious in Barr's role in the recruiting process. Obviously, the HC has the final say on all of these guys but pre-Maine it was clear he was constantly on the road meeting players / getting eyes on these guys and given the nature of the HC job that role certainly has changed. Curious to see if he takes some of the reigns back given the whiff rate on this past class? Is the Fortier loss that big? Just spit balling.

There will certainly be some amped up pressure this year to rebound, but Maine is still very much a destination. I'd except a steady influx of talent...hopefully with the correct DNA.
 
walrus said:
me either, Josh or etc is doing what he wants to do. You can guess at what the reason is or whether he is ready to go further up the hockey chain but it his decision . None of us know what the real reasons are.

I have heard some of the rumors about the locker room and which players are supposedly not buying into the program but they are rumors and unless someone was in there....

There is nothing you or I can do about players leaving to go pro, I enjoyed watching the guys while they were here and we can wish they stayed longer. Wish in one hand and shit in the other as the saying goes. All we can do is watch and hope Barr can bring in the pieces that fit his system.
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Exactly. Djuracevic is 24 years old, has his degree, and has played 3 years of college hockey. It's probably now or never to chase the pro dream, there are 6 year AHL/NHL vets who are 25 years old. Tough to argue that as a 25 year old rookie you'd have a ton of upside, and most pro teams would probably prefer to sign a vet with pro experience. It makes a ton of sense to grab a contract.

Josh gave the program three really good years. He's not as old as Djuracevic (only 22), but if the idea of playing college hockey (or, you know, going to college at all) is to get yourself a job as a professional, you have to go when you have the opportunity. He's a Maritimes kid, I don't know if he grew up a Canadiens fan, but he's got the opportunity to go be a professional hockey player in Montreal. Good for him. As far as the structure of his contract, if he wants to be on himself good for him.

I REALLY don't get the Bradly digs above. He was a first round NHL pick! The Hurricanes were always going to be the ones to decide when he leaves and where he develops. And he's over a point per game in the AHL as a 20 year old. This is how the system works. If Maine wants to swim in the high end talent waters, we have to be willing to have kids move onwards and upwards to pro hockey. Taking digs at the Nadeau family is wild. Maine had been down FOREVER when they committed here. It would have been incredibly easy when Bradly started getting 1st round pick buzz for them to say "oh, wait, never mind, we'll be at BU." They didn't, and they combined to give Maine 4 years. Fantastic for everyone.

Marques, I dunno. I'm not in the room. None of us are in the room (hopefully). We don't know if he wants to leave, if he was asked to leave, or both. Until someone says something publicly with their name on it, we're all just guessing if this is him being nudged along to improve the culture, or if he was unhappy with the situation/finances at Maine, or what. It will be interesting to see where he lands. It doesn't serve anyone to make guesses based on body language whether he's a good human being or not. No one in the world looks grumpier than Quinn Hughes. He's one of the best players on earth and, by all accounts, a phenomenal teammate. Who cares if he skates around looking like he just got bad news?

Where I land is still wait and see. Everyone was just grabbing the first available CHL kids last year without a whole lot of process behind it. There wasn't a lot of time, on either the coaches or players sides, to fully evaluate what is a good fit and what isn't. With a full season to scout, talk to kids, talk to junior coaches, I'm pretty confident that Maine will be able to better align what they want and what the recruits want. it doesn't mean that the kids who came in are at fault for anything, sometimes things are just a bad fit and both parties need to move on.

This whole its falling apart on Barr narrative is bonkers. Eastern hockey had its worst year in a long time, a lot of traditionally blue blood programs like BC and BU also missed the tournament, and parity basically reigned in Hockey East. That won't stay the case forever, and in a world where everything was scrambled overnight it's not reasonable to expect everyone to immediately figure it out.
 
Blackbear96 said:
A lot of recruiting talk, which makes plenty of sense, but I'm still very curious in Barr's role in the recruiting process. Obviously, the HC has the final say on all of these guys but pre-Maine it was clear he was constantly on the road meeting players / getting eyes on these guys and given the nature of the HC job that role certainly has changed. Curious to see if he takes some of the reigns back given the whiff rate on this past class? Is the Fortier loss that big? Just spit balling.

There will certainly be some amped up pressure this year to rebound, but Maine is still very much a destination. I'd except a steady influx of talent...hopefully with the correct DNA.
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Hard to say what impact O'Connor has made from a recruiting standpoint yet but it'll be interesting to see if Maine is in on any of the guys from the last couple Mount St. Charles teams that he was part of. I know Pelosi already committed to BC but there are some other big names still uncommitted at this point.
 
Not sure I understand why Maine HAD to get CHL kids. There were no rules requiring teams to have a minimum amount or anything like that. Ultimately Maine did bring a number in because of how bad the traditional recruits were. If they had been better Maine could have been pickier with CHL kids.

Folks are obviously entitled to their own opinion but I think it’s nuts when people say the recruiting has been good under Barr. He’s done well with the transfers but the traditional recruiting has been mediocre at best. Even now out of 30 or so kids committed only a handful are any good.
 
AMC said:
Where I land is still wait and see. Everyone was just grabbing the first available CHL kids last year without a whole lot of process behind it. There wasn't a lot of time, on either the coaches or players sides, to fully evaluate what is a good fit and what isn't. With a full season to scout, talk to kids, talk to junior coaches, I'm pretty confident that Maine will be able to better align what they want and what the recruits want. it doesn't mean that the kids who came in are at fault for anything, sometimes things are just a bad fit and both parties need to move on.
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This is a very good way to look at it. Maine certainly wasn't the only team that struggled to adapt to acclimating the CHL players to the college game. Neutral Zone had Maine's 2025 class ranked fifth sandwiched between Michigan and Boston College, so anyone trying to say it wasn't a strong class is just being revisionist. It's a bummer that such a skilled class didn't translate on the ice but to your point another year to adapt and better scouting will certainly help find the right balance of skill and system fits (and partially why I'm so high on Voronin & Mistelbacher headlining the incoming class).
 
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