Everyone take a deep breath. Unless an NHL team wants a player in their system right now, they are not just going to sign a kid because a coach left. First round picks are the exception and DU has none right now. On the other hand, a player may approach the pro team and want to leave. Unless a player is ready for the next step, the pro teams don't want to start the clock on their contracts. Remember NHL teams are limited to 50 total contracts. Assuming 23 contracts are with the NHL club, they only have about 27 contracts to fill their AHL and ECHL teams. Not enough to stock two full teams and that is why many teams share ECHL teams. Do they want to tie up a contract with a kid they feel isn't ready and have to release someone who may be further along in their development. As far as players jumping to the CHL (WHL, OHL, QMJHL), there are limits to how many overage players you can have in what is primarily a 16 to 19-year old league. I doubt many current DU players have that option as they are all older. Most players jump to the CHL before or during their freshman years. The players to worry about for DU are the CHL drafted recruits who will get pressure to sign contracts with the CHL teams. For a current DU player to transfer to another D-1 school, they would have to sit out a year. Most players that transfer leave because of lack of playing time. Since DU had trouble fielding a complete roster for most of the season and the chance that some DU recruits won't come, playing time for the existing players isn't going to be an issue. I don't see any players transferring. There will likely be some growing pains with a new coach, but DU still has a strong tradition and great facilities to attract players even with a new coach. Unless DU is bringing in Jerry York, no one will have Gwoz's track record. There is no reason that someone can't come in and start a new tradition at DU.
Do I think DU made an error in letting Gwoz go, of course I do. They did what they did and need to move forward. As an alum, I am embarrassed at the way they handled the situation and personally don't think terminating his contract was warranted. We can jump up and down and complain about what happened but unfortunately we can't change the situation. The new coach, whoever that may be, is going to need our support for the team to be successful. While I strongly disagree with what happened, I will continue to support the hockey team and all other DU teams. I will be very hesitant to trust those in charge of the high level decisions as they have failed the athletes, fans, students, alums, coaches and press with their "cone of silence".
Per Mike Chambers from Twitter