Northeastern Huskies 2015 Off-Season Thread: Unrequited Love

[Nick Papagiorgio]

Re: Northeastern Huskies 2015 Off-Season Thread: Unrequited Love

Ouch....tough day to be NU fan.

Par for the course. Good days for NU fans are few and far between (sorry guys).

Now, maybe it is a good time to rehash the discussion about why it is stupid to force a kid to attend that signed a NLOI but later wants out?

 

[Hokydad]

Re: Northeastern Huskies 2015 Off-Season Thread: Unrequited Love

He could have left and set out, same thing he will have to do now
At least NU got a couple years out of him. He is not an easy coast kid, no big deal

 

[NU_Husky]

.....and Kyle MacLean has signed with Oshawa..... https://twitter.com/SeanLafortune/status/609403834343927809

Both of these happenings were known to be coming by the staff for at least a month. Not too many tears being shed over Szmatula leaving to be honest. His offensive skills will be missed but off the ice...not so much. This move allowed the coaches to accelerate Lincoln Griffin. who they are very high on. Gaudette will likely take 19's role as 2nd line forward.

 

[HHound]

Re: Northeastern Huskies 2015 Off-Season Thread: Unrequited Love

hate to be the barer of bad news but according to his twitter.com page, szmatula is not coming back to NU.

I blame this on one person and and one person ONLY.......ROBY!! Good to see ROBY finished the job he started 2 years ago! ROBY was happy to let Mike Smzatulas play somewhere else because he can actually play hockey!

gO find that in your advanced stats excel spreedsheets....

I believe that I've made my feelings crystal clear about the Hockey Assassin a.k.a. Peter Roby, but in this case he had nothing to do with Szmatula leaving. The kid got along just fine with his teammates and in his studies. This is more likely a case of a little (western) birdie planting the idea in his malleable mind that the reason his numbers were down had more to do with being in someone's shadow and at another school.

He might get a better opportunity to be the star (and to pile up the points which, to his way of thinking, validate his skills as a hockey player. You may be certain that he will not be allowed to transfer to a Hockey East school or to Denver (unless he pays his own way) and he will sit for this season while he tries to get younger. He'll be 24 when he laces them up as a junior somewhere.

Good luck to him. We appreciated his hustle for two seasons.

 

[Split-N]

Re: Northeastern Huskies 2015 Off-Season Thread: Unrequited Love

...Good days for NU fans are few and far between (sorry guys)...

True enough (sigh). But I don't see Szmatula's leaving as a show-stopper. The big question marks continue to be on defense and in goal. Forwards? Not so much. There are enough returning and rookie Fs (plus Kurker) that should be able to pick up the slack.

The only thing that surprises me is that he's transferring instead of turning pro. If my math is correct (and he has to sit out a year) he'll be 24 before he can lace 'em up for anyone else. In the college hockey world, that's old enough to apply for Social Security.

 

[NU_Husky]

Re: Northeastern Huskies 2015 Off-Season Thread: Unrequited Love

True enough (sigh). But I don't see Szmatula's leaving as a show-stopper. The big question marks continue to be on defense and in goal. Forwards? Not so much. There are enough returning and rookie Fs (plus Kurker) that should be able to pick up the slack.

This I agree with. Gaudette was already penciled in on the RW2 slot. He is a center in Juniors, and likely will slide over to that role now. So now there is a winger position up for grabs. With the money freed up by Szmatula leaving, Griffin will be accelerated to come in a year early (JM referenced money being freed by Belonger- while this may be true, not way RB got enough to bring in a kid like Griffin. It is Szmatula leaving that allows it to happen.). I expect Griffin/Sikura/Collier/Cotton to duke it out for that RW2 slot, and I gotta say, ZAR/Gaudette/Sikura is a line I could get used to.

 

[HHound]

Re: Northeastern Huskies 2015 Off-Season Thread: Unrequited Love

This I agree with. Gaudette was already penciled in on the RW2 slot. He is a center in Juniors, and likely will slide over to that role now. So now there is a winger position up for grabs. With the money freed up by Szmatula leaving, Griffin will be accelerated to come in a year early (JM referenced money being freed by Belonger- while this may be true, not way RB got enough to bring in a kid like Griffin. It is Szmatula leaving that allows it to happen.). I expect Griffin/Sikura/Collier/Cotton to duke it out for that RW2 slot, and I gotta say, ZAR/Gaudette/Sikura is a line I could get used to.

Belonger's scholarship was backend loaded as was Gunn's. Between the two, there was enough $ freed up to bring in Kurker and Griffin (at least on a partial in his first year). Initially, I would expect the coaches to try Kurker at RW with ZAR and Gaudette. The first line will return intact. Sikura will be RW with the Stevens Bros. Beyond that - who knows? Hopefully these guys will have the experience and ability to keep the puck out of our zone and in the opponent's.

 

[Thiessen'sBetter]

Re: Northeastern Huskies 2015 Off-Season Thread: Unrequited Love

I'm less worried about losing our 2nd line center than I am about losing our two top PK forwards (19 and 8) from a team that had an awful PK. It could easily be 70-75% next year.

Edit: I didn't realize it was all the way down to 73% by the end of year. 70-75 for next year might be generous.

 

[HHound]

Re: Northeastern Huskies 2015 Off-Season Thread: Unrequited Love

I'm less worried about losing our 2nd line center than I am about losing our two top PK forwards (19 and 8) from a team that had an awful PK. It could easily be 70-75% next year.

Edit: I didn't realize it was all the way down to 73% by the end of year. 70-75 for next year might be generous.

Apparently they weren't too good at killing penalties. Not having them on the kill is something we'll survive. To be sure, improving the PK will be emphasized big time. While we know the scoring stats of the incoming class, we can only hope that their skills extend to killing penalties as well as drawing them.

 

[Thiessen'sBetter]

Re: Northeastern Huskies 2015 Off-Season Thread: Unrequited Love

Apparently they weren't too good at killing penalties. Not having them on the kill is something we'll survive. To be sure, improving the PK will be emphasized big time. While we know the scoring stats of the incoming class, we can only hope that their skills extend to killing penalties as well as drawing them.

The point was they were better than what we have coming back. I hope JM brought in some quality PKers but based on his track record, I'm skeptical. What good defensive forwards has he brought in? He was handed Pimm, McLaughlin and Reid. He did bring in Szmats and (kinda) Sap, but that's basically it. I trust he can recruit offensive skill but I don't think he can recruit or teach the defensive side of the game.

 

[NU_Husky]

Re: Northeastern Huskies 2015 Off-Season Thread: Unrequited Love

The point was they were better than what we have coming back. I hope JM brought in some quality PKers but based on his track record, I'm skeptical. What good defensive forwards has he brought in? He was handed Pimm, McLaughlin and Reid. He did bring in Szmats and (kinda) Sap, but that's basically it. I trust he can recruit offensive skill but I don't think he can recruit or teach the defensive side of the game.

I'm hopeful that Kurker or Gaudette can slide into a PK role from the get-go. Not sure if either were used there in juniors but they seem to fit the physical mold of a PK player. I really hope JM puts the better DFDs on the PK; taking Sauce off the PK would likely help immensely. Benning/DD/Barry should see plenty of time there as well, IMO. Lines are all conjecture at this point, of course. We'll know more come September

 

[beanstalk]

Re: Northeastern Huskies 2015 Off-Season Thread: Unrequited Love

Here's a nice article on Gaudette. http://www.sbncollegehockey.com/col...stern-recruit-adam-gaudette-cedar-rapids-ushl

 

[HHound]

Re: Northeastern Huskies 2015 Off-Season Thread: Unrequited Love

Their is one error in the article. Gaudette has been slated to come this fall for quite a while. Lincoln Griffin, Gaudette's former LW linemate at Thayer, was accelerated as the result of Smatula's forward thinking.

 

[CollegeHockeyRinkReport]

Their is one error in the article. Gaudette has been slated to come this fall for quite a while. Lincoln Griffin, Gaudette's former LW linemate at Thayer, was accelerated as the result of Smatula's forward thinking.

Not true... Gaudette was originally slated as '16 but it's now up in air leaning more towards coming this season.

 

[HHound]

Re: Northeastern Huskies 2015 Off-Season Thread: Unrequited Love

Not true... Gaudette was originally slated as '16 but it's now up in air leaning more towards coming this season.

Yes, you are correct that Adam was originally a '16, but the acceleration was done months ago. If he doesn't come this fall, I think the coaches will be surprised as they are really looking forward to having him available. Lincoln Griffin was the late acceleration.

Thanks for doing the write-ups of Gaudette and of Ryan Shea, who should be playing in Youngstown this fall.

 

[NU_Husky]

Re: Northeastern Huskies 2015 Off-Season Thread: Unrequited Love

Quiet crowd in the offseason. Good thing it's just 99 days until the puck drops vs Simon Fraser.

2016 recruit Ryan Shea (LD)was selected at the end of round 4 by Chicago. Incoming freshman Adam Gaudette (C) was taken at the end of the 5th by Vancouver. That makes 6 draft picks on the roster this season.

 

[josh_brown]

Re: Northeastern Huskies 2015 Off-Season Thread: Unrequited Love

Hey Guys,

Hope everyone's summer is going well. Just wanted to drop by and let everyone know the hockey crew at WRBB (Student radio station of Northeastern athletics) has revamped our website, wrbbsports.com. We came to the realization this past season that although broadcasting every home and away game will always be the crust of our organization, web content is just as important, and there is no real place to get Huskies news all in one place on the internet. That's exactly what we're aiming to do.

In addition to audio highlights and game recaps from every game, we will be producing features, columns and much more this upcoming season for both the hockey and basketball team. Hope you consider giving the website a look, giving us a follow on twitter @wrbbsports and visiting the site for all your Huskies news. Thank you!

 

[Happy Husky]

Re: Northeastern Huskies 2015 Off-Season Thread: Unrequited Love

Thanks Josh,Psyched to see the new look,you guys do an awesome job bringing it! keep up the good work,there's a great season ahead,get those website's ready,there's gonna be Huskies Hockey in the air soon #GoNU

 

[HHound]

Re: Northeastern Huskies 2015 Off-Season Thread: Unrequited Love

Hey Guys,

Hope everyone's summer is going well. Just wanted to drop by and let everyone know the hockey crew at WRBB (Student radio station of Northeastern athletics) has revamped our website, wrbbsports.com. We came to the realization this past season that although broadcasting every home and away game will always be the crust of our organization, web content is just as important, and there is no real place to get Huskies news all in one place on the internet. That's exactly what we're aiming to do.

In addition to audio highlights and game recaps from every game, we will be producing features, columns and much more this upcoming season for both the hockey and basketball team. Hope you consider giving the website a look, giving us a follow on twitter @wrbbsports and visiting the site for all your Huskies news. Thank you!

That sounds terrific. I hope you will feel free to express your own opinions vs. the sanitized, NC$$ PC material/propaganda on Gonu.com. It would also be nice to see some coverage of the fall sports. The Field Hockey and Women's soccer teams should be very good. There should be lots of interesting stories for you to pursue as these athletes have arrived at NU from a wide variety of places and programs.

Here is a nicely done bit of fluff from Union College which could be adapted for your viewers . http://unionhockeyblog.blogspot.com/2015/06/freshman-jersey-numbers-released.html

 

[NU_Husky]

Re: Northeastern Huskies 2015 Off-Season Thread: Unrequited Love

Stick tap to @FloridaPucks (I think he's TheRevengence on here) for bringing this to attention: Ryan Rosenthal was invited to Montreal development camp. Hopefully he will earn some PT after working this offseason, he would be a nice addition to the 4th line- don't see him going higher on the RW with Sikura/Kurker/McMurtry ahead of him (as much maligned as Murch is). In my way-to-early line projections I have Rosenthal as the 13th F, so this invite is a nice surprise.

That will be 7 players so far at camps. Roy, Sikura, Kurker, Collier, Benning, Gaudette will all go to their respective teams', Rosie is #7. I expect ZAR to get another invite somewhere, and possibly Hedges.