Re: UNH 2018-19: Souza The Opportunity
I don't understand why you keep suggesting the Leafs pursuing Tavares is an indictment on JVR. Were also getting pretty liberal with the phrase genius if we think saving for, and then throwing a pile of money at, one of the best players in the sport is a 'genius' move. They might as well be two dudes who watch a little bit of hockey. No ever argued that JVR is as good as Tavares...
Tavares is third in the NHL in goals in the last five years, just two behind Taresenko and otherwise trailing only Ovechkin. He is among the elite of the elite. His success in Toronto isn't a surprise.
JVR is a top-30 goal scorer in that span making him an extremely valueable player and an all-star level talent in the sport. And he'll be that guy again when he's completely healthy and has his feet under him. The fact that there are better players is irrelevant to a fair evaluation of him...
If Dombrowski and the Red Sox suddenly traded Andrew Benintendi for Mike Trout would that tell you that the Red Sox 'didn't want' Benintendi? Would Benintendi no longer be one of the better OFs in the game, simply because the Sox found a better one? Would Dombrowski be a genius for identifying Mike Trout? The answer to all these questions is obviously no.
Anyone who remotely follows sports would choose Tavarez and Trout - and that doesn't reflect negatively on JVR/Benintendi in the slightest...
As you know, the NHL is a salary cap league. MLB is not, so your attempted comparison is irrelevant. Toronto had a decision to make, whether to re-sign JvR (who scored his career high in goals last season) and keep the continuity of the Leafs' growth with the same cast of players. JvR ended up signing for $35MM over 5 seasons in Philly. Good for him, really. Presumably Shanahan/Babcock could have done the same deal to keep him in Toronto. They also have a boatload of younger players (as seen recently with the Nylander signing) they have to make decisions on. Taking a look at the big picture, they decided to let JvR walk, and ended up spending $11MM per to land Tavares, which will make it even tougher to take care of the rest of their younger guys when their time comes up. But they still ended up signing Nylander too, and for way more than what JvR signed for.
More big decisions will need to be taken on Matthews (no brainer), Marner and Gardiner in the next year or so. But guys like Shanahan welcome making the big decisions. And it's easier to sell guys like Matthews on the future in TO when you see him also committing to guys like Tavares and Nylander, as opposed to taking the easy way out and signing JvR for less, and letting Tavares take his free agency elsewhere.
Toronto is loaded with top notch, Cup-contending talent, and considered JvR expendable. Philly is not. My point has always been, JvR is a good NHL player, probably better than average even. He should be - he was a second pick overall. The guys I mentioned in my prior post, including Tavares (#1 overall), Nash (#1 overall), Shanahan (#2 overall) and Primeau (#3 overall) were all similar to JvR's #2 overall draft position. Three are/were comprehensively better players than JvR, and Primeau was a good NHL player, better than average even, who was found wanting by a team(s) who had legitimate Cup aspirations.
You can say JvR is "an all-star level talent" in the sport … except he's never made an All-Star team (yet).
JvR is still the most prominent former Wildcat in the NHL, and is probably the best since Langway. There's no shame in that. But in the same way that DRW expected Primeau to be a bigger force at the NHL level, I think it's fair to say that JvR has not lived up to his billing at that level, either. He has now developed a secondary game as a "net front presence" and that's good. But he's never been the dynamic all-around force that most players drafted at that level are expected to become. He's not the first, and won't be the last. His impact at UNH was of a similar ilk - very good, but not enough to push the program back up towards its previous heights. And that's not all on him - either at UNH or in the NHL.
I don't dislike JvR in the least, but I can't pretend he is a better player than he actually is, just because he played at UNH. His brothers followed him here, so obviously there is affection for the program/school in the vR family, and it all started with JvR. But if JvR played his D-1 hockey at BU, PC or Lowell, I'm guessing many of you would be thinking a lot of the same things I've written on here about his career. JMHO.
That said .. with all this keeper talk UNH DID have one guy who was pretty darn good if you ask me who was between the pipes in the early 2012-14's. He was a local guy from Rochester who carried them to the Gardhn' and his name was Casey Smith was his name if I remember right. Anyway I do remember the team had no defense and the 'dark force' from the north blew UNH out 6-3 and the season ended.
Now in regards to keepers UNH has had there seems to be one guy who has been forgotten. Probably because he wore the scarlet "G". Guy could have had a great career except for _________ (you fill in the blanks).
From Rochester NH, let me introduce you to Casey DeSmith!