I'd put him on par with Furgele in that regard, so.....
Todd Hall was a 3rd round NHL pick. Mike Heinke was a 5th round pick. I guy seeing he wont play for BC even after they lose 4 defensemen, and coming to a team with space (no indication of any real recruiting of him as a transfer) doesn't scream culture shift, any more than it screams "players fleeing BC." These sorts of spare parts moving is fairly common. It's like UNH getting Greg Dumont from Air Force.
Who are you, and what have you done with Dan? On the larger front of recruiting, its been a pretty quiet summer, even as the summer tournaments roll on. One culture change is that they are actually joining the rest of the college world and expressed interest in a Euro, even though they seem well in the back of the pack on the Finn mentioned -- and after UNH declined to pursue any of the Finns that would have helped them this year, e,g., NHL first rounder to Denver, BC getting two, Providence and U.Conn getting one. With open spots this year, they didn't move quickly at all to try to use that opportunity, such as possibly stealing Kawaguchi when PC deferred him and he decommitted (like Laleggia and Vecchione). In the year plus post-Borek, we have one notable recruit (not a blue chipper, but an interesting potential top kid) -- Crookshank. UNH remains "waiting" on Shane Bowers, Cam Hillis, Jack Cameron. Until one of those guys makes a decision I don't see any real "wow" signs of kids voting with their feet.
Im refering to the transfer as a culture shift because it's the first transfer into UNH of any kind in a LONG time. You listed above the three transfers we always reference as the most recent and those were 20 some years ago. Clearly UNH shut the door on that route to building a team - perhaps that door is now open again.
I'm referring to Couturier as an impact player because he will make an impact at UNH via a top four role in these defenses. He will have to do so. He's not close to Todd Hall as a player - but will be in role. That may say more about the defensemen around him than it does about himself, but I see him in that role just the same.
He's a MUCH better player than Furgele - and imagine how much better Furgele would have been by simply being 6-2, 200+. I was not a Furgele fan, but the kid did have some puck skill - he was just physically dominated by so many opponents...
Here is UNH's scheduled D-Corp for 2017-18. How would you rank ice them? Here's what I'm seeing as of now (ranked as you would strictly on ability and not taking pairing compatibility into account)...
Marks-Wyse
Dawson-Couturier
Boyd-Miller
Chanter-Darcy
Nonis
So like his game or not, he's gonna get a lot of minutes and make an 'impact' playing with that group. He may end up being as good or better than any of the other top four guys listed above. I certainly view him as a better college player than the younger D in the pipeline...
I hope you didn't read my last post and assume I'm happy with the direction of UNHs recruiting! I'd agree that the lack of a single top recruit, outside of Crookshank, and the lack of commitments in general is a concern! In fact I'd say it screams inexperience! impact players continue to fly off the board while UNH remains in a holding pattern.
I haven't posted in a while because I'm tired of discussing the negatives surrounding the future of the program and I see very little positive. I'm hopefully Couturier represents at least a small positive step.
EDIT - it appear that UNH may still be above using transfers to improve its team. I wonder when they'll start using ANY methods to improve?
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Since in sure everyone has been wondering about my thoughts on other issues...!
Ref - I've posted before what a disappointment the UNH SID has been for the entire AD. They're still living in the past as far as how they view their role. Outside of a handful of projects they still seem to view their jobs as record keeping, media hospitality and sharing recaps with said media and fans. In terms of social media, content creation, the understanding of pushing content in a cluttered sports media environment, providing fan information, promoting players and programs, etc they are SO far behind the times it's shocking...
Re: the schedule - the team is not winning HE or making an at large run. Recruits don't look at strength of non-conference schedule, they see wins and losses. So UNH might as well win! Maybe they'll even build some confidence in the process for the HE schedule...
