UNH Hockey 2023 Off Season Thread Turn and Face the Strange

[HockeyRef]

Ty Conklin is still "Assistant Coach/Goaltending Development"???

I've heard that is fact...

 

[Chuck Murray]

Max Gildon heads overseas

Hate to read that. Looks like he just never got his AHL career out of neutral, not sure if it was injuries or just being stuck in a deep Florida pool of young defensemen? Poturalski to some degree ran into the same roadblock of being stuck in the Carolina organization when they were flush with younger/faster/stronger forward prospects (including at the time former UNH teammate Warren Foegele). Good luck, but the road to the NHL just got WAY longer for Gildon now.

On the Conklin thing, I can only guess the NCAA allowing for a paid 3rd assistant coach this season made a difference?

 

[Darius]

Nothing says "We sweat the details here at UNH Hockey" like listing a coach who quit last midseason, and about a dozen players without photos listed on the roster. Exactly what I'd expect of an 11th place team. Kudos.

Yeah! Those ten incoming players should get off their phones and send UNH a selfie. No wait, I mean get their butts to Durham ASAP for a professional photo shoot (which will likely occur shortly after their imminent arrival on campus).

 

[Darius]

I've heard that is fact...

Nothing says "We sweat the details here at UNH Hockey" like listing a coach who quit last midseason, and about a dozen players without photos listed on the roster. Exactly what I'd expect of an 11th place team. Kudos.

Can you share more 'Ref? It appears that either the UL misreported or something changed.

On the Conklin thing, I can only guess the NCAA allowing for a paid 3rd assistant coach this season made a difference?

Makes sense although UNH quickly finding the money pretty much ruins the cash poor excuse I make for the 'cats every now and again.

 

[Chuck Murray]

Makes sense although UNH quickly finding the money pretty much ruins the cash poor excuse I make for the 'cats every now and again.

Also shows the AD probably had more flexibility to can the current HC a year early than some of us thought.

 

[NCAA watcher]

So, you want to be creative? Without knowing the underlying details, here's a free coach for this year, who has been in our pool of replacements. He has the luxury of being paid a modest amount for next year, say, as the third coach on your staff at 40K, with the Umile/Scarano/Souza promise he'll be "strongly considered" should an opening come up in say, March 2024.

https://www.michigandaily.com/ice-ho...quest-reveals/

“Pursuant to your employment agreement, the University will continue to pay your base salary on a monthly basis until the expiration of your contract term, April 30, 2024,” the letter reads. “These payments are subject to your obligation to seek alternative employment as discussed in more detail in the employment agreement.”

This guarantees that — no matter if he’s successful in finding a new job or not — Muckalt will receive at least $230,000 for the 2023-24 season. For example, if he made $100,000 from a different job, the University would then owe him the remaining $130,000 if he proved he was still looking for new employment.

05-02-2023, 05:13 PM
Originally posted by NCAA watcher View Post
Another name in the hopper
Well, it's May 2nd and the axe appears to not have fallen in Durham.....Muckalt will inevitably get picked up by the one of the myriad of schools that are already actively looking for new coaches.

Dan, May 2022
UNH's immediate connections & radar don't have any shoe in candidates - Ayers? Dean? - and it didn't work out well last time they went that route anyway. I'd love a home run swing at a Blashill type. At the very least they need a deep dive and consideration into any and all candidates, connections be damned (Muckalt, Jackson, Harbinson, Jones, the SHU/Toronto guy you like). A similar plan as the hires made this season will only disappoint me...

NCAA watcher
04-01-2022, 08:05 AM
While killing time to see if anyone in the portal might sign on with UNH.....
If we're dreaming, Ryan Hardy the former USHL Chicago GM, now an assistant GM in Toronto, would be great. But like Blashill, they're pipedreams. Even Reid Cashman at Dartmouth is probably out of the realm (don't know what outs he has in his contract). The good thing is the Barr has been set so low at UNH that every hire, even a current assistant at a successful program like Dane Jackson or Bill Muckalt, would be more qualified than Souza was, and will be an improvement. With that perspective, I trust the process, even without knowing who the new AD will be.

Dan, February 2022
My list of candidates would start with Clarkson's Casey Jones, Associate HC's Dane Jackson, Bill Muckalt, Joe Dumais & Ron Rolston, and junior hockey bench boss Fred Harbinson, among others. There are a number of other great candidates to be considered, but my goal would be to cast a wide net and aim high. Not to settle on, and for, low hanging fruit..

 

[Chuck Murray]

So, you want to be creative? Without knowing the underlying details, here's a free coach for this year, who would have been in my pool of replacements. Hire him as the third coach on your staff at 80K, with a promise he'll be "strongly considered" should an opening come up in say, March 2024. (AKA, the Umile/Scarano fix is in)

LOL the idea of Muckalt coming in as 3rd coach with a promise for 2024 consideration, certainly would have been a highly entertaining scenario to keep us jackals yipping in advance of next Spring ... but putting aside the inconvenience of the likelihood that our prodigal goalies coach may now be back in the fold WITH pay to use up the 3rd slot, what would have been in it for Muckalt? $80,000 with a "strongly considered" promise don't sound like much in the way of compensation for having to spend the better part of a full year living out of a Holiday Inn Express, and dealing with coaching colleagues who may not be great (or even passable) D-1 coaches, but will definitely be able to read "your writing on their wall" and treat you with all the warmth and friendliness of the second coming of the Black Plague. In short, it's mutually assured destruction, and even if you end up getting hired as HC after that ordeal, I'm guessing the fan base is hardly going to be doing handstands in our collective enthuiasm.

"Creative" walked out the door once AD Rich decided to prolong the mutual agony of MS7, his staff, their families, and what's left of a decimated UNH Hockey fanbase by refusing to do the right thing, and not buying him out this past Spring when it absolutely positively could have been done.

Souza/Stewart/Guiliano would all probably be in new jobs by now, probably with lower blood pressures and happier families, and some assistant type (let's say Dumais) would be all settled in, bringing new energy to the program, its players, the school and its fans out in the NH hinterlands (like Effingwoods). As it is, UNH got a commit from some kid who probably grew up a few blocks from the WIS Estate, and I didn't even know about it ...

 

[NCAA watcher]

First, Muckalt is in a position where, unless he gets a gig paying more than $230, he doesn't care how little the new gig pays for next year. He may even prefer that U.Mich picks up more of the tab :smiley: (And by being a NH resident, he may even minimize his taxable income)

As for workplace dynamics, tell Muckalt he doesn't even have to come to Durham much and interact with the current coaches. Spend the year vacationing in his home BC, recruiting kids for 2024.
And he'd be secure with the same Souza promise, of "consideration" after Umile retired -- unless he kills someone in the next year, he'd be the HC.

Muckalt recruited most of the Mich high profile kids the past decade, including all the first rounders. Now, it may be that Michigan gives you five legs up on kids, and the HC has a big role of the brand you are selling, but you still have to beat out the other top 5 schools.

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[TD]12/22/2017[/TD]
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[TD]Nick[/TD]
[TD]Granowicz[/TD]
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[TD]2/22/2018[/TD]
[TD]Connor[/TD]
[TD]Levis[/TD]
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[TD]2/27/2018[/TD]
[TD]Jake[/TD]
[TD]Harrison[/TD]
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[TD]Luke[/TD]
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[TD]6/1/2018[/TD]
[TD]Steve[/TD]
[TD]Holtz[/TD]
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[TD]Brendan[/TD]
[TD]Brisson[/TD]
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[TD]Cam[/TD]
[TD]York[/TD]
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[TD]Eric[/TD]
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[TD]Nick[/TD]
[TD]Bochen[/TD]
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[TD]Mark[/TD]
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[TD]John[/TD]
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[TD]Brendan[/TD]
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[TD]Charlie[/TD]
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[TD]Brian[/TD]
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[Dan]

Another candidate to consider...

https://www.uscho.com/2023/07/29/fa...-role-with-colorado-college-mens-hockey-team/

 

[Chuck Murray]

Useless NHL trivia while we slog through the summer in search of a fresh patch of ice somewhere ...

Connor McDavid has posted 3 consecutive 100 point seasons through the end of last season, and is looking to become the first NHL player since the following two Hall of Famers accomplished/extended their streaks to at least 4 straight seasons (in the same season) last century. Name them both (hint - neither of them were UNH alums)?

 

[NCAA watcher]

Wait, they play hockey at levels above the college level? I'd seen some clips of a bunch of big guys filling up the ice so nobody can move, and then taking shots hoping for some fortunate bounces or deflections getting into the .01% of the net not covered by a michelin man. So most games are essentially random, and not decided by skill. Is that the game you speak of?
Although I have seen that they have a rule that after 60 minutes of randomness, they reward the fans who sat through the pinball game by removing a skater to create some actual space for skilled players, and there is a brief 5 minute where they showcase their players.

 

[Chuck Murray]

First, Muckalt is in a position where, unless he gets a gig paying more than $230, he doesn't care how little the new gig pays for next year. He may even prefer that U.Mich picks up more of the tab :smiley: (And by being a NH resident, he may even minimize his taxable income)

As for workplace dynamics, tell Muckalt he doesn't even have to come to Durham much and interact with the current coaches. Spend the year vacationing in his home BC, recruiting kids for 2024.
And he'd be secure with the same Souza promise, of "consideration" after Umile retired -- unless he kills someone in the next year, he'd be the HC.

Muckalt recruited most of the Mich high profile kids the past decade, including all the first rounders. Now, it may be that Michigan gives you five legs up on kids, and the HC has a big role of the brand you are selling, but you still have to beat out the other top 5 schools.

I cut out your table, as I get your point there, and don't get me wrong ... I'd personally drive Muckalt to the Durham Holiday Inn Express all the way from BC if I thought he'd take the job. Tomorrow even. I just don't see what would be in it for him here, that he wouldn't be able to get at any number of places WAY closer to home, and WAY closer to his recruiting "happy hunting grounds". I mean, when's the last time a Michigan kid of any significance decided to come ply his wares here in Seacoast NH? I do like your "selling point" to Muckalt on saving a few extra dollars on NH residency/workplace on his income taxes too. But is $4,000-$5,000 going to make up for a year of continental breakfasts, IF he spends that time in the Durham Express ... and if he's hanging out in BC, then he's not going to be able to shelter that income in NH, is he?

Muckalt's penultimate game as a player at Michigan was their 4-0 demolition of UNH at the almost-new Fleet Center in April 1998. I found this today, and haven't seen it in 25+ years. Best part is the pre-game where they show Mowers lighting up BU in the Regionals, after that you are warned about how ugly it gets once the game starts. The first major red flag that Coach Umile might not be up to getting it done on the national stage. "Enjoy" ...

 

[NCAA watcher]

Well, and to be clear, you would only do that if you knew he was the guy. I'd like to see a bit more of the other candidates, and you can't really have a national search 9 months ahead of time. :smiley: So I agree you'd be wrong to promise him the job now rather than wait for a full search in April.

The exciting thing is that regardless of which tier of candidates we fall into, there's such a low starting point that anything is an improvement. Unless they f up the one car parade, I can assure you that the Board's reaction will not be

Greg A
06-10-2015, 12:03 PM
I can't believe that this is true, that when the hiring of Souza is announced, it will also be announced that Umile will be retiring the year after next, to be replaced with someone with a record that is as thin as Souza's is. Mind you, I think Mike is a great guy, at least he was in all the interactions I had with him back when he was a player. And I do think he is an earnest, hard working, up-and-comer. But to think that he would be anointed the new coach would be mind boggling to me. It would lead me to ask Marty Scarano, what happened to the notion that you would only hire someone with Division 1 head coach experience? If Umile was going to designate someone as his successor, why wouldn't it be the man who has been his chief recruiter for the last 12 years rather than someone who is just establishing himself. Just doesn't make any sense.

 

[Dan]

Watcher - no list. To be honest, I barely paid attention last season. Not sure how closely I'll follow UNH this year either. So my list pretty much remains the names you recalled earlier in the thread, but Mannino is climbing quickly. He won in the USHL, has been well regarded at CC in a short tenure and, most notably to me, he seemed to be very good in one season at Miami (Blasi's final year)...

He never got a chance to accomplish anything concrete in Oxford, because he and Blasi were relieved of duties after the following season (So less than a calendar year for Mannino at Miami).

Upon arrival, he hit the recruiting ground running and landed what seemed to be several top prospects - in a NCAA Watcher capitalize on your new car smell sense - but they all bailed when the coaching change was made and Miami continues to suffer. Who knows how it could have translated at Miami, but there's a pretty nice list of players who were coming to Miami/Mannino and ended up elsewhere (successfully)...

Bennett Schimek - Providence
Uula Ruikka - Providence / Augustana
Ty Gallagher - Boston U
Kienan Draper - Michigan
Brett Murray - Rochester Americans
John Prokop - Union
Ben Dexheimer - Wisconsin
Nick Desantis - Cornell
Ben Schoen - Penn State
Matthew Kessel - UMass

It was an entirely different level of recruiting than what Miami had operated on before his arrival (since Blashill) or has operated on sense.

Mannino is young and ambitious, I can't see him not taking the UNH job if offered next summer. What kind of on-ice/in the room 'coach' is he? I have no idea. The above article says he's a 'great teacher', etc...

If he did have success, than he's probably a win at UNH with an eye on moving to a P5 program or the pros, but so be it...

 

[Chuck Murray]

Wait, they play hockey at levels above the college level? I'd seen some clips of a bunch of big guys filling up the ice so nobody can move, and then taking shots hoping for some fortunate bounces or deflections getting into the .01% of the net not covered by a michelin man. So most games are essentially random, and not decided by skill. Is that the game you speak of?
Although I have seen that they have a rule that after 60 minutes of randomness, they reward the fans who sat through the pinball game by removing a skater to create some actual space for skilled players, and there is a brief 5 minute where they showcase their players.

LOL so much of that is preaching to the choir with me, 'Watcher. Systems have too often choked the life and creativity out of the NHL game (and below too), but I don't think you can honestly lump McDavid in with that BS.

FWIW the two guys in question (trivia answers) predate some of those more current NHL trends.

 

[Robert Balin]

Useless NHL trivia while we slog through the summer in search of a fresh patch of ice somewhere ...

Connor McDavid has posted 3 consecutive 100 point seasons through the end of last season, and is looking to become the first NHL player since the following two Hall of Famers accomplished/extended their streaks to at least 4 straight seasons (in the same season) last century. Name them both (hint - neither of them were UNH alums)?

I'll go with Steve Yzerman and Brett Hull both had 100 points in the 1992-1993 season.

 

[Chuck Murray]

I'll go with Steve Yzerman and Brett Hull both had 100 points in the 1992-1993 season.

Winner right here. That season was actually Yzerman's 6th straight (and his final) 100 point season. Hull came up just three points short the following season of extending his streak to five seasons in a row. Yzerman would post 95 points in DRW's regular season '95/'96 juggernaut, a team which saw many of its RS records broken by last season's Bruins, and like the B's did not win the Cup (at least DRW made it to the West Finals).

NHL hockey was already in the midst of a seachange at that point, as 'Watcher so eloquently pointed out a few posts ago. Chief culprit at the time were the New Jersey Devils and their clog-the-neutral-zone approach that led them to some intermittent Cup successes, but ironically it was also Scotty Bowman's introduction of a more defensively responsible approach ("left wing lock") that transformed the Wings from the sad sack playoff chokers they had been (not quite as bad as current-day Toronto, but close), into what eventually turned into a 4 Cup run between 1997-2008. Most successful teams since the Devils' rise in the mid-'90's have been at least partially complicit in the mucking up of what used to be a free-flowing, attack minded league. Shame, but it is what it is. Happy Sunday, all.

 

[NCAA watcher]

When the skill level of NHLers is at an all-time high. There's just not enough space with 6'4 guys all over who can actually skate, and with the loose obstruction rules and the recent "finish your check from 30 yards away" after the guy has released the puck. If I wanted to have games decided by random pinballing of pucks rather than skill, I could watch

Blame Joel Otto for normalizing the 6'4 OK skater whose job it is to shut down Wayne Gretzky by wearing him down, vs. Steve Kasper shadowing him.

 

[Chuck Murray]

When the skill level of NHLers is at an all-time high. There's just not enough space with 6'4 guys all over who can actually skate, and with the loose obstruction rules and the recent "finish your check from 30 yards away" after the guy has released the puck. If I wanted to have games decided by random pinballing of pucks rather than skill, I could watch

Blame Joel Otto for normalizing the 6'4 OK skater whose job it is to shut down Wayne Gretzky by wearing him down, vs. Steve Kasper shadowing him.

Again, no dispute here 'Watcher. And when brand new NHL rinks are being built with the same old tried and true dimensions, despite the physics of the game progressing (faster and bigger skaters on the same-sized sheets as have been used since the demise of the smaller sheets at the old Boston Garden and Chicago Stadium), it just ensures that until some future generation of new arenas expands the facilities' capacity to reflect those changes, we're certainly not gonna see any retrofitting of arenas to eliminate the thousand or so seats closest to the ice surface. Look at The Whitt. A progressive-minded, forward-looking design, sacrificed to the whim of a flailing incompetent wannabe D-1 HC looking for excuses to save his legacy-hired position. And he's using the smaller sized dimensions of NHL arenas as his enabling crutch. Blecccchh. Just SO distasteful.

Watching that '98 UNH-Michigan game reminded me of just how many rules now used in the NHL got their start at the D-1 level. Nowadays it seems like there is more alignment between the two levels of play, and folks stopped thinking of other ways to advance the game. I'll spare you all my annual rant on raising the crossbar by 6"-12", but there are a crapload of things that should be done yesterday to improve the NHL game. Probably more like you than you dare think, but I'm varying between disappointment and annoyance at D-1 for retreating from being the leaders for good change to the game. That work has only really started, and has a long way to go. JMHO.

 

[HockeyRef]

CDS to Montreal