Robert Balin
Member
I was hoping for Souza to part ways with a few more players which he might have to. Heisenberg has 3 forwards and 2 defensemen coming in this year. If that's the case I don't see them doing much in the portal.
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UNH Offseason Contract Edition.
- Thread starter norbert
- Start date
I was hoping for Souza to part ways with a few more players which he might have to. Heisenberg has 3 forwards and 2 defensemen coming in this year. If that's the case I don't see them doing much in the portal.
HockeyRef
Well-known member
Lol when I saw Conmy in the 603 Challenge promo I figured we were in the clear at least where he was concerned!
No idea when the portal closes? Saw a date of May 14 out there...
Chuck Murray
WIS & Effingwoods Hockey Almanac
I see a few mentions in other threads about incomings from the portal to schools that finished below UNH.
JB, your well-stated thoughts on Strategy & Execution earlier today may come into play here, sadly ...
JB, your well-stated thoughts on Strategy & Execution earlier today may come into play here, sadly ...
HockeyRef
Well-known member
Yes looks like it but they are filling their spots as will UNH. Bringing over CHC's article about next year's incoming. He mentions there are 4 forward spots...twins cover 2 and the others to be filled potentially by those commits who have signed NLI / or from the portal.
https://unhhockeyblog.blogspot.com/2024/03/unh-commits-update-3-22-2024-revised.html?m=1
Still a few moving pieces to come of course eager to see if Hellsten is indeed returning (suspect he is? Hope?). Plus the need for a capable back up.
D remains a question not known of Reid or Jensen will return think Norbert made a comment regarding Jensen returning.
TheGrouchyCat
Litter Box of Bad Ideas
Interesting times. Question is whether MS7 and staff are playing chess and have been anticipating moves and transfers, both inbound and outbound, or are they playing checkers and just reacting to all movement in the "marketplace"?
NCAA watcher
Registered User
Sr.Liam Devlin----------Jr.Cy Leclerc-----------So.Ryan Conmy
Jr.Morgan Winters------So.Nick Ring-----------Jr.Kristaps Skrastins
So.Martins Lavins------Fr.Ryan MacPherson----Fr.Connor MacPherson
Sr.Connor Sweeney---So.J.P. Turner------------Sr.Robert Cronin
Sr.Connor Lovett------Fr.Connor DeTurris------So.Jason Siedem
So.Ronan Walsh
Sr.Alex Gagne---------Gr.Nikolai Jensen
Sr.Colton Huard-------So.Brendan Fitzgerald
Sr.Luis Lindner--------Fr.Reid Conn
Fr.Josh Player---------Sr.Jack Babbage
So.Zach Hahn
Sr.Jakob Hellsten-------[Transfer]-----------Sr.Rafael Gaughin
(Connor appears to be the new Liam. Just wait until they bring in Conner DeHarlo and Jayden Connors. There'll be tons to too many men penalties when Souza tells "Con" to get on the ice.)
Jr.Morgan Winters------So.Nick Ring-----------Jr.Kristaps Skrastins
So.Martins Lavins------Fr.Ryan MacPherson----Fr.Connor MacPherson
Sr.Connor Sweeney---So.J.P. Turner------------Sr.Robert Cronin
Sr.Connor Lovett------Fr.Connor DeTurris------So.Jason Siedem
So.Ronan Walsh
Sr.Alex Gagne---------Gr.Nikolai Jensen
Sr.Colton Huard-------So.Brendan Fitzgerald
Sr.Luis Lindner--------Fr.Reid Conn
Fr.Josh Player---------Sr.Jack Babbage
So.Zach Hahn
Sr.Jakob Hellsten-------[Transfer]-----------Sr.Rafael Gaughin
(Connor appears to be the new Liam. Just wait until they bring in Conner DeHarlo and Jayden Connors. There'll be tons to too many men penalties when Souza tells "Con" to get on the ice.)
TheGrouchyCat
Litter Box of Bad Ideas
Don't discount Hahn. That kid can play. Let's also hope that Babbage can stay healthy. Unfortunately, with his track record, this seems to be a big ask. I'm a man of a certain age, Fitzy's game just scares me.
Robert Balin
Member
The Philbrook kid is also slated to be coming in this fall.So somethings gotta give.
As noted no room for Ryan Philbrick-LD - 10th D-man and hopefully Jack Sadowski-LW wants to wait a year and play in the BCHL.
16 F, 9 D that leaves 6 in the stands every night and this probably explains why UNH doesn't seem to be in on any transfer portal players.
Chuck Murray
WIS & Effingwoods Hockey Almanac
MS7 finally showing his stuff, revealing himself to be quite the con man
Chuck Murray
WIS & Effingwoods Hockey Almanac
Any D-1 head coach worth their corn should know which of his players are hitting the portal, and which ones aren't. It's called trust and open communication. That's Roster Management 101. As far as incomings ... definitely trickier, as I would imagine you and your staff would have to depend on a reliable network of trusted sources in many places outside your program to compile the intel needed to anticipate incoming player opportunities. Some of the best sources should be the "advisors" the top D-1 recruits and established players tend to rely on themselves, and I don't think the UNH staff has rated highly in recent years with that bunch. Hopefully over time, either their collective reputations have crept up, and they're on more peoples' lists than they used to be? A winning season AND a new contract should help, and maybe give others a reason to reconsider having UNH on their ignore list up to now??
"Chess" will be on display when there are no unexpected departures, key players stay where they are, you start to get helpful quality intel on potential incomings even before they hit the portal AND you can possibly "massage" some of your borderline would-be returning players to give the portal some serious thought (where they may have been content to stick around otherwise) to clear space for better quality incoming players.
The idea that Sadowski may not matriculate this Fall at UNH because there is still too much roster clutter at the bottom of the UNH depth chart to "fit him in" this year should be entirely avoidable, if MS7 is indeed playing chess, unless the Sadowski clan would prefer young Jack to get another PG year under his belt.
So far ... I don't see any outgoings that cause me undue concern, and the key players seem to be staying put. Definitely an improvement over the Carfagna/Dunlap double-gut punch this time last year. Now we wait to see if/when the portal brings in some goodies to force MS7 to have some discussions with the Lovetts and Sweeneys of the world about the virtues of the portal, and getting more prominent roles/ice time with Bentley or Mercyhurst or ...
I'm more worried about the hit we'll be taking on the blue line come Spring 2025....only 4 will be left on the roster. :-O Egads...........
This coming year is also the last of the COVID years which has been a change in dynamics that is changing back. If we look at UNH Seniors
F - Cafarelli - Transfer
F - Blaisdell - DONE - Used 5th year
F - Gendron - Transfer
D - Jenson - Back for 5th year
D - Reid - Looks like has a 5th year option but not using it?
G - Forman - Transfer
G - Gaughan - Back for 5th year
In the before and soon to be after times these guy would all just be done.
To me the most impactful is Blaisdell is done and he got hot as a goal scorer down the stretch and Jenson is back as a very solid D-man.
F - Cafarelli - Transfer
F - Blaisdell - DONE - Used 5th year
F - Gendron - Transfer
D - Jenson - Back for 5th year
D - Reid - Looks like has a 5th year option but not using it?
G - Forman - Transfer
G - Gaughan - Back for 5th year
In the before and soon to be after times these guy would all just be done.
To me the most impactful is Blaisdell is done and he got hot as a goal scorer down the stretch and Jenson is back as a very solid D-man.
TheGrouchyCat
Litter Box of Bad Ideas
Something that has always bothered me about the coaching game is program management. It's one thing to be a productive on ice coach, but how does playing experience transfer to overall program management? While we all have our opinions on MS7, what does he bring to the table outside a strong college career and mediocre professional career (at best) to qualify him to be the manager of a multi-million dollar athletic program?
A three year apprenticeship with his advocate/former coach at a program in decline is hardly the experience needed to complete transform a mismanaged organization into a league and, God forbid, a national powerhouse. As a comparator, let's look at Greg Brown at BC. NHL Experience, a run in Europe and then a 14 (!) year reign as Jerry's assistant in a program that ebbed and flowed but was overall accustomed to success. That is real education under a national championship winning coach. UCONN and Brown don't count.
So, what unique qualifications does MS7 have to merit a Division 1 Head Coaching position, let alone one that has now been extended twice by Scarano and the AD Formerly Known as SB?
Does he have formal management experience? How about fundraising? Human capital management (i.e. recruitment and player management) sales and marketing? Whether he likes it or not, he is the face of the program and his unwillingness to face the fans, press or media is concerning and downright negligent to the well being of program.
A three year apprenticeship with his advocate/former coach at a program in decline is hardly the experience needed to complete transform a mismanaged organization into a league and, God forbid, a national powerhouse. As a comparator, let's look at Greg Brown at BC. NHL Experience, a run in Europe and then a 14 (!) year reign as Jerry's assistant in a program that ebbed and flowed but was overall accustomed to success. That is real education under a national championship winning coach. UCONN and Brown don't count.
So, what unique qualifications does MS7 have to merit a Division 1 Head Coaching position, let alone one that has now been extended twice by Scarano and the AD Formerly Known as SB?
Does he have formal management experience? How about fundraising? Human capital management (i.e. recruitment and player management) sales and marketing? Whether he likes it or not, he is the face of the program and his unwillingness to face the fans, press or media is concerning and downright negligent to the well being of program.
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Best I can tell NONE.
HockeyDB has him on at least one team every year 1996-1997 until today (15 years playing and 12 years of coaching). Previous qualifications were the old coach liked him. My guess is current qualifications: cheap(relative), known, apparently one big donor likes him and a well time PR campaign coupled with 1 good year at the right time made him inconvenient to not renew.
Not sure it matters. The people handing out contracts apparently didn't evaluate via performance or qualifications.
Those of us in business would look at the job as a GM. Which is all of it: coaching on ice, logistics, budget, staff management, fundraising, sales, marketing/PR, player management (recruiting, maintaining, developing)... missing any? Then we would grade accordingly and if choosing to retain have development plans in place. At this point the AD needs to be sure the job requirements are clear, and development plans are in place for the places where improvement is necessary.
Honestly based on player / on ice development I question if the coach can actually coach - see 2023-24 power play as exhibit A, see 2023-2024 playoff exit at Maine while getting doors blown off as exhibit B. more exhibits available if necessary...
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TheGrouchyCat
Litter Box of Bad Ideas
Those of us in business would look at the job as a GM. Which is all of it: coaching on ice, logistics, budget, staff management, fundraising, sales, marketing/PR, player management (recruiting, maintaining, developing)... missing any? Then we would grade accordingly and if choosing to retain have development plans in place. At this point the AD needs to be sure the job requirements are clear, and development plans are in place for the places where improvement is necessary.
We are thinking in a similar fashion. As a C-Level exec that has run companies around the world, I look at the incompetent management of not only the UNH Hockey team but the entire athletic department in wonder and exasperation. Then I remember, most ADs and Coaches coming up through the ranks haven't left a college campus since they were 18 years old. They operate in the vacuum of theory and have little, if any, real world experience (or consequences) where performance matters and consequences are harsh.
We are thinking in a similar fashion. As a C-Level exec that has run companies around the world, I look at the incompetent management of not only the UNH Hockey team but the entire athletic department in wonder and exasperation. Then I remember, most ADs and Coaches coming up through the ranks haven't left a college campus since they were 18 years old. They operate in the vacuum of theory and have little, if any, real world experience (or consequences) where performance matters and consequences are harsh.
NCAA watcher
Registered User
Let's see what DeltaBravo digs up.
TheGrouchyCat
Litter Box of Bad Ideas
Our AD is making $255k base per the USNH Salary List
Chuck Murray
WIS & Effingwoods Hockey Almanac
Some of us are hoping the AD f/k/a SB built suitable buy-out provisions into his new deal, or it's 3 one-year deals.
As the saying goes ... denial is not just a river in Egypt ... kudos to you, working thru the various stages so quickly!