Do not PTO’s have a 25-game max, usually mostly pre-season games? If so, I do not see JvR taking one of those. He needs 36 regular season games to move ahead of Langway’s combined total of NHL and WHA games for most by UNH alums. With a three-year-old daughter and one-year-old son, I also do not see JvR playing in Switzerland like Dan Winnik has done for the last six seasons, as I suggested in an earlier post.
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UNH Offseason Contract Edition.
- Thread starter norbert
- Start date
Chuck Murray
WIS & Effingwoods Hockey Almanac
PTO's are usually used as a gateway or bridge to a more traditional short-term NHL (or AHL) contract, at least on the occasions when they are successful. Otherwise, as stated in its name, it's basically the mechanism for a try out deal, with no guarantee on the outcome for the player. Last year, the B's originally brought back Danton Heinen under a PTO, and he played well enough to eventually earn a league-minimum deal for the rest of last season, had a pretty decent year, and parlayed that into a new deal in Vancouver.
Moral of the story? You do what you gotta do to stay in The Show. OR "beggars can't be choosers" ...
From PTO to Full time, Bruins Heinen Continues to Make an Impact (thehockeywriters.com)
FWIW while it's a fun discussion here, I doubt JvR spends even a second worried about eclipsing Langway's UNH record for most games played in the NHL/WHA. The lack of All-Star appearances/selections, ditto. If anything still lights his competitive fire, it has to be the thing he sees on his kid brother's ring finger at their offseason family get-togethers. And I do agree, I don't see any reason for JvR to be winding it down with Euro hockey. His lifetime NHL earnings FAR exceed those of a career-long bottom-six grinder like Winnik, who likely continued to play after his NHL days because (1) he still loves to play; (2) he won't make more off the ice; and (3) it made sense to maximize his lifetime earnings. Guys like Jaromir Jagr or Pavel Datsyuk - who have (like JvR) made more than enough in the NHL - are rare birds who love to play, and wanted to play closer to home after retiring from the NHL.
It's always possible that JvR could catch on with someone after camp if there is a team that develops a need for what he offers. But what that is isn't as prominent in the NHL as it was only a few seasons ago. I do think his chances of playing this season AND also breaking Langway's "record" are over 50%, but it's not the slam dunk certainty it seemed to be, not so long ago. This is what a late-stage pro sports career often looks like ...
I did not realize that Danton Heinen came back to the Bruins on a PTO last season, which certainly worked out for him. At least the Bruins were familiar with him from his first three-year stint with them. And the Bruins are at least familiar with JvR now to consider bringing him back on a PTO as a bottom six PP specialist. Both JvR and Heinen were durable last season, playing 71 and 74 games, and scoring 38 and 36 points, respectively. Of course, Heinen is about seven years younger than JvR.
I agree that JvR probably could not care less about his total NHL/WHA games played, as I may be the only one who tracks that stuff, although he certainly was pleased with his 1000 NHL games played ceremonies last season, which I am glad that he could accomplish while a Bruin. Speaking of ‘love of the game,’ I will be curious to see if Dan Winnik begins a 7th season in Switzerland this year to go with 14 NHL seasons.
OvahInDovah
New member
Question for STH's - after a couple of years with the flex pack, we bought full season tickets this past Friday. Should I expect anything in the mail/email with additional information, or is it just kind of "figure out the extras beyond the tickets yourself"? Don't get me wrong, I didn't exactly expect Wild E. Cat to show up at my house to deliver the tickets, but maybe more than just a receipt over email?
After the Whistle
Member
Welcome to Club “STH”! I hear you. Don’t need bells and whistles but a little bit of something would probably just feel good. You will probably get an email to set up your account if you haven’t already. The email telling you how to access your tickets and your perks, it will probably come after September 20th. Why so late? Just part of the promotional work that is still missing from the process. It Will supposedly be a better ticket retrieval system this year. Hope so! Welcome aboard!
OvahInDovah
New member
Thanks for this; very helpful. Looking forward to the upcoming season!
After the Whistle
Member
As Snively might say, what are we doing on the second page.
Well I see that they finally posted the new kids on the roster page. Welcome to the freshmen and transfer goalies.
Well I see that they finally posted the new kids on the roster page. Welcome to the freshmen and transfer goalies.
Speaking of the roster, I thought that we were told a few years ago that UNH would be recruiting some Finns? We recruited two Swedes (Ericsson and Engaras), grabbed another Swede from the portal (Hellsten), recruited a Russian (Sardarian), a Japanese (Sato), and two Latvians (Skrastins and Lavins), with only the last two still here.
Bentley, who visits on October 12th for our official home opener, recruited a Finn for this coming season, Oliver Salo, F, 6’0”, 194#, 7 Sept 2003, shoots R, from Kaarina, 17 G + 38 = 55 pts for NAHL Anchorage Wolverines last season.
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Chuck Murray
WIS & Effingwoods Hockey Almanac
... or you could be chasing Norwegian kids with Viking heritage, as DRW did with their first round pick this year!
Report: Michael Brandsegg-Nygard to Attend Red Wings' Training Camp, Could Play in North America Next Season - The Hockey News Detroit Red Wings News, Analysis and More
Chuck Murray
WIS & Effingwoods Hockey Almanac
Speculative piece in The Hockey News regarding JvR's continued availability, and one potential option ...
Utah HC Should Sign James Van Riemsdyk to a PTO - The Hockey News Utah News, Analysis and More
Utah HC Should Sign James Van Riemsdyk to a PTO - The Hockey News Utah News, Analysis and More
Thanks for linking this article. Just as you wrote earlier about a young team like Vancouver in need of a veteran presence. There is a funny typo in the middle where they substituted Utah for Boston as if JvR were already there. I am thinking that if JvR can get a PTO in Utah he should stick as he has taken care of his body over the years and still has the hands even if he has lost a stride or two.
Robert Balin
New member
So today is the day the best of the best [juniors] can verbally commit to colleges. Will Souza land a blue chippa this year?. I'm not to impressed what Souza has done in the off season. He took the lazy way out and did little to improve the team. They might be ok for a season or two but after that it doesn't look that good. I wish he'd stop signing LOI's to kids 3 years out as it has backfired as he's deferred just about every kid in the pipeline.
And now, clouding up recruiting is the House lawsuit settlement regarding revenue-sharing; takes effect 2025-26 season if they opt-in. No limit on scholarships; 26 player roster limit. Will UNH bite on the deal? I think odds are they stay out of it. Either way it seems this will absolutely affect recruiting strategy...
Looks like Cam Gendron has found a home at PC for his fifth year.
USCHO rosters do not appear to be updated, but CHN rosters have been updated with transfers, first years, and departs, except UNH roster still has Hellsten sharing goalie duties with Jared Whale. Did Hellsten change his mind about going home to play pro? Rico DiMatteo not listed.
USCHO rosters do not appear to be updated, but CHN rosters have been updated with transfers, first years, and departs, except UNH roster still has Hellsten sharing goalie duties with Jared Whale. Did Hellsten change his mind about going home to play pro? Rico DiMatteo not listed.
Souza said at the barbecue that Hellsten was gone. Then again, that was two weeks ago, so......
After the Whistle
Member
The team website has Rico listed as being on the team and no Hellsten.
Thanks. Still a couple months for CHN and USCHO to update fully team rosters.
One other scheduling observation is that Bentley will be visiting UNH with two HEA games already played the previous weekend against UMass-Flagship and UMass-Bazin in Waltham.
Some might find this interesting RE: long range planning/recruiting
https://www.your-college-hockey.com/ncaa-recruiting.html
https://www.your-college-hockey.com/ncaa-recruiting.html
Chuck Murray
WIS & Effingwoods Hockey Almanac
Agreed 100% on the offseason. It's almost like he's learned nothing from his past mistakes ... OR he's simply just lazy (as some of us have accused him of being, myself included) and satisfied to be reactive, and not proactive. Obviously the Hellsten situation is Exhibit 1, unless his plan all along was gonna be to go with a Hellsten/Whale combo, and have ESL or Rico as his 3rd guy?? I find that highly unlikely. Otherwise, with his program at its highest level in a decade - the highest for sure since he's been behind the bench - this offseason was an opportunity to trumpet that (flowering yet limited) success and parlay that into some short term (portal) and long term (traditional recruiting) adds that he's been unable to achieve at UNH up to this point.
It's not as if the current line-up is the '93 UMaine juggernaut ... it's still just a middle of the pack HEA team, missing its arguably best returning player, with hopes and aspirations to be somewhat better next season and nick a home ice slot in the HEA Quarters. A couple of key adds could have improved the program unquestionably. But I guess MS7 was just too pooped from stumping for himself and his brand new contract, and this was the best he could offer with whatever proactive energy was left in the tank. From someone like a late stage Umile, I can at least get where that would be the case, as he'd accomplished a lot over a long time here at UNH (albeit not quite enough for some of us), and the work combined with the age can see even the best of coaches take their foot off the gas, so to speak ... but MS7 is still a relatively young guy, with nothing to really crow about in terms of accomplishments in this job, or any of his prior stations as an assistant. Like him or not, you have to admit his main "accomplishment" as a coach has been to simply maintain his employment. You would think he aspires to do better than just punch a clock on his way towards a nice USNH pension? There are easier ways. But apparently his personal charm with admins doesn't quite transfer over to recruiting.
So instead of getting a hard charger who thinks and acts on the job 24/7/365, and gets the NFL Films/John Facenda treatment when he moves into coaching immortality (see Walsh, Shawn or York, Jerry or Parker, Jack) ... we end up with a guy who's content to make AD Rich swoon, and be celebrated by Natalie Noury on NESN The Ocho.
Happy Gilmore comes to Durham. Lucky us.
Chuck Murray
WIS & Effingwoods Hockey Almanac
Just to be clear on what I'm talking about ... hard to think guys like Walsh and Parker (or even Umile) weren't inspired to be seen to be like a Lombardi figure, since they were all young men when he was THE central figure in coaching in North America. Maybe even Jerry York, although his more reserved nature seems more like a Tom Landry or Chuck Noll type, guys who were also habitual winners in their own different ways.
To be fair, you have to be ambitious to coach an NCAA D-1 program. But you have to be super ambitious to go next level ... and with 13 years of employment as an assistant and head coach, I'm seeing none of that ...
To be fair, you have to be ambitious to coach an NCAA D-1 program. But you have to be super ambitious to go next level ... and with 13 years of employment as an assistant and head coach, I'm seeing none of that ...