Re: UNH Wildcats - 2011 Playoff Quest
Anyway, keep knocking...you'll get back to the Frozen Four eventually. In a lot of ways your team is starting to remind me of BU when they went through that long drought. Good teams, but never really thought of as a real threat. What's the difference now compared to UNH's great teams of the early 2000s?
BC and BU are much better now?
But seriously, one popular theory is that UNH used to attract more NHL draft picks - in other words, those teams were more talented. The UNH teams from the the late 1990's and early 2000's did have more players who had been drafted by NHL teams than the teams of recent years. It's true that back then UNH had 6 to 12 players on their roster who had been drafted. That was also true of Maine, BC, and BU back in that era. Since the mid-2000's, UNH has had noticably fewer NHL draft picks on their roster while other powerhouses such as BC, BU, North Dakota, and Michigan are still able to attract numerous NHL draft picks. So, the theory goes, less talented players translates into less successful teams.
I tend to think that theory has some flaws. First of all, the UNH teams that made it to the National Championship games in 1999 and 2003, and the ones which won the Hockey East Tournament in 2002 and 2003, did not have players who had been drafted in the first few rounds of the NHL draft. Those UNH teams had several players who had been drafted in later rounds (e.g., Rounds 4-9). UNH did not have "blue chip" players - that is, Rounds #1-#3 NHL picks - back in that era. The modern powerhouses such as BC and BU do attract this type of "elite" talent.
Second, a number of the UNH players who had been drafted by the NHL back in those days probably would not have been drafted in more recent years. Up until 2004, the NHL draft included 9 rounds but shifted to 7 rounds in 2005. So, for example, All-American Darren Haydar, who was drafted in the 9th round, would not have been drafted post 2004. Also, many more players from Europe are drafted nowadays - probably taking up slots that used to go to future UNH players.
Finally, arguably the best player to ever play for UNH, Jason Krog (1999 Hobey Baker Award Winner), was not drafted by the NHL. This tradition has continued in recent years. Top players such as Bobby Butler, Paul Thompson, and Matt Fornataro were not drafted.
It seems to me that the overall "talent" on UNH teams since 2005 is pretty comparable to the "great" teams from 1998-2004. So what's different? Why haven't the more recent teams made it back to the NCAA Championship game? No one really knows. Perhaps, there are more highly competitve teams in Division 1 (e.g., Miami, Notre Dame) now than there was back then. Maybe the only way to win a National Championship is to have a team with several elite players (i.e., #1, #2 or #3 Round NHL draftees) - for example, the recent BC and BU National Champions. If that's the case, a lot of really good teams will never win the National Championship, including UNH. In any event, UNH manages to assemble a very competitive team year in and year out. From a fan's perspective, it could be worse; a lot worse.
