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UVM Offseason 2023

Ducharme signed with Vegas, not LA. The press release didn't specify the term. I'd expect, though, that they'd let him leave if he wanted to.
But, hey, let's give Wiedler a chance! Let's not forget that he played a major role in Lang's success. And, it's clear that UVM has been on an upward trajectory. He deserves at least some credit for that as well. Maybe, in the top job, he'll be able to elevate UVM to an elite level even faster.
 
There are and will be negative consequences associated with the coaching change
Arytom Levshunov considered a top 5 draft choice in 2024 was down to Michigan, Michigan St and Vermont
Chose Michigan State
Not sure if he ever would have gone to Vermont but an indication of talent they were recruiting
 
DLG said:
There are and will be negative consequences associated with the coaching change
Arytom Levshunov considered a top 5 draft choice in 2024 was down to Michigan, Michigan St and Vermont
Chose Michigan State
Not sure if he ever would have gone to Vermont but an indication of talent they were recruiting
Click to expand...

It was always a longshot but man this would've been cool. Feels like soooo long since we've had a true impact NHL talent here. Even Ross Colton didn't really have that impact.

I worry about a bunch of those recruits for future years. The Minnesota guys especially. Freddie Larsson who is committed for '24 looks like a really good player as well. I'm sure there will be teams going after him in the USHL this year. Hopefully Wiedler can show them that it's worth sticking around. Same goes for Alex Bump.
 
NYCatamount89 said:
It was always a longshot but man this would've been cool. Feels like soooo long since we've had a true impact NHL talent here. Even Ross Colton didn't really have that impact.

I worry about a bunch of those recruits for future years. The Minnesota guys especially. Freddie Larsson who is committed for '24 looks like a really good player as well. I'm sure there will be teams going after him in the USHL this year. Hopefully Wiedler can show them that it's worth sticking around. Same goes for Alex Bump.
Click to expand...

Agree, the future will depend on Wiedler and the support he receives. I don't believe any current player or commit will jump ship strictly due to the coaching change. However, it will take a lot of effort and support to continue building and moving in the right direction. If the team is successful and players see opportunities continue to materialize, they will respond accordingly. Best of luck to everyone on the team and everyone supporting them. True colors are about the show.
 
Hopefully, Levshunov was attracted to UVM for more reasons than Woodcroft's ties to Belarus and ability to speak Russian.
 
Catamount93 said:
Levshunov committed to Michigan State.
Click to expand...

I got that. My thinking is that it's good that we were in the running for a top notch recruit. I'm hopeful that it wasn't only because of Woodcroft and that UVM will be competitive for players of that caliber in the future.
 
Engineers said:
Rumors are Alex bump asking to be released from Vermont and will enter transfer portal.
Click to expand...

Ooof...hits keep coming. I hope these rumors aren't true or he can be convinced to stay. Not sure what the exact rules are but it seems crazy that he could get out of the LOI and then get in to another school before the start of the semester. Doesn't it make more sense to just tough it out for a year, get a ton of playing time in Hockey East and then transfer next spring? Like what good will another year of junior hockey do for him?
 
Like I said earlier program is a joke no high caliber talent wants to be associated with a joke of Rink and a joke of a program. Be lucky if they win 5 games this year
 
The Alex Bump news is very concerning. Philly Inquirer Newspaper quoted Bump as saying he was here because of Woodcroft. “It was just our connection,” Bump said at the beginning of July. “I think we had a good relationship. But I think that’s what matters most for college. I mean, if I’m gonna spend four years there, I think I have to have a good relationship with the coach.”

Additionally, this is out there concerning high talent Levshuov. "Levshunov selected Michigan State over in-state rival Michigan from a group of finalists that also included Vermont. Vermont fell out of the running for Levshunov after head coach Todd Woodcraft was fired last week." The addition of Levshunov, a 6-2, 198-pound defenseman from Belarus, is a massive recruiting win for second-year Michigan State head coach Adam Nightingale and his staff. Levshunov is widely considered a top 10 NHL Draft prospect for 2024.

I believe most of the current players stay but the biggest threat to the program is the pipeline of the future recruiting pool. If the better players are skimmed off, then we're left with similar players that Kevin S. left us with. I have to believe that Steve W. has been working the phones to get a read on the stable of recruits and is assessing the situation trying to convince them to stick with UVM (in some cases a tough sell job). Then if he has more planning to not come then late in the recruiting game, he has to find replacements.
 
It really does feel like we're heading back to the start of the rebuild. The impact upperclassman will all either transfer or sign. The commits from Minnesota and Europe will all decommit because it's pretty clear Woodcroft was the draw for them.

The question is whether it will be Wiedler as coach or not. Who are the types of players he'd go after? What regions/leagues would he want to draw players from? Hard to imagine being the interim coach right now. How do you recruit? How do you hire assistant coaches? There's a good chance you'll be gone in the spring.

Only hope is to try to rally an us against the world mentality in the room and hope they can find some magic.
 
UVM Cat in Texas said:
Agree with those who said UVM’s a joke. I’m preparing for a mass exodus of players and the next ten years at the bottom of the HE barrel.
Click to expand...
Things are starting to fall into place for this prediction to come true. Hate to say it, but my interest in UVM hockey is hovering close to none right now.
 
Let's not be so pessimistic here. Yes, the head coach is important, but he's not the only factor influencing a kid's decision to come to or stay at UVM.
 
Jim F. said:
Let's not be so pessimistic here. Yes, the head coach is important, but he's not the only factor influencing a kid's decision to come to or stay at UVM.
Click to expand...
Maybe so, but it's particularly important at UVM. Let's face it, UVM doesn't have much to offer in the way of attracting top talent. We're middle of the road academically, we haven't had a winning program in like forever, we don't have good facilities, and interest has waned among students and locals, etc. "Oh, it's such a pretty location" will only get you so far especially among kids who don't typically care about that sort of thing. Except for an occasional legit recruit like Ross Colton, our only hope is to find a diamond in the rough every now and again and there just haven't been any of those since midway through the Sneddon era. Other than Colton, who's the last impact player you can think of? You've got to go way back. Brickley wasn't. McCarthy maybe (if you count low impact)? Viktor? Bump might have been that guy, but now we'll never know. I'm very, very pessimistic at the moment, and rightfully so.
 
First post Woodcroft commit. Sounds like a good pickup. Puckpreps has him as a 4 star recruit. Played well at the Select 16 festival. Something to build on for sure. Wondering when we'll have news about assistant coach hires. Has to be soon.
 
Reassuring sign. To have a very solid signee like that so soon after the situation really helps steady the ship. Kudos to Wiedler, that's the first step he needed. Hopefully he can keep it going.
 
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