Re: Wisconsin Hockey - 2018 Off-Season - Hope or Despair?
A few nit picks.
When Bliss was cut lose....he was coming off a season where he had 1 assist as his only point in 24 USHL games and couldn't even stick in the USHL full time having to split time in the NAHL. I've seen Dhooghe's name mentioned as a dark horse possibility for the World Junior US roster (personally think that is a stretch....but there is zero doubt Bliss is not a candidate cause he is to old on top of the hockey thing). Bliss had better be putting up numbers as he is almost 20 years old playing 18/19 year olds. To put this in perspective...age-wise, the Bliss season last year of 1 assist in the USHL is the same age year as Dhooghe just put up half a point a game in D1.
Jurusik put up significantly worse numbers then Berry last year (his goals against where more than a full goal a game worse). Betting Hayton would be better then Jurasik is a gamble every coach in the country would have taken. I have no idea what went wrong with Hayton, but him over Jurusik is not even debatable. Whatever Jurusik just did in the USHL (as he is about to turn 21 years old) has to be balanced with what he did in 2 years of college...which was not good by any measure.
Greenway was already at UW on scholarship when Gildon and UW parted ways. In other words, one has nothing to do with the other.
I hope you are right on Tischke and Frederic as both those guys make getting back to the tournament (which has to be the bar set going into the year) significantly easier.
Fair points.
Technically I'd say it's more like Greenway got Rockwood's $$ and Dhooghe got Gildon's; Hayton - Jurisk's. Not that it matters really.
Someone reminded me Jack Becker was cut loose as well and that he had 3g-2a-5pts for Michigan in the last 4 games vs UW.
Agree totally that Bliss looked like he was going to be a bust, obviously something went very wrong for him and no way was anyone bringing him in last year. But at this point there are very, very few guys who get to the top ten in USHL points (at any age) who end up being a bust in college, and Bliss will now (probably) play for Tech.
I'm not saying anyone could foresee Bliss having a big year or Hayton being a bust, etc. Certainly I didn't, but on the other hand, no one is giving me
a million bucks to figure this stuff out either. I did think Rockwood would be really good and that Jurusik had all the chops to be good but needed maturing. (Can I get a consulting fee?) We do forget a lot of our best goalies were upperclassmen before they took over. Els sat behind Bruckler, Bruckler behind Scott Kabatoff, and Kabatoff behind Mellanson, etc. Will be interested to see where Matt lands and how he does in the future. At any rate, the point was, there are good players here whether they were recruited earlier or later and it's very important what you do with the guys you have. The days of getting a bunch of draft picks and pointing at the ice and just watching them win 25 games are long, long gone. BU has 12 picks, 10 third round or better and will likely miss the tournament.
While I totally understand the age consideration in evaluating young players, the question at the point of entry to college really is what is a player's ceiling and how quick can they get there? If Dhooghe has 20 goals next year Tony definitely will look like a genius. Dhooghe's 6-10-16 isn't bad compared to some other freshman F's like Reedy, but then again Dhooghe logged a ton of top line minutes and pp time this year. He's not getting the separation in college that he got against lesser skaters and he's been a bit of a liability in puck battles and on D at times. Love his heart but how much more weight can he put on for strength at 5'3" and how much quicker can he play? What's his ceiling? I don't know... I don't think anyone does really. He has a lot of skills but it's a gamble. That he ended the year on the 4th, and Zimmer, who had a hard time getting and staying in the lineup early ended playing top six time makes you wonder where it's all going.
IMO what brought this team down was something in the locker room. What I've wondered is if sticking with a guy like Dhooghe up top come rain or shine, (and some other new guys in other situations) while other players were shuffled up and down and in and out of the line up at the drop of a hat, and this taken on top of stuff like replacing Rocky and Jurusik, who were both very well liked) ... then Hayton folds up and guys lose confidence in the plan... The perception might have been that Tony's new guys got better treatment. Or that Tony was building for the future too much. I don't know, just pure speculation.... but those are the sort of things that can creep into a locker room and wreak havoc on players mentally.
