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Wisconsin Recruiting Vol. IV - It's all coming together

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Re: Wisconsin Recruiting Vol. IV - It's all coming together

It’s one thing to not honor a player’s verbal to another school, the gentlemen’s agreement is long since dead, etc.

But we’re seeing a lot of kids that don’t want to honor their commitment to UW, and it’s hard to blame them when TG/UW is increasingly refusing to honor their commitments to their own recruits.

It’s a situation that is going to lead to more Krygiers, more Boesers, Cruikshanks, and Rantas.

Is that a good thing?
 
Re: Wisconsin Recruiting Vol. IV - It's all coming together

WiscTJK said:
They aren't bringing in all the kids that have received offers and verbally committed. Unless we have 10 kids leave early, which isn't going to happen. That is a change. You call it what you want, but don't tell me that things haven't changed. Peltonen is one of many to come....
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With Aleksi finding a home, the remaining F's on the charts for next year are all eligible to play 1 or 2 more years of Juniors. (Like Mersch and Baker did.) The 2020 F's on the chart are eligible to play Juniors until 2022. (Except Helgeson -2021) Will some fall out? Probably. Almquist for example is struggling to play at the next level and has bounced down to Tier 2. If his ceiling turns out to be Tier 2 Juniors, do you think it's beneficial to him to come and be a practice player for 4 years at UW? Or would he be better served maybe going out to the Atlantic or playing D III where he can play a lot and enjoy the game? It's up to the kid I guess, but to my knowledge UW hasn't reneged on any commits under TG and there's no reason to believe they will in the future. They may not bring a player in during the year that player feels he should be brought in, or given the offer that player feels they deserve, but that is another matter and those kids will have to decide themselves if they want to continue to pursue being Badgers or look elsewhere under those conditions. If you are a committed star at 15 and really struggling at 18, UW isn't obligated to bring you in just because you're 18.

Leyh was probably ahead of everybody in the pecking order, but jumped to Q'pac citing too many F's ahead of him at UW. So UW is out Leyh, but sign Donovan, who is also ahead of everybody in the pecking order. The situation is the same for all the other recruits as it was before Leyh jumped. Possibly slightly better because Donovan may have a shorter Badger career.
 
Re: Wisconsin Recruiting Vol. IV - It's all coming together

ExileOnDaytonStreet said:
It’s one thing to not honor a player’s verbal to another school, the gentlemen’s agreement is long since dead, etc.

But we’re seeing a lot of kids that don’t want to honor their commitment to UW, and it’s hard to blame them when TG/UW is increasingly refusing to honor their commitments to their own recruits.

It’s a situation that is going to lead to more Krygiers, more Boesers, Cruikshanks, and Rantas.

Is that a good thing?
Click to expand...

Can you cite some examples of TG refusing to honor commitments to his recruits?
 
Re: Wisconsin Recruiting Vol. IV - It's all coming together

ExileOnDaytonStreet said:
It’s one thing to not honor a player’s verbal to another school, the gentlemen’s agreement is long since dead, etc.

But we’re seeing a lot of kids that don’t want to honor their commitment to UW, and it’s hard to blame them when TG/UW is increasingly refusing to honor their commitments to their own recruits.

It’s a situation that is going to lead to more Krygiers, more Boesers, Cruikshanks, and Rantas.

Is that a good thing?
Click to expand...

Letting the not so good kids know they probably won't be playing much... vs the superstars CHOOSING to go elsewhere. These are very different things and I don't see how turning away a guy that ends up struggling in the NAHL is going to make a star say, "I don't want to go there."
 
ExileOnDaytonStreet said:
That’s all behind closed doors.

But when we get a full recruiting class, and they keep adding more players…

The idea that we don’t have room for half of next years class is entirely a problem of TG’s own making. No one is forcing him to recruit 10 forwards in a class.
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I don't think there is ever a guarantee on entry year anyway. It sounds like many times players are told 2020 or 2021. I disagree with some of the entry years listed on the recruiting spreadsheet personally so I'm not sure how you can really determine when someone is "deferred".

In other news, looks like TJ Koufis is now with the Brookings Blizzard in the NAHL and not the Madison Capitols.
 
Re: Wisconsin Recruiting Vol. IV - It's all coming together

ExileOnDaytonStreet said:
That’s all behind closed doors.

But when we get a full recruiting class, and they keep adding more players…

The idea that we don’t have room for half of next years class is entirely a problem of TG’s own making. No one is forcing him to recruit 10 forwards in a class.
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It's not a recruiting class until they are offered a NLI. When kids are coming is total speculation otherwise.

Assuming everyone comes back they will have 16 F's for '19. Zimmer will graduate and then they have 3 F's they would have to bring in in 2020 because their junior eligibility will be pretty much used up. De St Phalle, Almquist, Bohlin. Almquist and Bohlin may or may not fall out of their own accord as they are struggling right now. De St Phalle may or may not get impatient and jump as he will be pursued by other schools, but at this point I'd think he's the next guy in for Zimmer. Turcotte and perhaps more could conceivably be one and done. So they may have room to add for 2020. If not, in 2021 they could need 8 or more F's, which is close to the number they'd likely have available then. There are not 10 guys that will just be booted. Not even close.

An offer to a 16 year old is not a guarantee. The kid can't just quit practicing, play Fortnite 14 hours a day and still get a hockey scholarship at 18. They have to continue to develop on their own and show they can play D1. Some guys in the pipeline are struggling to do so and need more time at the least.

People all screamed that Eaves should have had a plan in place to replace the ridiculous number of departures they suffered in the years post 2010. Ok. But this staff is trying to plan for departures with mature kids in the pipeline and people are still upset.
 
Re: Wisconsin Recruiting Vol. IV - It's all coming together

DPlaya said:
In other news, looks like TJ Koufis is now with the Brookings Blizzard in the NAHL and not the Madison Capitols.
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Almquist, Bohlin, Koufis and Helgeson all have a lot of work to do in order to play B1G hockey.
 
Re: Wisconsin Recruiting Vol. IV - It's all coming together

Wisko McBadgerton said:
People all screamed that Eaves should have had a plan in place to replace the ridiculous number of departures they suffered in the years post 2010. Ok. But this staff is trying to plan for departures with mature kids in the pipeline and people are still upset.
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TG said he's going after elite players. When they are ready to leave, they should leave, they will just replace them. The big question is who are the elite players coming after this bunch? It's a little concerning that Almquist, Bohlin, Koufis and Helgeson aren't developing very quickly.
 
Re: Wisconsin Recruiting Vol. IV - It's all coming together

Imagine the narrative on recruiting if UW was the in the hunt for the B7 title and maybe a ncaa bid.
 
Re: Wisconsin Recruiting Vol. IV - It's all coming together

Timothy A said:
TG said he's going after elite players. When they are ready to leave, they should leave, they will just replace them. The big question is who are the elite players coming after this bunch? It's a little concerning that Almquist, Bohlin, Koufis and Helgeson aren't developing very quickly.
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It is concerning, but they all have skills and may just take a little longer to develop. Or some may be misses. It is really hard to consistently pick a 15 year old that is a sure fire star at 19 so it happens. Look how many misses the NHL has in the draft with all their resources and the advantage of picking more mature kids.

I think they are going hard after Bordeleau and have some shot at landing him, although it's possible he plays in the QMJHL like his Dad and his NHL-playing family. Right now Latsch, Levandowski, and Caden Brown, (who's brother, Logan, was the #11 overall pick a couple years ago) all look really good. Pierre and Mann could turn into super stars, or peak early, we'll just have to wait and see. On the D side, Padliochuk, Kehrer, and Laatsch all look like stars. Gino Cavalinni is sky high on Daul, and Ceulemans has logged some games with the Brooks Bandits as just a 15 year old, which is kind of crazy, especially considering how good Brooks is.

Recruiting is going to get a bit easier for UW with the new rules coming I think, so I feel like the Badgers will be in fairly good shape going forward.
 
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Timothy A said:
Imagine the narrative on recruiting if UW was the in the hunt for the B7 title and maybe a ncaa bid.
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I want to mock this since we are objectively the worst team in the Big Ten, but I thought about this later yesterday and: were still a pretty good team. Yes, we’re clearly lagging but overall the gap from first to worst in this conference is fairly small.
 
Re: Wisconsin Recruiting Vol. IV - It's all coming together

ExileOnDaytonStreet said:
I want to mock this since we are objectively the worst team in the Big Ten, but I thought about this later yesterday and: were still a pretty good team. Yes, we’re clearly lagging but overall the gap from first to worst in this conference is fairly small.
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Yeah, UW is special teams away from contending.
 
Re: Wisconsin Recruiting Vol. IV - It's all coming together

ExileOnDaytonStreet said:
I want to mock this since we are objectively the worst team in the Big Ten, but I thought about this later yesterday and: were still a pretty good team. Yes, we’re clearly lagging but overall the gap from first to worst in this conference is fairly small.
Click to expand...

I would not be overly shocked if any of the other 6 B1G teams that make the tourney wound up in the FF. They're all capable. There's so many more good players in the NCAA as compared to a decade or two ago that it's gotten more like the Bouncy Ball tourney in that the 30th team is still a pretty good team and can realistically upset anyone, anytime.

As for the Badgers, the difference on paper is definitely special teams play, but the difference between the Badgers and the other B1G teams on the ice is that all of them have a couple of really big time players that can take over a game, make a big play, score a PP goal or a shorty or whatever: MI-Hughes, Norris and Lockwood; MI St- KHL; Goofs- Sheehy, Pitlick; OSU- Jobst, Laczynski, Joshua; PSU- Biro, Barrat, Limoges ND- Nardella, Peeke, Burke, (and now Graham)

The kind of guys that as an opposing fan you just hate to see come over the boards, let alone get the puck in the O zone. The Badgers have some good D-1 players but nobody really like that. We just don't have the difference makers, (moreso with Miller out.) Some of the Freshman, or maybe Linus if he gets his hand sorted out, can turn into that kind of player in a year or two. I can see opposing fans hating to see Mersch take the ice as a Junior, for example. Beyond that, the rest of the Badger's team is filled with pretty solid players that play as good or better than the rest of any of the other teams. Which just isn't quite enough to get over the hump.

Next year's class is perhaps all those kinds of big players though. People will be amazed by Turcotte's skill and relentless game, and I'm told by my Canadian friends in the know, that even with all the hype, they believe Holloway will still shock people in the NCAA. The Badgers fortunes are going to rise quickly over the next couple of years as the big difference makers will be on the good guys side of the ice for a change. Get your tickets early.
 
Re: Wisconsin Recruiting Vol. IV - It's all coming together

Wisko McBadgerton said:
I would not be overly shocked if any of the other 6 B1G teams that make the tourney wound up in the FF. They're all capable. There's so many more good players in the NCAA as compared to a decade or two ago that it's gotten more like the Bouncy Ball tourney in that the 30th team is still a pretty good team and can realistically upset anyone, anytime.
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Outside of OSU, I don't see any Big Ten team making noise if they win the conference tournament and get in. Even OSU isn't a scary team to me and I don't see a FF birth happening for the Big Ten this year. Look what our average team did to them. Their PW ranking of 7 is much more reflective of how good they are than the #2 poll ranking they had before we swept them.
 
Re: Wisconsin Recruiting Vol. IV - It's all coming together

Bonin21 said:
Outside of OSU, I don't see any Big Ten team making noise if they win the conference tournament and get in. Even OSU isn't a scary team to me and I don't see a FF birth happening for the Big Ten this year. Look what our average team did to them. Their PW ranking of 7 is much more reflective of how good they are than the #2 poll ranking they had before we swept them.
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I personally wouldn't bet against OSU making the FF. Sure you guys waxed them when they were popping the champagne a week early, (and it's not like you goofs are complete dogs) But that's a veteran team with a couple really good players. Vets are good bets in tournaments.

Anybody else that wins the B1G tourney will have a little confidence going, and they've been playing tough teams every week for 3 months. It's not like the old days where maybe 3-4 teams even had a shot at winning it. Now if you have a ticket and you're not from the Atlantic, you can go all the way.

Say the goofs win the B1G tourney. All you really need is for Robson to get on fire and Sheehy or Pitlick or Gates or even Walker to make a couple of big plays on two nights and you're in. Michigan has a ton of talent, a couple of timely saves, and away they go. MI St has probably the best top line in the country. PSU is a coin flip in every game against any team for one night because anything can happen when you play crazy. ND is probably the longest shot but you still have to score a goal against them. We're only talking about winning 2 games in a row against teams that are for the most part, not head and shoulders above any of the teams they've been playing all year. (a few probably are) Maybe the B1G will get dumped in round one, but it will take some doing by a good team.
 
Re: Wisconsin Recruiting Vol. IV - It's all coming together

Why do you think they are going hard after Bordeleau? Who is Wisconsin competing against for his commitment?
 
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