Lucia is safe

[Quackaddict9]

Matt Cullen was a great player and fun to watch. One of my favorites to watch growing up throughout the state tourney, St.Cloud and the NHL.

On a side note, I think Schroeds will leave unless he and Cepis develop a great friendship that may keep him around next year and Barriball. We'll see.

[PierBridge]

Schroeder is gone most likely and you can't blame him and thankfully Fischer too...talk about a disappointing player.

[scsavre]

We have a very long list of disappointing players. I sure like Cepis though, he makes players around him better. It would be fun to watch him schroeder and barriball next year. I hope it happens. the problem with Schroeder is, his nhl affiliation is going say that players are not developing at the U and suggest he plays in the minors.

Remember Peter Mueller, he had committed to the U, then was drafted by phoenix, and decided against the U. Phoenix was not happy how Wheelers development went at the U. Maybe they expressed that to Mueller.

[Bear55]

But [pleasebecomeasponsor] we also have a long list of great players, I doubt we have more or less NHLer/busts than any other top program but we have been going through a rough stretch so problem seem to get magnified. Recruiting and player evaluation isn't an exact science, heck 50% of 1st rounders never see the NHL! We are talking about 30 of the best players in the world in their age group who are evaluated by people who spend their entire lives watching hockey, its really a [PoorWordUsage] shoot and sometimes you have to get lucky.

You can maybe point to player development but like I said earlier its not like other teams our pumping out NHLers faster than we are. Take Okposo for instance, did his development really stall his sophmore year? A week after he left the gophers he was producing in the AHL, I don't think anything that happened in that week suddenly boosted his development? His head and heart wasn't into college hockey and it showed.

I do think losing mike guentzel is really hurting us and you have to wonder what is going on behind the scenes when we seem to have a lot of coaches moving through. I have heard guentzel did run the power play so to see those numbers drop is something to worry about. I also agree with ou about hiring potulny, heck even if he is the best coach in the world I'm not sure I agree with handing him a gopher assistant job with very little experience. Another problem I see is player attitudes, lately we seem to have a lot of guys jumping ship in all directions because they aren't happy. Now a lot of this I think comes from having too many superstars at lower levels and not enough ice time/power play time to go around. I think it Lucia's job to manage all these attitudes and I think he has come up short lately, maybe we are getting the best players but if they bring a poor attitude to the team that is going to cause problems.

I really don't think anyone has all the answers and I sure as heck don't know if keeping Lucia is the answer either. I sure wouldn't be sad if Blais took over but after 23 years without a title Lucia came in and in a way saved gopher hockey so I hate to throw him under the bus when I know he is a great coach. I guess time will tell, if we are having this some conversation 1-2 years from now I think Lucia has to go.

I also think Schroeder is gone next year, can't fault the kid but it sucks because those are the guys you need to stick around to condend. Worse yet he probably spends a year or two in the minors before making the jump.

[scsavre]

Some good points Bear, we should have more NHL players though. we only have a handful of forwards in the NHL making any impact. Kessel, Okpo, and wheeler are the only 3 in the top 50 americans. More players come from MN than any other state. The team has just changed so much from when Lucia first got there to now. I think the hardest part is how much do you want to develop a player. Do you give a freshman all the ice time and PP time he can handle if he is just going to leave this year or in the next. Its tough.

[PierBridge]

Ok I have to ask...Jefferson or Kennedy guy?

[scsavre]

HAHA, luckily neither. I just moved to Blooomington last year. I am on the Kennedy side of town, right off the MN river.

From Roseville, went to school there and the one true powerhouse Hill-Murray.

[PierBridge]

Either way you are a CAKE_EATER>>>

[scsavre]

HAha, I love the cake eater comment. When i was at roseville we were actually a pretty good hockey team and we were a bunch of dirtballs and we loved calling the Edina's, Blmnt's etc Cake Eaters.

[Bear55]

Some good points Bear, we should have more NHL players though. we only have a handful of forwards in the NHL making any impact. Kessel, Okpo, and wheeler are the only 3 in the top 50 americans. More players come from MN than any other state. The team has just changed so much from when Lucia first got there to now. I think the hardest part is how much do you want to develop a player. Do you give a freshman all the ice time and PP time he can handle if he is just going to leave this year or in the next. Its tough.

I don't think we have to worry too much about our players making an impact in the NHL, sure its nice too see and chances are the more NHLers we have the better teams we have but there are a ton of players who see little or no NHL time that were fabulous college hockey players. Sure it was nice to have Kessel for a year and we can't let those kinds of players get away, but I think some players like little Potulny or Danny Irmen were just as good or better than Kessel was in college and we got 3 years out of them before they jumped to the NHL, or should I say AHL.

[scsavre]

Oh yah, Irmen and Potulny were way better than Kessel. They were good team players too. I just wonder.....If we are not developing the pro players, will the organizations let them come to MN, and if they do... will they yank them out by their sophmore year. I dont know? I am going to watch closely this weekend, to see what hope we have. I would still like to see Birholtz out there more. He is a player that should develop into a really good college player. We will have to wait and see.

I just say Derek Pelitier is actually playing in the NHL some, didnt see that coming.

[Bear55]

I think its a little overblown that we can't develop NHL players, we have good number of D playing in the NHL right now. Kessel, Vanek, Okposo, and Wheeler are putting up good numbers, there has to be a few others that are at least playing a regular shift in the NHL.

I don't buy into certain programs having some kind of development system that is that much better than any other team. I think it depends more on the individual and their talent/work ethic. Most of time these hi end kids aren't here for more than a year or two anyway so I think most of the development credit should go to youth and jr programs where they spent most their time. Most of these top flight NHL draft picks could have gone to college at Holy Cross and I don't think it would have slowed them down a bit. I know Holy Cross is a bad example but its the first team to pop in my head.

[scsavre]

Agree, big fish in a little pond, a star could really shine at HC. There are no excuses then, i have thought outloud too much here. I dont know what the problem is then. I hope the week off helps and good things are coming.

Potulny has started to play more, 20 points.

Taffe 1 point

Irmen 0 point

Thats all i can find. the D have done better though.

[Bear55]

Well [pleasebecomeasponsor] I can certainly agree we have a problem, I just got a little side tracked talking hockey. Either way I hope Lucia figurs out how to fix us soon or if he can't we can get Blais in here. When the right time for a coaching change is I don't know but it sounds like Don is getting a free pass this year, if things aren't looking up next year I might have to switch to your side.

[KMR85]

It would be nice to see Lucia get the program back on track, but he just seems more and more like a Richard every passing year.

[scsavre]

Haha, Richard.

It is just so frustrating, the gophs are my favorite team by so far. I guarantee you Don is gone if next season goes the same way. I dont just want to team to be good again, i want Don to get back to what he was, which i think will come hand in hand. The team will get better as Don does. There is still something wrong with Don, watch him on the bench, he doesnt look like he even tries to win games. He has been looking a little more into it latley. Maybe it all comes back to his illness and the meds that make him so sick.

Either way go gophers, at least we dont have a stinking Canadian Coach.

On that note, can any one think of any replacements?

Dean Blais, from MN, U alum, former U assistant

Bob Motzko, From MN, SCSU coach and Alum, former U assistant

Mike Guentzel, From MN, U alum and 22 yr asst coach.

Mike Eaves, Stinkin Canadian, Wis alum and coach, former N. Star, not gonna happen

That is all i can think of, Not sure what is better than Don

Heres a good asst pick

Steve Rohlik, From MN, Wis alum, UMD assistant, would be a good U assistant

[PierBridge]

Quote:

I think its a little overblown that we can't develop NHL players

I think Garth Snow should worry more about his LAST place NY Islander team he has assembled instead of yapping his mouth about the Minnesota program..

Carry on!...

[scsavre]

HAHA, yah that was pretty dumb when Snow called us out.

[scsavre]

How about this one,

Wild GM Fletcher says he was/is very disappointed with the development that Leddy has gotten at the U of M under Lucia.

That is at least 2 NHL gms in 2 years badmouthing lucia.

[zepman]

Gophers regress more and more every year. Tons of talent...very little grit.

[PierBridge]

This can't help T-Don's cause.... what a debacle this season is.

[KMR85]

Defense was terrible tonight. Denver was camping in front of the net and the Gophers didn't even try to move them out of the way. This team looks like they have thrown in the towel for the season. Maybe they'll get a bug up their arse come WCHA playoff time. Once it was 2-0, I just played big buck hunter on my ipod.

[PierBridge]

How about this one,

Wild GM Fletcher says he was/is very disappointed with the development that Leddy has gotten at the U of M under Lucia.

That is at least 2 NHL gms in 2 years badmouthing lucia.

Sounds like a bit of cop-out on the wilds part for making possibly a bad 1st round pick and having to give him away. Like it's Lucia fault that Leddy who is what 19 has been injured and has underachieved a bit on a bad team.

News flash it's not any college coach's job to develop their kids for the Pro game. Screw you Fletcher if that's what you said and meant! If not good luck golfing here soon and watching the playoffs on TV.

[cbrooks]

Holy cow Pier tell us what you really think.lol.

[Bear55]

This can't help T-Don's cause.... what a debacle this season is.

Debacle about nails it, you know I started asking myself if Lucia has what it takes to turn this team around next year. There just doesn't seem to be any fire in this program.