(left) Ryan Dingle was all smiles on the day he signed his professional contractIf you were wondering why Tyler Bozak is returning to DU next season instead of plying his trade in pro hockey, you might want to check out UND beat writer Brad Schlossman's Area Voices Blog. He cites the experiences of former DU players Ryan Dingle and Geoff Paukovich in the ECHL and implies that the players were misled by the NHL teams that signed them.
There was a lot on the plate at the WCHA and AHCA meetings in Florida this spring.
Early signings, reffing, the lack of goals and the world of recruiting are just a few areas that were hot topics in Florida.
It appears that college hockey will urge for some changes in the next NHL Collective Bargaining Agreement to try to keep players in school longer -- not the players that are ready, but players such as the Denver duo who left last year.
Ryan Dingle and Geoff Paukovich are a couple of players (along with St. Cloud's Andrew Gordon) who left school early. All of them spent time in -- not only the AHL -- but the ECHL, which is two levels below the NHL.
3 comments:
Hard to blame the NHL here. The players made the choice to leave. No one is guaranteed anything in professional sports. It's a business, plain and simple. The best players will play on the big stage, and the rest are minor leaguers.
I've said it before and I'll say it again...
They thought that could be like Staz and Carle and pull off the transition to the Pro Level. They were good but they weren't on the same level and those two and they ended up hurting themselves more then they could of predicted.
anonymous 3:07:
"Hard to blame the NHL here" - so what you are implying is that the NHL is totally in the clear here, right?
The NHL teams are partly to blame too because they are the ones that made the intial offer. Dingle and Paukovich didn't decide to leave DU on their own simply because "they felt like it". They were made an offer that they felt they couldn't pass up and took it. You are correct that it is up to the players themselves to make the decision to take it and they share in the blame, as does their 'family advisors'. But to say that the NHL shouldn't be blamed at all is silly.
Post a Comment