Matthew Wood to the Portal

[huskymedic]

 

[zls44]

Yes, the hockey team will be fine. The sky is not falling. There will be UConn Hockey East games at Tuscany and the XL next year. It should be another fun year.

The program has imploded.

I M P L O D E D


His three most important players are in the portal!!!

 

[Bomber36]

The program has imploded.

I M P L O D E D


His three most important players are in the portal!!!

Oh no. Everything is unicorns and lollipops./s

 

[Sea Goat]

I like Cav and think he is about as good as UConn can expect in the marketplace and has really only had the full support for a couple years now since being able to sell an actual home rink and HE level facilities. That said, a very disappointing season and your best players hitting the portal is not a good look. The clock has officially started. I think he's got two years max to make the NCAA or win Hockey East. It shouldn't be that heavy a lift with the portal. He's shown he can grab productive transfers, he just needs to find a few more difference makers. There is still talent on this team and if Wood was sucking more NIL resources than he was worth, then it's good he moved on. I'll take three gamers with 80% of his talent if you can find them.

UConn can definitely do better with the money they're paying. After being a punching bag last year, Maine was a 2 seed in the NCAA's this year. They brought in a Carvel assistant from UMass at less than half of salary of Cavanaugh. DB would have qualified D-1 coaching talent knocking at his door the moment the job was listed.

Cavanaugh has one of the best D-1 contracts in the country. What have we seen for it? 4-5 finishes in the regular season are really meaningless. Getting to Boston regularly and at least 1 out 11 opportunities for a NCAA berth ain't expecting too much!

 

[zls44]

Oh no. Everything is unicorns and lollipops./s

This is all part of the plan!

 

[Skiblets]

Yikes!

 

[Scoe]

Yes, the hockey team will be fine. The sky is not falling. There will be UConn Hockey East games at Tuscany and the XL next year. It should be another fun year.

Fun for who the other teams?

 

[mac2351]

 

[mac2351]

 

[CTBballfan243]

The program has imploded.

I M P L O D E D


His three most important players are in the portal!!!

That's a little dramatic.

 

[CTBballfan243]

Fun for who the other teams?

We still get to watch good college hockey, which in itself is fun. The talent throughout Hockey East this past season was really high quality and nice to watch. Some people don't get the luxury to watch that level of hockey.

 

[Sea Goat]

That's a little dramatic.

And after two more important pieces enter the portal. it's hair on fire time!

And you say - "That's a little dramatic"?

That statement is akin to the control tower at Pearl Harbor saying "we have a little usual air traffic this morning" on December 7, 1941!
We've all been patient with you, but at some point you have to pull your own head out of that dark place! We can't do it for you...

 

[CTBballfan243]

And after two more important pieces enter the portal. it's hair on fire time!

And you say - "That's a little dramatic"?

That statement is akin to the control tower at Pearl Harbor saying "we have a little usual air traffic this morning" on December 7, 1941!
We've all been patient with you, but at some point you have to pull your own head out of that dark place! We can't do it for you...

I am sure UConn will get some players to fill out the roster. UConn will field a team next year. This is the new free agent era in college athletics. kids will be moving all over the place every year going forward.

 

[freescooter]

Let’s not get carried away. Wood was a disappointment. He is a good player but not the type you can build a team around, I don’t think.

Sergeev looked like a potentially big time goalie, and I didn’t get why he split time this year. He struggled early but came back strong.

Salminen is another good player but more of a role player. Not going to put a team on his back and carry it.

On the whole, I’d rather have these guys back than lose them but I think Sergeev is the biggest loss.

 

[ThabeetDown]

This is 100% a disaster. You have NHL talent leaving. That means they aren't making these decisions without the NHL team having some sort of involvement. Which means NHL teams do not think our program is capable of developing players to their standards anymore. Which thus hurts our ability to attract NHL talent.

Let’s not get carried away. Wood was a disappointment. He is a good player but not the type you can build a team around, I don’t think.

Sergeev looked like a potentially big time goalie, and I didn’t get why he split time this year. He struggled early but came back strong.

Salminen is another good player but more of a role player. Not going to put a team on his back and carry it.

On the whole, I’d rather have these guys back than lose them but I think Sergeev is the biggest loss.

To talk bad about the kids on their way out the door when the coaching staff has failed them is frankly appalling. You are entitled to your opinion, but to make excuses to justify keeping Cav (which I assume is what you prefer) is wild to me.

Cav has to go. Plain and simple. He's done a great job building the program, but he has hit his ceiling. If we don't act soon, we'll miss the window of taking the program to the next level. This reminds me when football fumbled the hiring of PP after Edsall left. If we hit a home run in that hire, who knows where that program would be. The time is NOW to upgrade the head coach of the hockey team.

 

[ThabeetDown]

Let’s not get carried away. Wood was a disappointment. He is a good player but not the type you can build a team around, I don’t think.

Sergeev looked like a potentially big time goalie, and I didn’t get why he split time this year. He struggled early but came back strong.

Salminen is another good player but more of a role player. Not going to put a team on his back and carry it.

On the whole, I’d rather have these guys back than lose them but I think Sergeev is the biggest loss.

I'm double posting/replying because to say Wood is a disappointment/not someone you build around when he was so good playing for the Canadian junior team and almost a PPG in HE at just 19 is just a WILD take.

 

[Viet Vet]

Early prediction for next season.................a three way race to the bottom along with Vermont and Merrimack.

 

[CTBballfan243]

I'm double posting/replying because to say Wood is a disappointment/not someone you build around when he was so good playing for the Canadian junior team and almost a PPG in HE at just 19 is just a WILD take.

Wood played on the 4th line for Canada. Wood can shoot the puck but cannot "drive" a line. He needs to be on a line with players who can get him the puck. IMO his linemate's at UConn were too fast for him. Mat struggled to keep up at times. He really needs to improve his skating, especially his acceleration going from a stop to getting moving. A change of scenery will do him good in his development. B1G style of hockey might be more suited to his game.

 

[How Sway?!]

It's a bit too early for doom posting since the transfer portal is a two way street. Not a good look for sure, but we were in a similar position with men's basketball after the 21-22 season and we all know how that turned out.

 

[UC15]

It's a bit too early for doom posting since the transfer portal is a two way street. Not a good look for sure, but we were in a similar position with men's basketball after the 21-22 season and we all know how that turned out.

Except they kept Hawkins, Jackson & Adama that season. Quite literally the opposite of what's happening with mens hockey right now.

 

[How Sway?!]

Except they kept Hawkins, Jackson & Adama that season. Quite literally the opposite of what's happening with mens hockey right now.

That didn't stop people from freaking out. I'm not saying this is a good situation, I'm just saying it's too early to make claims about the next season without knowing who comes in from transfer portal.

 

[primus74]

It's already difficult enough to get high end recruits since they mostly go to BU, BC, Minnesota, or Michigan. Now it will be nearly impossible, especially if NHL teams are not happy with the development that the UConn staff provides. Wood took a chance on UConn and they failed him. I'm so bummed that he's leaving and going to a different school - most likely Minnesota. He was a very important recruit for UConn.

 

[TMB4405]

The biggest issue was what was pointed out above. These kids do not make decisions to leave without their NHL team endorsing it at a minimum but more likely requesting they do it. Add to that our special teams have been awful for 10 years. Our in zone defense and breakouts have been awful for years. Then the cherry on top is lack of any wins in the post season except one two game run and an almost vs UMass. And a win in an 8-9 game this year. I am not an alarmist but you cant be around as long as Cav has been and say he deserves more time. You also see teams improve quickly with right coach (Umass was atrocious 5-6 years ago).

 

[Blades]

Yep, DB should have known or I hoped he would. But he drank the kool-aid on this guy for wining a couple of post season games once in 12 years. ( Jalen Adams 75 ft shot anyone in the AAC tourney anyone?)

I said it before... Cav has no puck control system to break out of his zone, no PP and he tries to turn NHL picks into to dump and chase 4th line muckers (80's style). Tage, Letunov and Wood all regressed after a year of playing for this fraud, to name a few. And who ever got better in Cavs (lack of a ) system ??? ( probably can count them on 1 hand). Being totally undisciplined last year was a new wrinkle. Good players aren't stupid so of course they fly away, despite all the shinning new things he said Uconn would need.

 

[Scoe]

It's a bit too early for doom posting since the transfer portal is a two way street. Not a good look for sure, but we were in a similar position with men's basketball after the 21-22 season and we all know how that turned out.

Not a good analogy Hurley won in the regular season the doom was him losing 1st rd games in the tourney 2 years in a row, there was never talk of him being fired except for the lunatics on this board. Hurley didn’t lose any of his top guys to the portal. He changed his ways by changing the offense.

Cav has been here for 11 years, no one is saying he has to get to the Frozen Four, we have seen nothing but regression. I hope he does make everyone eat crow.