I sent Matt's post to someone who follows the NHL very closely.  While
he follows the college game only tangentially, he has an excellent knowledge
of the NHL.  He has some interesting thougths on the "NHL providers".
 
Iyer
 
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I think Kariya does tip the scale quite a bit in Maine's favor.
But Corkum is a 3rd liner at best, Weinrich is about a #4-#6 defenseman
on an average team and Beers I have heard of him but I don't know where
he plays (Tampa Bay??)  What about the Feraro brothers and Mike Dunham -
they are all stuck in the minors.  I don't agree with the "quality" part.
 
But it is very hard to "beat" the combination of Adam Oates, Joe Juneau
and Darren Pupa.
 
Michigan has some decent talent out there:  Norton, Oliver, Roberts
 
Doug Weight and Brian Rolston come to mind for LSSU.
 
Wisconsin has Carey, Richter, Gary Suter and Chelios(?).
 
How about he Miller brothers from Michigan St.(?).
 
BU with Tkachuk, Lachance, O'Sullivan and Grier.
 
But the argument against Maine and Kariya is:  Maine did NOT produce Kariya,
this guy was already DAMN good even before he skated for Maine.  He only
played there for about 1 1/2 season.  I don't think you can teach talent -
quickness, skating, "soft" hands, vision etc.  A player may improve but the
base level talent has to be there.
 
Say Mario Lemieux and Wayne Gretzky went to Michigan Tech for a year,
can they claim to be the BEST providers of talent to NHL - I don't
think so.
 
A better measure would be a guy that goes undrafted before he goes to
college and gets drafted in the later years and makes it to the NHL
- then the college program can claim credit for "producing" the player.
 
 
I'd say it's more along the lines of:  Which college program "recruits"
better players for the NHL vs "produces".  Some players are good/great
college players but not necessarily NHL material.  How many H. Baker
winners are still in the NHL??
 
The same can be said for hoops:  Michigan, Georgia Tech and N. Carolina
come to mind that produces a high number of NBA players but I don't
think it necessary means they are the BEST colloege program as long
as Duke is around  :-)
 
 
 
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