It's not really about recent "defections" to the pros -- there haven't been
any, with the exception of Tom Poti. In his case, nobody was surprised he
left, I'm sure Parker and co. figured they'd get about 2 years out of him.
 
If anything, the "defections" that may be hurting BU today might be the
ones that actually happened quite a few years ago -- the early departures
of Lachance, Amonte, Ahola, and Tkachuk, coupled with the expected
departures (graduations) of players like Tomlinson and McEachern, BU
recruited hard -- and it brought strong team-based playing and a national
championship (that eluded 1991's "NHL" squad) back to BU.
 
What resulted was a strong team in terms of recruiting value -- which can
also turn away valuable recruits, or in the case of a player like Brendan
Walsh, turn a valuable recruit into a player that transferred away. Many
say Walsh was unhappy playing in the shadow of the likes of Drury, Poti,
and Sylvia. Couple that with his discipline problems (on and off the ice),
his departure is no surprise.
 
Another extremely valuable recruit that vanished was Lacouture, often
touted as one of the best "Class of 2000" recruits in the country. He split
after his freshman year.
 
Add in other players -- Travis Roy, who might possibly have captained this
year's squad; Scott King, who wasn't interested in or simply couldn't keep
up with academics; a back-injured Degerman -- that would have all been
seniors, and the picture around BU becomes a bit clearer.
 
So BU is hurting from "defections," but not because of the NHL.
 
 
greenie
 
ps: I still think the squad is doing a great job with what they've got. A
home loss to Maine is tough to take, but playing a team like that (with a
hot goalie to boot) down to the wire is something *any* team should be
proud of. Never thought I'd be so happy to see a BU squad just under .500 !
 
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