Brian Morris writes:
>The Red Wings have always taken an interest in the stars of college hockey,
>much more than other NHL teams IMHO.
 
I've always thought of Boston and New Jersey as being the two NHL
teams who really go after college players more than any other team.  I
think Boston had more collegians in its lineup this year of all the
NHL teams, and Providence was a virtual college all-star team.  And of
course, New Jersey is run by former PC AD (and former Hockey East
commish) Lou Lamoriello, which explains the Devils' level of interest.
I have sometimes wondered whether Lou's prior involvement in college
has clouded his judgment; it seems that he'll either give up too much
to acquire a college player or even keep them around too long hoping
that they'll pan out.
 
>And of course back in 1985 they made
>those three big signings of college free agents: Ray Stayzk (sp) from
>Illinois-
>Chicago Circle, Dale Krentz from (M-State? someone help me out) and Adam Oates
>from RPI.
 
And Illitch never did it again after that. :-)  That was a real
turning point in the situation of college players as free agents -
that triple signing was such a disaster that everyone else backed off
after that.  The fears at the time of a bidding war for the best
unsigned college players turned out to be overstated.  Yes, Illitch's
signings did result in the establishment of the college supplemental
draft, but it only lasted 6 years or so and now we're back to where we
were before 1985.  It's just too much of a risk to pay out the big
bucks to college stars - I realize this even though I'm a huge college
fan.  The two games are very different, and the guys you think would
be stars aren't while those who you never thought would make it, do.
 
To be fair to Illitch, though, Staszak ended up playing hardly at all
after his career-ending injury and Oates wasn't given enough time to
develop.  I don't know who gave the okay to deal Oates, I forget who
the Wings' GM was at that time - but they really got taken to town on
that one.
 
To keep this related to college, what I have found interesting is that
over the last ten years or so, we have gradually seen more and more
college players able to enter the NHL and make an immediate impact.
It was not like that at all in the early 80s, or even in the mid 80s
(look at Murphy, Oates and Terreri, among others - they took time).
But in the last year or two, we have had players like Juneau,
McEachern, Drake, Hiller, Blake, Amonte, Tkachuk, etc. enter the NHL
and within a year or two, each had become vital to his team's success.
It seems that while college has been producing better and better
players, the NHL has also gravitated towards the European style of
play whose influence can be seen in the college game, and this helps
the collegians adjust better.  There are still differences, but I
think the games are growing towards each other rather than apart.
---
Mike Machnik           [log in to unmask]    [log in to unmask]
Cabletron Systems, Inc.                                  *HMN* 11/13/93