Mike writes:
>I was pretty sure that Gagnon would go pro if he was offered a decent contact
>in the NHL.  He's following in Darren Puppa's foot steps.  Puppa left RPI as
>a national champion and after his junior year when many of the other key
>players graduated.  I don't think that these goalies really wanted to become
>the main attraction in a shooting gallery in their senior year.  Who can
>blame them.
 
    Daren Puppa actually left RPI in 1985 after his sophomore year.  Although
    RPI was losing a number of good players like Adam Oates, George Servinis,
    Tim Friday, and Ken Hammond, there were also some pretty good returning
    players like John Carter, Mark Jooris, Mike Dark, Mike Robinson, Neil
    Hernberg, Terry Butryn, and Bob DiPronio, not to mention transfers
    Billy Kopecky from Boston College and John Tiano from Boston University,
    and freshmen Rob Schena, Ryan Kummu, Steve Moore, and Graeme Townshend
    among others.  Puppa would have been returning to a very, very good team
    that I still think would have had a serious chance to win back-to-back
    titles.  The Engineers of 1985-86 ended up being plagued by extremely
    inconsistent goaltending, and Puppa would have solidified this position.
    I don't think it would have been a shooting gallery at all like Gagnon
    may have faced.
 
    Puppa left for the same reason Oates left - he was made an offer
    he couldn't refuse.  With all the bucks flying around in 1985, I don't
    know who could refuse.  He realized that his value could only go down
    after going 30-1-1 as a sophomore and it was better to take the cash
    and run.  Carter later regretted not taking the nearly $1 million that
    Boston offered him at the same time.  It cost him dearly when he ended
    up with about half as many points as he had in 1985 due to Oates'
    absence and especially when he went down with a knee injury late in
    the season, dropping his dollar value even more.
 
 
    - mike