I was predicting 18 months ago that NIL would make a big difference in the CHL vs. US college going forward.

They better change that rule about age and going to NHL minor league teams or they'll lose many more stars then they already are.

College BB and FB players are making multi million dollars. If you are a young hockey player in Canada, say Bedard or Celebrini, and you can make 2 or 3 million plus endorsments before you turn 20, you have to do it.
- vabeachbear

I think those NIL opportunities in the range of millions of dollars is very much a stretch for very few hockey players who choose the college path. Yes the future Bedard or Celebrini types you mention may profit somewhat. NCAA hockey (like even pro hockey) is still a niche sport and I doubt if the daddy warbucks types in college hot beds in Massachusetts, Minnesota or Michigan would come up with millions to lure Canadian players. I'm not saying NIL won't be a factor, but I'm thinking tens of thousands for a decent player. I wonder what Hagens at BC is getting in NIL money if any.

Bedard, Hall, Reichel line:

They gave up the most shots against of any line and generated the least. They had the lowest expected goals percentage (15.27, WOOF), gave up 10 scoring chances against while only creating two, and gave up four high-danger chances without generating any.

Watching the highlights, damn man that puck is not going in the back of the net for the Blackhawks. They had some great chances. I forget how Dallas packs it in, in front of their own goalie.

There is my guy Kurashev with another dumb penalty

Bedard, Hall, Reichel line:

They gave up the most shots against of any line and generated the least. They had the lowest expected goals percentage (15.27, WOOF), gave up 10 scoring chances against while only creating two, and gave up four high-danger chances without generating any.
- LAHawk

The shot shares across the board though were pretty rough, except for Bertuzzi.

Richardson and Anderson were very bad in those metrics and they're usually positive players.

There was some chemistry with Reichel and Bedard which is an improvement over no chemistry. I don't think Hall fits there though. It should probably be Bertuzzi because 3 puck carriers is too many.

I think those NIL opportunities in the range of millions of dollars is very much a stretch for very few hockey players who choose the college path. Yes the future Bedard or Celebrini types you mention may profit somewhat. NCAA hockey (like even pro hockey) is still a niche sport and I doubt if the daddy warbucks types in college hot beds in Massachusetts, Minnesota or Michigan would come up with millions to lure Canadian players. I'm not saying NIL won't be a factor, but I'm thinking tens of thousands for a decent player. I wonder what Hagens at BC is getting in NIL money if any.
- boilermaker100

ya that's what they said 2 and 3 years ago about the other sports as well. they were getting a few hundred thousand deals. Now BB players are getting 2 and 3 million deals, and football players like Caleb Williams was getting 6 mil

BC, BU, Harvard, these schools have hundreds of millions if not billion dolar endowments. If you think they aren't going to pay stars from Canada million dollar NIL deals to get he best young players in the world to win National Championships i think you are being naive.

I said back then if CHL didn't get rid of the age rule, they will lose many more top players. I stand by that.

If you are a parent of one of these kids, and can set your kid up with a few million before they start out you have to do it. While most will have a career in hockey, nothing is guaranteed.

What do you think Harvard would pay today if Bedard was back at a 16 or 17 yr old?

ya that's what they said 2 and 3 years ago about the other sports as well. they were getting a few hundred thousand deals. Now BB players are getting 2 and 3 million deals, and football players like Caleb Williams was getting 6 mil

BC, BU, Harvard, these schools have hundreds of millions if not billion dolar endowments. If you think they aren't going to pay stars from Canada million dollar NIL deals to get he best young players in the world to win National Championships i think you are being naive.

I said back then if CHL didn't get rid of the age rule, they will lose many more top players. I stand by that.

If you are a parent of one of these kids, and can set your kid up with a few million before they start out you have to do it. While most will have a career in hockey, nothing is guaranteed.

What do you think Harvard would pay today if Bedard was back at a 16 or 17 yr old?
- vabeachbear

Why would BC pay millions to a hockey player when their subpar football team makes millions of dollars more than its hockey team? That NIL money is going to football then basketball. No reason for any school to pay millions for an 18 year old hockey player.

Again it’s not even close. College hockey doesn’t even have TV deals that bring anything close to what football and basketball TV deals.

Why would BC pay millions to a hockey player when their subpar football team makes millions of dollars more than its hockey team? That NIL money is going to football then basketball. No reason for any school to pay millions for an 18 year old hockey player.

Again it’s not even close. College hockey doesn’t even have TV deals that bring anything close to what football and basketball TV deals.
- bhawks2241

And why hasn't BC, BU and Harvard bought and brought in a few basketball stars to win national championships?

And why hasn't BC, BU and Harvard bought and brought in a few basketball stars to win national championships?
- boilermaker100

Their alumni are wealthy but much smaller than a huge state school. I fear Notre Dame football as we've always known it days are over.

Why would BC pay millions to a hockey player when their subpar football team makes millions of dollars more than its hockey team? That NIL money is going to football then basketball. No reason for any school to pay millions for an 18 year old hockey player.

Again it’s not even close. College hockey doesn’t even have TV deals that bring anything close to what football and basketball TV deals.
- bhawks2241

The Notre Dame recruiting budget for football alone is about double the entire hockey budget.

Bedard, Hall, Reichel line:

They gave up the most shots against of any line and generated the least. They had the lowest expected goals percentage (15.27, WOOF), gave up 10 scoring chances against while only creating two, and gave up four high-danger chances without generating any.
- LAHawk

Our first two lines as constructed won't win anything besides a top three pick.

I understand this is the last column by Zach

I appreciate your time and input, Zach

Perhaps if you are reading this, would you be able to explain whether anyone could just open a column by posting a score and not even a comment - or brief commentary - done after each game. Then let the board talk about whatever

There are hockeybuzz monitors too no matter just to be in the up and up whether they get to any issues or rulings late. I just wanted to include that insofar as I don’t know if Zach or anyone else had the role of monitoring- actually I don’t think Zach did but previous monitors may have been whoever wrote the column

Just would like us all to know if there is some way this forum could continue with anyone able to step in to Zach’s job but not be expected to post as a depth or lengthy column. Maybe thought of as a caretaker for X amount of time when hopefully someone else might take over Of course it sounds like HB itself may not be around much longer

Here’s hoping this board can continue though through the end of season and the Entry Draft
- jhawk59

There is the "Forum" section for each team and anyone can start a thread in there. I started one where I just dump my prospect notes. The problem would be getting everyone to migrate over and look for new conversations there.

https://www.hockeybuzz.co...rds/forum.php?forum_id=57

I guess we could put links in this conversation that point over there.

There is the "Forum" section for each team and anyone can start a thread in there. I started one where I just dump my prospect notes. The problem would be getting everyone to migrate over and look for new conversations there.

https://www.hockeybuzz.co...rds/forum.php?forum_id=57

I guess we could put links in this conversation that point over there.
- totem

Thanks for the reminder Totem. I visited your thread over there a couple of times and found the info useful. Thanks, too, for those contributions.

As long as HockeyBuzz stays alive, we can continue to post messages here on Zach's last blog. It will fall off the HockeyBuzz home page eventually, but if it's bookmarked it can be called back up. Last year when the Canucks board was between bloggers, the last thread by the previous blogger ran into hundreds of pages of comments.

I was thinking about the Wings game and now i really can't wait for the kids to start coming up. Larkin was the most dangerous player for them, why because of his speed and stick handling. He created their best chances of scoring most of the night.

I see some of it in Reichel right now he gets past the first layer of defense he's dangerous in the ozone. My hope is to see more of these kids in the system have this ability. Sounds like Nazar, Moore, Lardis just to name a few have this quality.
- BetweenTheDots

As I read the first paragraph, I was thinking I gotta post that Reichel has turned into that player the last 2 weeks. The last week, and yesterday too, Reichel is the most dangerous Hawk, not Bedard, right now.

He was more assertive than I've seen him last night skating thru sticks, arms and legs to Get. The. Puck. As I posted when he finally drew in tell this kid find the puck, go get the puck and skate it to the other goalie. Period, and if you don't you sit. ..... get the green horse outa the gate clean, straighten him out, then let the talent take over and hang on.

He's done that in spades and I'll be damned he looks more and more like a centerman each day. He has game breaking traits and it's predicated on his speed and it seems having the puck on his stick.

Still like him on L4 though.

I didn't get to see the game last night but i have noticed 4 straight games Vlasic is playing about 25 plus minutes, even on a back to back. I am just not a fan of dmen playing all these minutes in a game.
- BetweenTheDots

I agree. With all the at least competent Dmen no reason to ride a guy. I know LR wants to win now so minutes and lineups will reflect that time to time but last night I noticed Allan on 2 PK for a spell and Kaiser with Jones for a bit too on 1 PK.

Really like what Allan has done, and that he sees NHL PK TOI, but if I'm coaching and wanna win I don't send Allan out on any PK unit. ....... Gets confusing sometimes what LR's priorities are.

I agree. With all the at least competent Dmen no reason to ride a guy. I know LR wants to win now so minutes and lineups will reflect that time to time but last night I noticed Allan on 2 PK for a spell and Kaiser with Jones for a bit too on 1 PK.

Really like what Allan has done, and that he sees NHL PK TOI, but if I'm coaching and wanna win I don't send Allan out on any PK unit. ....... Gets confusing sometimes what LR's priorities are.
- Mr Ricochet

Kurashev with the lowest TOI of the forwards last night. He might be taking Reichel's old spot next to Athanaseu in the press box soon

ya that's what they said 2 and 3 years ago about the other sports as well. they were getting a few hundred thousand deals. Now BB players are getting 2 and 3 million deals, and football players like Caleb Williams was getting 6 mil

BC, BU, Harvard, these schools have hundreds of millions if not billion dolar endowments. If you think they aren't going to pay stars from Canada million dollar NIL deals to get he best young players in the world to win National Championships i think you are being naive.

I said back then if CHL didn't get rid of the age rule, they will lose many more top players. I stand by that.

If you are a parent of one of these kids, and can set your kid up with a few million before they start out you have to do it. While most will have a career in hockey, nothing is guaranteed.

What do you think Harvard would pay today if Bedard was back at a 16 or 17 yr old?
- vabeachbear

Oh, for sure, VA Bear...... Canadian kids were already starting to go to the NCAA so as not to get drafted outa MJ so they're not bound to the CHL-NHL Agreement. The opening of college hockey will exacerbate that.

Simply said, labor gets draconian labor laws/rules lifted and as a result labor has options and labor is being paid. The CHL-NHL Agreement should be next. As it should be.

The problem is, that Ferris St coach mentioned players can move unlimited times in the NCAA and in theory can move 4 times in 4 yrs or 5 times in 5 yrs. The NCAA will have to regulate that in a way that it will stand up to lawsuits. Which will probably come next.

Bedard, Hall, Reichel line:

They gave up the most shots against of any line and generated the least. They had the lowest expected goals percentage (15.27, WOOF), gave up 10 scoring chances against while only creating two, and gave up four high-danger chances without generating any.
- LAHawk

Fatty brings up Reichel's fancies, his poor xGF amongst other things and that he's all over the ice and not positionally sound. All true, at least to an extent.

But, he's 22 and the most dynamic explosive player they have. If he were 26 they'd be on him to "stay" in his lane but he's not. He's a kid who was lost a month ago and found his game by seeing the puck, chasing it down and skate the damn thing and it creates danger......... Hawks don't have much danger on this roster and at 22 they'll live with Reichel's poor fancies in exchange for his explosive element. He's dangerous a couple times every game and that is becoming consistent.

If it was all about fancies they'd still have Foligno with Bedard where the xGF was 54%.

Kurashev with the lowest TOI of the forwards last night. He might be taking Reichel's old spot next to Athanaseu in the press box soon
- LAHawk

He needs to get consistent and complete in his game or they will just need to move on. 2 goals and 1 assist in 14 games and spotty D is not going to cut it. I've always been a pro Kurashev guy, but part of me was hoping they were going to sell high on him this summer after Bedard raised his value. I was hoping we would develop into solid middle 6 guy, but hope on that is fading.

Thanks for the reminder Totem. I visited your thread over there a couple of times and found the info useful. Thanks, too, for those contributions.

As long as HockeyBuzz stays alive, we can continue to post messages here on Zach's last blog. It will fall off the HockeyBuzz home page eventually, but if it's bookmarked it can be called back up. Last year when the Canucks board was between bloggers, the last thread by the previous blogger ran into hundreds of pages of comments.
- boilermaker100

Yep, bookmarking the page works but so does simply clicking on the Hawk's logo on the front page and it shows the last 20 blogs. You can access the last blog, or any one, from that home page icon no matter if that last blog is bumped from the homepage.

BM, I hate to nominate you for added work but it may take a guy like you to keep the Hawk's blog going until one is found. You certainly are qualified and well read too.

Fatty brings up Reichel's fancies, his poor xGF amongst other things and that he's all over the ice and not positionally sound. All true, at least to an extent.

But, he's 22 and the most dynamic explosive player they have. If he were 26 they'd be on him to "stay" in his lane but he's not. He's a kid who was lost a month ago and found his game by seeing the puck, chasing it down and skate the damn thing and it creates danger......... Hawks don't have much danger on this roster and at 22 they'll live with Reichel's poor fancies.

If it was all about fancies they'd still have Foligno with Bedard where the xGF was 54%.
- Mr Ricochet

Those stats are still a bit subjective and the sample size isn't huge right now, but I agree the important thing for Reichel is getting him to play with confidence and create some chances. If he is still producing some offense with guys like Craig smith in low TOI on the 4th line, I think that's fine. Let him build up right now. If they can keep from putting too much pressure on him I think that's best.

Kurashev with the lowest TOI of the forwards last night. He might be taking Reichel's old spot next to Athanaseu in the press box soon
- LAHawk

With Anderson back maybe, LA..... The proper amount of time outside of the NHL developing and tough love in the NHL seems to be the way the organIzation has approached this yr. ......... And I like it and hope it stays.

Yep, bookmarking the page works but so does simply clicking on the Hawk's logo on the front page and it shows the last 20 blogs. You can access the last blog, or any one, from that home page icon no matter if that last blog is bumped from the homepage.

BM, I hate to nominate you for added work but it may take a guy like you to keep the Hawk's blog going until one is found. You certainly are qualified and well read too.
- Mr Ricochet

Haha. Flattery will get you nowhere.

Those stats are still a bit subjective and the sample size isn't huge right now, but I agree the important thing for Reichel is getting him to play with confidence and create some chances. If he is still producing some offense with guys like Craig smith in low TOI on the 4th line, I think that's fine. Let him build up right now. If they can keep from putting too much pressure on him I think that's best.
- breadbag

Right on, BB...... They finally, finally, got Reichel going after a full NHL season and a full NHL camp and preseason. Don't fool with that and in fact the higher up the lineup he goes the better the opposition in not only skill but more importantly structurally/positionally which creates problems for him, the fancies back that up, until he gets better at that part of the sport.

And I haven't even touched on what you point out, the pressure that comes skating top 6........ Let that earned confidence marinate over an arbitrary number, like 20-25 games, and the solid play becomes more and more muscle memory then look at moving the kid up.

And yes, gotta be careful with the fancies. If you looked at Reichel's fancies last night it doesn't show how often he became dangerous, in ALL 3 zones...... That kinda play gets other guys going too.

Haha. Flattery will get you nowhere.
- boilermaker100

You know what I'm saying, BM. There are enough appreciative posters who will step up but it really helps to have someone to nudge it and add fresh content, which you, and others, already do.

Folks like to make fun of this blog's posters sometimes, BOD for example, but there are some sharp hockey minds here too that benefits any reader/fan and we're all better for it....... Be a shame to somehow lose that.

And why hasn't BC, BU and Harvard bought and brought in a few basketball stars to win national championships?
- boilermaker100

They are real academic based schools. Top basketball recruits wouldn't survive a day in class.

Also, top talent goes where there are coaches that can turn them into NBA prospects in a season. Coaches that play in "pro style" offenses and have a history of sending guys to the NBA.

Most importantly, it is not just about the NIL money, those schools you mention could offer twice as much and a lot of top kids (and their handlers) will say no because the real goal is NBA money. 1-2 mil more from a bad basketball school, with no name coaching, and no real history of sending guys to the NBA is not going to attract top talent.

If you were Caleb Williams and USC offered 4 million but Harvard offered 6 million. Where you going? I'm going to SoCal, without hesitation.