Sunday, May 01, 2011

Comings and Goings

In addition to Andrew Sinelli's commitment, there have been several bits of news related to personnel that have come up in the past few weeks.

The first is that, after a seemingly-serious flirtation with alma-mater Michigan Tech about their head coaching job, Mel Pearson has opted to return to Michigan. It was serious enough that all indications were that he was going to be taking the job. Tech fans were convinced and it had been reported as a done deal on a variety of sites, and the word was that Tech had an announcement scheduled. In the end, Pearson opted to remain with the Wolverines as an assistant. The Tech job remains open.

One who won't be back with the Wolverines next year is forward Jacob Fallon. Both The Wolverine and Go Blue Wolverine have confirmed he won't return. Not a whole lot of information has come out about that one other than at some point it was in play for him to be back next year. Spath had mentioned that it's an extremely sad situation and that we should be rooting for him. Best wishes to Jacob for him to sort out whatever issues he has going on in his life. I had hoped that he could become a poor man's Dwight Helminen of sorts.

Next up, our trio of Devils prospects: David Wohlberg, Brandon Burlon, and Jon Merrill. There have been way too many rumors that Burlon is gone, and Mark Burns from The Daily has talked to several people that say he's out of here. Several commenters have echoed the same thought.

There were rumors swirling that Wohlberg was outta here too, but things have been extremely quite on the Wohlberg front as more people seem to be hearing about Burlon being gone. You'd think Wohlberg would have come up as well if it was a sure thing. For what it's worth, a Devils blogger mentioned that he expects Wohlberg back at Michigan next season. He also ranked the NJD prospects and had Merrill #1, Burlon #5, and Wohlberg #11.

It's been all quiet as far as Merrill and Phoenix prospect Chris Brown are concerned.

Next up, some other interesting Tweets from Mark Burns, who was absolutely killing it on Friday. One name to watch for the future as a recruit, and one name to watch as a potential future coach? Both are named Mike Babcock. I feel like a Notre Dame fan for even bringing it up. Burns even acknowledged that he'd be shocked if it happened. But as the story goes, Babcock and Red each have two years left on their deals, Babcock's daughter is starting at Michigan in the Fall, and his son was just drafted in the 5th round of the USHL Draft and Michigan could have some interest. A source told Burns that the possibility of Babcock to Michigan is out there, and that neither Powers nor Pearson want the head coaching job. Again, I'm not going all Notre Dame fan here, because I acknowledge that it's highly, highly, highly (is that enough highlys?) unlikely that would play out. But I did think it was interesting--and it's awesome to think about the possibility even if I feel like Lloyd Christmas ("So you're telling me there's a chance......."). I guess crazier things have happened, especially if the Wings win another title in the next couple of seasons. I don't want to read any LOLZ! THE WOLVERINES THINK THAT BABCOCK IS GOING TO LEAVE THE WINGS TO COACH THEM!! HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! comments. Pretty sure no one thinks that it's actually going to happen.

Other stuff:
Max Domi was dominant at the NCAA Showcase and mentioned that he's "pretty confident that most OHL teams know I'm leaning toward Michigan". The cynics will take hold of that word "most" to mean "All but the team I actually want to play for." We should know before too much longer as the OHL Draft is May 7. The OHL site has a brief writeup on Domi.

The USA won their third-straight World Under 18 Championship with an overtime win over Sweden. They ended the tournament 6-0. John Gibson picked up all six victories and had a 2.34 goals against and a .926 save percentage. He clearly won the award as the top goaltender in the tournament. He was also named one of the three best USA players, along with JT Miller and Robbie Russo. The Americans are the first squad in history to win three straight golds at that tournament.

More from international play: The IIHF World Championships are ongoing and there's a definite Michigan theme to Team USA. Al Montoya, Mike Brown, Jack Johnson, and Mike Komisarek all made the team. Former commit Jack Campbell is also on the roster. The Americans won their opening game 5-1 against Austria. Montoya made 12 stops in the victory and Johnson had an assist.

1 comment:

jack simms said...

as of may 6 it looks like pearson has done a 180-degree turn and now will take the tech job