Friday, June 10, 2011

Wiseman, Muckalt, Hyman, and More

Now that the AHL Playoffs are finally over, Michigan has officially announced Brian Wiseman as the new assistant to Red Berenson. He replaces Mel Pearson who took the Michigan Tech head coaching job after much debate.

Wiseman was most recently an assistant with the Houston Aeros of the AHL, who just fell to Binghamton Senators in the Calder Cup Finals. He played for four years under Red Berenson, racking up 248 points. He remains 3rd on Michigan's all-time scoring list.

He also has experience as an assistant with Princeton and was the video coordinator for the Dallas Stars. From 2005-10 he wasn't actually working in hockey, instead working as an account manager for an oil supplier. He said that he would have stayed in that job, but he didn't want Michigan State trying to hire him away to be their head coach after Anastos gets fired.*

When the job was originally open, Bill Muckalt was one of the names mentioned as a potential replacement for Pearson. As it turns out, he didn't replace Pearson. He joined him. Muckalt was named as an assistant at Michigan Tech, coaching under Pearson. Muckalt was a head coach in the NAHL and WSHL. He was also Head Coach of the Eastern Michigan club team. Can I make another Tom Anastos joke in the same article? No. Alright, fine.

In other news, Zach Hyman was honored with the BJ Monro award by the OHA. This award is given to the OHA's top professional prospect. Mike Cammalleri and Nathan Horton are previous winners of the award. Hyman's jersey will also be displayed in the Hockey Hall of Fame during July.

Brandon Burlon has officially signed with the New Jersey Devils and won't be returning to school. I think the writing was probably on the wall after Mike Chiasson committed. Burlon denied that the decision to leave him as a scratch for the National Championship Game had anything to do with his decision. It sounds like he got "the speech" from Red about not leaving, but he indicated that he intends to finish his degree.

Best of luck to Brandon! I don't think it was unreasonable for him to head to the pros. I wish he had come back for his senior season, but this shouldn't be a shocker to anyone, and I don't think it's a head-scratcher either. He's a talented kid and I think he can probably play in the NHL. The Devils have struggled, so now is probably a good time to head that way. Just so long as he doesn't go trying to bring any of his teammates (Merrill, Wohlberg) along with him!

More stuff I haven't commented on!

Louie Caporusso did end up signing with Ottawa. While Caporusso never quite got back to the level (offensively) that he reached during his sophomore season, he did give us four very-good seasons and I think he became a much better all-around player by the end of his career. I mean, he ended up being a freaking penalty killer! He'll likely end up joining the Binghamton Senators, who just won the AHL Championship. Again, it would be great to see the Love Guru in the League someday. I'm really going to miss Louie.

Carl Hagelin was given the Big Ten's Medal of Honor for his success in the classroom and on the ice. The New York Rangers site just did a profile of him for their "20 Prospects in 20 Days" series.

"He's an elite skater," Jeff Gorton, the Rangers' Assistant Director, Player Personnel, said of Hagelin. "He's evolved from maybe what people thought of as a role-type player to a guy that's shown some skill and been very productive at the college level with speed and tenacity.”

It was a really great article (and a really LONG article!). There are quotes from Carl and all sorts of people in the Rangers organization. And it turns out we've been saying his name incorrectly all along. Whoops! Sorry about that, Carl. That kid is going to make everyone who loves Michigan hockey proud. What a find he was...

NHL.com has a feature about the two top-ranked goalies named Gibson. John is the top-ranked, and Chris is the second-ranked heading into the Draft, which is in a couple of weeks.

*He didn't actually say that.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Anastos has coached several AAA teams over the past few years with Honeybaked. I am thinking MSU will do just fine.

Kevin said...

Lol, Anonymous, you so silly.

streaker said...

Burlon is a good kid, very talented... but I tend to believe that Red knows when a kid is ready for the NHL and he didn't think he was.He had made up his mind prior to the FF, so the whole snubbing angle doesn't lend too much, other than making the decision easier. He'll eventually play in the NHL- after going to Albany- but he's in for a bumpy road.

I wish him well, too, but I just didn't like how he handled this with Berenson and the team.