Kyle Okposo Leaving U of MN after World Juniors??

Question

Rumor has it Kyle Okposo will be leaving the U of MN after the world juniors to sign with the Islanders.

Is this a good move for him?

This is unheard of in college hockey, would this start a trend that would not be good for the NCAA?

Are the Islanders in need of shake up? I realize he would probably be AHL bound but to pull him out of the U they are probably thinking he would crack the line up..

I am not a big U of MN fan and this would be good for the rest of the WCHA but not good for NCAA hockey as a whole.

Thoughts????

Well it looks to be true. I wonder if he is even going to the World Juniors..

Both Johnsons waited until after their college season was over.

Answer 1

Actually, didn't Erik Johnson do the same thing? Although I think he left at the year's end. I think that was with Minnesota as well. Something tells me that Jack Johnson did it too, I could be wrong there though.

Answer 2

Only in very rare cases can a player leave the NCAA while a season is still in progress and join an NHL team (usually they can only do this at the end of the year).

This is a rule that was put in place in the late 70s to prevent kids from leaving school early to play.....and to prevent NHL teams from putting pressure on players to leave early.

So, having said that...
1) I would be very surprised if Okposo was leaving UMinn early to play in the AHL (shocked almost)

If that is the case, then I would assume that there is a serious rift somewhere between Okposo and his teammates, or the coaching staff that has made such a move necessary (his stats compared to last year are well off the pace).

Otherwise, I would assume that Okposo has had discussions with the Islanders (He's still NCAA eligible so he better not have an agent) and both sides have agreed that if he leaves UMinn early, he'll have an Islander spot.

There is a third option
His 1st semester marks suck and he lost his scholarship and is forced to play hockey elsewhere (this has happened before as well)


Note: After looking him up, he'd need an exemption (easily granted) to play in the AHL as he hasn't reached his 20th birthday yet and is therefore still junior eligible.

Answer 3

Erik Johnson did it also, didn't he?

I like Okposo, but it is sad to see him leave the team.
They might not do as good (they aren't really doing good though this season) without him.