Former Gopher traded for 3 players

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Former Hobey Baker winner Jordan Leopold traded to Calgary for defenseman Lawrence Nycholat, a second-round draft pick and another prospect. http://www.nhl.com/ice/news.htm?id=412199


For the kids who don't remember him.....despite being an All-American and leading the nation in scoring by a defenseman in 2000-2001, Leopold decided to come back for another year, won the Hobey Baker (the Heisman of college hockey) and led the Gophers to the 2002 national title (first of back to back national titles)
 


Let's hope that anyone that is reading GopherHole doesn't need a reminder of who Leo is. Gopher legend is dead on. As is Armstrong legend and Hobey Baker.

A player staying four years, winning Hobey, a national title and legendary status. Awesome stuff.
 

Let's hope that anyone that is reading GopherHole doesn't need a reminder of who Leo is. Gopher legend is dead on. As is Armstrong legend and Hobey Baker. A player staying four years, winning Hobey, a national title and legendary status. Awesome stuff.

You hope nobody needs a reminder, especially for Hobey winners like Leopold and Bonin, but the Gophers put out so many great players it can get fuzzy, especially for the college freshman today who were in grade school for some of these guys. With Leopold people forget about Ballard, JP, Vanek, the Potulny brothers, not to mention all the wonderboys who leave after 1 year....#1 overall pick Johnson, Kessel, Okposo....you could go on and on, and just in the last few years alone!
 

You hope nobody needs a reminder, especially for Hobey winners like Leopold and Bonin, but the Gophers put out so many great players it can get fuzzy, especially for the college freshman today who were in grade school for some of these guys. With Leopold people forget about Ballard, JP, Vanek, the Potulny brothers, not to mention all the wonderboys who leave after 1 year....#1 overall pick Johnson, Kessel, Okposo....you could go on and on, and just in the last few years alone!

Don't sell Okposo short, he quit on his team after one and a half years :rolleyes:. Why he didn't just leave before his sophomore year instead of screwing his teammates in the middle of the season I'll never understand.
 


I was actually in Calgary during the draft that he was traded to Colorado for Tanguay. The sentiment around town was that the Flames desperately needed a scoring threat after Iginla, but most people thought Leopold was becoming a top Dman and a lot were worried that they would have no D (guess the flames brass knew what they had in Phaneuf). Leo showed enough promise get get swapped for a guy that scored 70 pts, but unfortunately he was hurt for 2 yrs and finally has been healthy this year. Hope the move back to Calgary will get him back on track.
 

I was actually in Calgary during the draft that he was traded to Colorado for Tanguay. The sentiment around town was that the Flames desperately needed a scoring threat after Iginla, but most people thought Leopold was becoming a top Dman and a lot were worried that they would have no D (guess the flames brass knew what they had in Phaneuf). Leo showed enough promise get get swapped for a guy that scored 70 pts, but unfortunately he was hurt for 2 yrs and finally has been healthy this year. Hope the move back to Calgary will get him back on track.

They gave up quite a bit to get Leopold back, too.

Also, for anyone not following Vanek's career, he is currently the NHL's 8th leading goal scorer. Kessell is 17th.
 

You hope nobody needs a reminder, especially for Hobey winners like Leopold and Bonin, but the Gophers put out so many great players it can get fuzzy, especially for the college freshman today who were in grade school for some of these guys. With Leopold people forget about Ballard, JP, Vanek, the Potulny brothers, not to mention all the wonderboys who leave after 1 year....#1 overall pick Johnson, Kessel, Okposo....you could go on and on, and just in the last few years alone!

Living here in Lincoln, with a very good USHL team, I got to watch the Potulny brothers, Ballard, and Vanek play a lot of hockey. What an exiting time that was in the USHL and then the Gophers run after that equally as fun to watch. Some great talent.
 

Don't sell Okposo short, he quit on his team after one and a half years :rolleyes:. Why he didn't just leave before his sophomore year instead of screwing his teammates in the middle of the season I'll never understand.

It wasn't his choice actually, the Islanders let him stay with the Gophers because they thought that was best for him developmentally, rather than toiling in the AHL or being stashed on their bench they let him play on the team against the stiff competition in the WCHA but Islanders coaches weren't happy with his development so they pulled him off the team midseason. I agree it was a shady move but it wasn't Okposo's choice to leave.
 



It wasn't his choice actually, the Islanders let him stay with the Gophers because they thought that was best for him developmentally, rather than toiling in the AHL or being stashed on their bench they let him play on the team against the stiff competition in the WCHA but Islanders coaches weren't happy with his development so they pulled him off the team midseason. I agree it was a shady move but it wasn't Okposo's choice to leave.

That's complete BS. The gophers are not the Islanders' minor league affiliate. They can't "[pull] him off the team" if they aren't happy with the gopher staff's development of his game. It was Okposo's choice, and only his choice, to leave when he did. He never wanted to play college hockey that year, so he screwed his team at his first opportunity. As far as I'm concerned he has absolutely no excuse for what he did. It's one thing to disappoint fans by leaving college early for a pro opportunity; it's never acceptable to quit on your team in the middle of the year. I don't remember even Unclebcd giving the excuse that you did.
 

That's complete BS. The gophers are not the Islanders' minor league affiliate. They can't "[pull] him off the team" if they aren't happy with the gopher staff's development of his game. It was Okposo's choice, and only his choice, to leave when he did. He never wanted to play college hockey that year, so he screwed his team at his first opportunity. As far as I'm concerned he has absolutely no excuse for what he did. It's one thing to disappoint fans by leaving college early for a pro opportunity; it's never acceptable to quit on your team in the middle of the year. I don't remember even Unclebcd giving the excuse that you did.

I apologize, I should have read an article to refresh my memory of the event before I responded to your post. I read an article about Okposo leaving the team and you are correct he wasn't pulled from the team by the Islanders, instead they offered him an entry level contract that he basically couldn't refuse in the middle of the season because they had a spot open up. My memory apparently isn't as good as I thought it was haha. My apologies again and it won't happen again.....
 

I apologize, I should have read an article to refresh my memory of the event before I responded to your post. I read an article about Okposo leaving the team and you are correct he wasn't pulled from the team by the Islanders, instead they offered him an entry level contract that he basically couldn't refuse in the middle of the season because they had a spot open up. My memory apparently isn't as good as I thought it was haha. My apologies again and it won't happen again.....

No worries Roch., I just hold a grudge against people like Okposo and Pryzbilla for abandoning their teams midseason. Maybe the next gopher national championship will help erase those memories.
 




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