Do NHL teams have reason to worry about Gopher development

In the 2007-2008 hockey season Kyle Okposo left the University of Minnesota midway through his sophomore year as the New York Islanders wanted to player a larger role in his rapid development and there was talk at the time that they didn't trust that he'd get the same kind of development while playing for the Gophers.

It's a difficult concept to gather what kind of development goes on at Minnesota, but the one thing that is clear is that the Gophers alumni excelled immediately as freshmen prior to their current NHL careers.

Every former Gopher player currently on a NHL roster got off to quick starts in their freshmen year. This is not good news for Gopher players and NHL teams that own their rights considering almost every member of the Gophers has been drafted, some quite high. Especially considering that only Jordan Schroeder and possibly Mike Hoeffel can be thought of top ten players in the WCHA.

Blake Wheeler and Ryan Potulny did not make the WCHA All-Rookie team See the list below for the Gophers in the NHL that did:

Jordan Leopold, D 1998-99 7 goals, 16 assists in 39 games
Paul Martin, D 2000-01 3 goals 17 assists in 38 games
Keith Ballard, D 2001-02 10 goals, 13 assists in 41 games
Thomas Vanek, F 2002-03 31 goals, 31 assists in 45 games
Alex Goligoski, D 2004-05 5 goals, 15 assists in 33 games
Phil Kessel, F 2005-06 18 goals, 31 assists 39 games
Erik Johnson, D 2006-07 4 Goals, 20 Assists in 40 games
Kyle Okposo, F 2006-07 19 goals, 21 assists in 40 games
Cade Fairchild, D 2007-2008 2 goals, 8 assists in 28 games
Jordan Schroeder, F 2008-2009 11 goals, 24 assists in 28 games

Wheeler only scored nine goals and added 14 assists his freshman year. He had 38 points in his sophomore season and 35 in his junior season. Wheeler had lofty expectations put on him his freshman season, but he had the luxury of being overshadowed by another freshman Phil Kessel who scored 18 goals and had 33 assists that season. Also carrying the scoring load that season was junior Ryan Potulny who had an amazing year with 38 goals and 25 assists. Danny Irmen also was a junior that year and scored 16 goals and had 22 assists.

Potulny only played in 15 games scoring six goals and eight assists. Prior to his 63 point junior season Potulny had 24 goals and 17 assists his junior season.

See below for all Gophers drafted in the first round:

MINNESOTA’S FIRST-ROUND DRAFT PICKS
Year Name Team Pick
1979 Mike Ramsey Buffalo 11
1985 Tom Chorske Montreal 16
1989 Doug Zmolek Minnesota 7
1996 Erik Rasmussen Buffalo 7
2000 Jeff Taffe St. Louis 30
2002 Keith Ballard Buffalo 11
2003 Thomas Vanek Buffalo 5
2004 Blake Wheeler Phoenix 5
2004 Kris Chucko Calgary 24
2006 Erik Johnson St. Louis 1
2006 Phil Kessel Boston 5
2006 Kyle Okposo NY Islanders 7
2006 David Fischer Montreal 20
2007 Patrick White Vancouver 25
2007 Jim O’Brien Ottawa 29
2009 Nick Leddy Minnesota 16
2009 Jordan Schroeder Vancouver 22