Zac Dalpe's, a 2008 Carolina Hurricanes 2nd round draft pick, future at Ohio State grows less certain by the day.
If you recall the 6'1" center out of Paris Ontario had been committed to the Buckeyes since they were the first to show interest in him as a 15 year old. Then he was a highly skilled youngster but undersized. This past year Dalpe not only saw a tremendous growth spurt but he saw his stock grow in the eyes of NHL scouts....so much so that the Plymouth Whalers of the OHL selected him in the CHL draft.
From that point on the rumors have run rampet that Dalpe would sprun Ohio State to pursue the opportunity in the OHL.
To make matters worse, the owner of the Plymouth Whalers is the same guy who owns the Carolina Hurricanes which of course is the team that drafted him.
Talk about stacking the cards against head coach John Markell and his hockey Buckeyes.
Now as you may have guessed Dalpe is waivering:
“I think about it all the time,” Dalpe said. “Right now I’m going to Ohio State but if I got an offer I couldn’t refuse, that’s something I’d have to look at also and explore.”
“You think after the draft, things will kind of wind down a little bit, but not for me,” Dalpe said. “I had my nose to the grindstone and I have some tough decisions to make, but I’d rather have two teams wanting me to play for them than none.”
Those certainly aren't the kind of comments that inspire confidence if your wanting this kid in a Buckeye uniform this fall. It would certainly be a blow to a team that could desperately use him and in fact could ultimately decide the fate of Markell's future as a head coach in central ohio.
Markell has been head coach of the Buckeyes since the 1994-1995 season. In that span he has he has 5 NCAA Tournament appearances included making it to the Frozen Four in the 97-98 season. The last 3 seasons have been a struggle finishing under .500 each of those years including going 12-25-4 last season. He hasn't made the tournament since 2004-2005.
He's got a young team and Dalpe could make all the difference in getting that program pointed back in the right direction. Markell needs to catch this break.
Wes Goldstein of CBSSports.com had the following to say about the Jackets offseason:
The Jackets are the only one of the NHL's 30 teams to never make the playoffs, and second-year GM Scott Howson has moved aggressively this summer in an attempt to get rid of that dubious distinction. He started at the draft when used the sixth overall pick on a talented young Russian named Nikita Filatov, a player many teams were thought to be shying away from because there is no transfer agreement between his national federation and the NHL.
Columbus signed him though, and then continued the roster makeover with a series of free agents signings and trades. The upshot is that the Blue Jackets are a deeper and more balanced them, one that has strengthened its blue line by adding Mike Commodore, Fedor Tyutin and Christian Backman, added scoring power and skill with Kristian Huselius and R.J. Umberger and toughened up front with heavy hitting Raffi Torres. And as a final touch, Columbus extended the contract of coach Ken Hitchcock for three years. Grade: B+
If you recall the 6'1" center out of Paris Ontario had been committed to the Buckeyes since they were the first to show interest in him as a 15 year old. Then he was a highly skilled youngster but undersized. This past year Dalpe not only saw a tremendous growth spurt but he saw his stock grow in the eyes of NHL scouts....so much so that the Plymouth Whalers of the OHL selected him in the CHL draft.
From that point on the rumors have run rampet that Dalpe would sprun Ohio State to pursue the opportunity in the OHL.
To make matters worse, the owner of the Plymouth Whalers is the same guy who owns the Carolina Hurricanes which of course is the team that drafted him.
Talk about stacking the cards against head coach John Markell and his hockey Buckeyes.
Now as you may have guessed Dalpe is waivering:
“I think about it all the time,” Dalpe said. “Right now I’m going to Ohio State but if I got an offer I couldn’t refuse, that’s something I’d have to look at also and explore.”
“You think after the draft, things will kind of wind down a little bit, but not for me,” Dalpe said. “I had my nose to the grindstone and I have some tough decisions to make, but I’d rather have two teams wanting me to play for them than none.”
Those certainly aren't the kind of comments that inspire confidence if your wanting this kid in a Buckeye uniform this fall. It would certainly be a blow to a team that could desperately use him and in fact could ultimately decide the fate of Markell's future as a head coach in central ohio.
Markell has been head coach of the Buckeyes since the 1994-1995 season. In that span he has he has 5 NCAA Tournament appearances included making it to the Frozen Four in the 97-98 season. The last 3 seasons have been a struggle finishing under .500 each of those years including going 12-25-4 last season. He hasn't made the tournament since 2004-2005.
He's got a young team and Dalpe could make all the difference in getting that program pointed back in the right direction. Markell needs to catch this break.
Wes Goldstein of CBSSports.com had the following to say about the Jackets offseason:
The Jackets are the only one of the NHL's 30 teams to never make the playoffs, and second-year GM Scott Howson has moved aggressively this summer in an attempt to get rid of that dubious distinction. He started at the draft when used the sixth overall pick on a talented young Russian named Nikita Filatov, a player many teams were thought to be shying away from because there is no transfer agreement between his national federation and the NHL.
Columbus signed him though, and then continued the roster makeover with a series of free agents signings and trades. The upshot is that the Blue Jackets are a deeper and more balanced them, one that has strengthened its blue line by adding Mike Commodore, Fedor Tyutin and Christian Backman, added scoring power and skill with Kristian Huselius and R.J. Umberger and toughened up front with heavy hitting Raffi Torres. And as a final touch, Columbus extended the contract of coach Ken Hitchcock for three years. Grade: B+
He gave Detroit an A+, Chicago A, Nashville C and St. Louis a D.
The full NHL schedule to be released today at 2:30 EST. We know that they'll open on the road and then have their first home game Oct 17th. We also know they'll have home at homes with the Islanders, Penguins and Capitals. I'm thrilled about those. Who doesn't like to watch Crosby and Ovechkin? I also have a buddy who is a die hard Islanders fan so I'm even happy about that game especially when the Jackets beat em (har har).
It will be interesting to analyze how many back to backs, what the breakdown in road vs. homes is on a month to month basis and of course start planning out the all important road trips.
-LTL
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I got see Zac at the Canes prospect camp last week - and yes - he's going to be a stud.
My cohort Bubba @ Canes Country got to interview a few of the prospects - Dalpe being one of them.
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