I saw this newspaper article when perusing the
Lets Go DU Blog and the Denver Post beat writer brings up some valid points. The first question that comes to mind is what is the rush to get these players into the AHL? It's not like they're throwing millions of dollars at these kids. As a Sioux fan you have to worry because forward Jason Gregoire is also part of the Islanders system as well and he had a bigger impact on his team than Donovan… As an NHL fan I have never been a fan of Garth Snow and this antics anyways, I always that thought he had a hair trigger guy but was also a cheater because he wore over sized pad and looked like the Marshmellow Staypuft Man.
Islanders D Matt Donovan
Donovan had just finished his sophomore season with the University of Denver Pioneers last week when he signed an entry-level deal and reported to the Islanders' American Hockey League affiliate, the Bridgeport Sound Tigers.
Officially, he'll be playing the stretch run of this season under an Amateur Tryout deal before the entry-level contract kicks in next season. That delays until fall the start of the clock on his progress toward such things as restricted free agency and gets him a few games under his belt for the Tigers, who aren't going to make the playoffs.
Donovan was a fourth-round Islanders choice in 2008, and if and when he makes it to the NHL, it will be historic: As it stands now, he would be the first player in the league who was born and raised in Oklahoma.
High-powered NCAA programs bill themselves as vehicles to reach the NHL and accept early signings as part of the process. But Donovan would have been better off to play through his junior season at DU before signing. That's what Matt Carle, a more highly regarded defenseman at the time and the winner of the Hobey Baker Award, did before signing with San Jose in 2006 and jumping straight to the Sharks.
Although Islanders GM Garth Snow is a product of NCAA hockey himself — he had a full four-season career at Maine as a goaltender — his regime has been impatient at times about the development of their prospects at the college level. This isn't some guy who was raised in Moose Jaw, came up through major junior himself and is conditioned to completely buy into the argument that the pro-style schedule and rules of major junior are better for NHL prospects.
You have to wonder if Garth Snow has forgotten his roots, he was a college guy and he didn’t grow up playing hockey in the CHL so he has to know the benefits of staying in college playing against stronger older players.
