WCHA men: Youth movement to the NHL forces coaches to adapt

Ryan Stoa, navigating on crutches after tearing right knee ligaments, wants to return to the Gophers hockey team next season.

"Hopefully, those guys are still around," he said, referring to talented sophomores Kyle Okposo and Jay Barriball.

Stoa, a junior winger, will have surgery, then faces months of rehabilitation. When he comes back next season, a legitimate concern will be how many of his younger teammates will join him. As the WCHA starts its league schedule this weekend, more and more teams have been weakened because players are leaving college earlier than ever to sign pro contracts with NHL teams. Sixteen players with eligibility remaining, including three Gophers, jumped this offseason; the number was 17 the previous year.

The level of concern over the talent drain varies among coaches and players, but everybody has noticed.

"It has to hurt," said coach Don Lucia, whose Gophers hope to win their third consecutive MacNaughton Cup -- awarded to the WCHA regular-season champion. "But the teams in our league are still able to recruit some very talented players to take those spots. Kids leave and great players come in."

Against nonconference opponents last weekend, WCHA teams went an impressive 12-2-3.

"Last weekend just shows how good our league is going to be," Lucia said.

Early departures, some expected, some not, do make it harder on coaches to build teams.

"You end up overrecruiting because you have to cover yourself," said Lucia, who said Minnesota will sign between six and eight players starting Nov. 14 when the early signing period begins. There are six seniors on the present roster.

Wisconsin's Mike Eaves, who has three first-round NHL draft picks among his nine freshmen, said WCHA coaches need a Plan A, B and C laid out for recruiting. They have no other option.

"You need that high-end player in order to win," Eaves said.

"The NHL robs from colleges, colleges rob from juniors, juniors rob from the high schools," Lucia said. "A guy you recruit might be only a one- or two-year player. I hope the brakes come on, especially seeing how many who sign early end up in the minor league. I don't begrudge anybody playing in the NHL."

Only four of the 16 WCHA players who left early after last season are on NHL rosters.

Okposo, picked No. 7 in the 2006 NHL draft by the New York Islanders, seriously contemplated turning pro in the offseason before deciding to stay.

"You only get to play in college once," he said, "and we have some unfinished business. We have not won a national title in a while."

While chasing that goal, Okposo checks NHL boxscores regularly and games on TV.

"When I watch games and see all my buddies out there like Jonathan Toews -- it would be cool playing with him," Okposo said, referring to the Chicago Blackhawks forward who left North Dakota after his sophomore season. "But I am happy where I am at. I think it's a good situation. When the right time comes [to leave], I will know."

Teammate Blake Wheeler, a 6-4 junior center drafted No. 5 in the 2004 NHL draft by Phoenix, shares Okposo's views on pro hockey.

"When the time is right, I will know it and [the Coyotes] will know it," Wheeler said. "If I start thinking about playing in the NHL, all of a sudden you will be distracted and will not play as well as you should."

Wheeler is playing well so far; he has two goals in two games but expects the competition to get tougher.

"As many guys as sign," Wheeler said, "there are always some great freshmen coming in the other way. The trend has been that the league will be all right no matter who leaves."

North Dakota, which lost Toews early, is the coaches' pick as the WCHA favorite.

"We had four other guys who had an opportunity to go," Fighting Sioux coach Dave Hakstol said. "[But] the decision they made was to come back. And I know they are staying for the right reasons."

WCHA Commissioner Bruce McLeod said he has written a letter to NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman on the early signings. Partly because of them the league has become younger. There are 80 freshmen on WCHA rosters and only 48 seniors.

"That clouds the season for prognosticators," McLeod said. "Teams with all the youth have a different look at the end of the year."

Roman Augustoviz • raugustoviz@startribune.com