Ben Robertson transfer

[BearLover]

As to why he left, I don't know, probably a combination of multiple factors including financial reasons, the coaching change, and style of play.

Sounds about right. He was unhappy with how things were going at Cornell and thought he would progress better at Michigan. He also cites cost. (Which is weird, because if tuition were too high as the article states then you'd think he would qualify for financial aid.) And I bet the coaching change provided the impetus to make the switch. Nothing in the article about NIL or more eyes being on him.

Hugely disappointing in any event for someone who will wish he had a Cornell degree five years from now.

I didn't see anything in that article suggesting that he was unhappy with how things were going at Cornell.

"Though he says he was starting to find his footing at the end of Cornell's season, he felt that he wasn't playing to his full potential, and it wasn't just from a numbers standpoint."

"'I just kind of lost focus of just going out there and doing all the little things right,' Robertson said. 'It was definitely a little frustrating, but not because the production wasn't there, just because I don't think I really wanted to play the way I played through most of the season.'"

Seems clear to me he wasn't happy with how things were going at Cornell? Sounds like he was incredibly frustrated last season.

Last year was bad all around (until it wasn't). There's a difference between "I had a down year and it sucked that I didn't play well" and "I was unhappy being there."

I'm talking just about hockey (not school/social life), to be clear. I know this is circular logic, but I believe that if he were totally happy with how things were going hockey-wise, he wouldn't have transferred. It wasn't a good year for him, and I suspect he wasn't happy with how he was developing. It sounds like he was very frustrated the whole season, maybe that changed at the very end, but his mind may have already been made up by that point.

[TimV]

I'm imagining Jim Hyla, who has degrees from both schools, sitting by a fire while the snow flies in Syracuse, chuckling to himself.

[Al DeFlorio]

As to why he left, I don't know, probably a combination of multiple factors including financial reasons, the coaching change, and style of play.

Sounds about right. He was unhappy with how things were going at Cornell and thought he would progress better at Michigan. He also cites cost. (Which is weird, because if tuition were too high as the article states then you'd think he would qualify for financial aid.) And I bet the coaching change provided the impetus to make the switch. Nothing in the article about NIL or more eyes being on him.

Hugely disappointing in any event for someone who will wish he had a Cornell degree five years from now.

I didn't see anything in that article suggesting that he was unhappy with how things were going at Cornell.

"Though he says he was starting to find his footing at the end of Cornell's season, he felt that he wasn't playing to his full potential, and it wasn't just from a numbers standpoint."

"'I just kind of lost focus of just going out there and doing all the little things right,' Robertson said. 'It was definitely a little frustrating, but not because the production wasn't there, just because I don't think I really wanted to play the way I played through most of the season.'"

Seems clear to me he wasn't happy with how things were going at Cornell? Sounds like he was incredibly frustrated last season.

Last year was bad all around (until it wasn't). There's a difference between "I had a down year and it sucked that I didn't play well" and "I was unhappy being there."

I'm talking just about hockey (not school/social life), to be clear. I know this is circular logic, but I believe that if he were totally happy with how things were going hockey-wise, he wouldn't have transferred. It wasn't a good year for him, and I suspect he wasn't happy with how he was developing. It sounds like he was very frustrated the whole season, maybe that changed at the very end, but his mind may have already been made up by that point.

I guess something just has to be true if you believe it to be.

[I thought you had called for an end to this.] 

[BearLover]

As to why he left, I don't know, probably a combination of multiple factors including financial reasons, the coaching change, and style of play.

Sounds about right. He was unhappy with how things were going at Cornell and thought he would progress better at Michigan. He also cites cost. (Which is weird, because if tuition were too high as the article states then you'd think he would qualify for financial aid.) And I bet the coaching change provided the impetus to make the switch. Nothing in the article about NIL or more eyes being on him.

Hugely disappointing in any event for someone who will wish he had a Cornell degree five years from now.

I didn't see anything in that article suggesting that he was unhappy with how things were going at Cornell.

"Though he says he was starting to find his footing at the end of Cornell's season, he felt that he wasn't playing to his full potential, and it wasn't just from a numbers standpoint."

"'I just kind of lost focus of just going out there and doing all the little things right,' Robertson said. 'It was definitely a little frustrating, but not because the production wasn't there, just because I don't think I really wanted to play the way I played through most of the season.'"

Seems clear to me he wasn't happy with how things were going at Cornell? Sounds like he was incredibly frustrated last season.

Last year was bad all around (until it wasn't). There's a difference between "I had a down year and it sucked that I didn't play well" and "I was unhappy being there."

I'm talking just about hockey (not school/social life), to be clear. I know this is circular logic, but I believe that if he were totally happy with how things were going hockey-wise, he wouldn't have transferred. It wasn't a good year for him, and I suspect he wasn't happy with how he was developing. It sounds like he was very frustrated the whole season, maybe that changed at the very end, but his mind may have already been made up by that point.

I guess something just has to be true if you believe it to be.

[I thought you had called for an end to this.] 

No, absolutely not. That's why I wrote "I believe X" and also acknowledged a potential fault in my own logic, rather than stating X as a fact. If I think something is truth, I'll state that very clearly, no need for you to put words in my mouth.

[I called for an end to my argument with scoop85 because it felt like it was getting too heated after he said I have no idea what I'm talking about.]

I hope everyone had a warm and happy holiday yesterday.

[Jim Hyla]

I'm imagining Jim Hyla, who has degrees from both schools, sitting by a fire while the snow flies in Syracuse, chuckling to himself.

Totally correct, except no fire. As I was catching up on eLynah posts, I was thinking about my time and education at both schools. Both were my first choice at the time and in no way would I have chosen CU instead of UM for my rheumatology. CU just wasn't as good for me.

School is individual, not collective, even if the colleges want you to believe that. Sure maybe like BearLover showed, it's easy to get into finance, if that's what you like. But UM showed me that rheumatology can be fun and productive. That's why I'm still doing it going on 50 years.

It's really the same as CU hockey. They showed that it can be fun and productive to watch them, through good and bad. And that's why I'm still watching them after 60+ years.

You get out of something what you put into it, not what they say they have. That's why BearLover's stats don't mean anything, because we don't know what Robertson wants from life.

He says "Hugely disappointing in any event for someone who will wish he had a Cornell degree five years from now."

How the hell can we know that. We don't know what he wants out of life. I know if I went to a training program where those who were training me had the feeling that they were the best and everyone should realize it, I'd not come out the satisfied person that I sort of feel I am.

So CU is not the best place on earth for everyone. It was great for me at the time, and I have no idea if I would feel that way today if I was there. Let the students make their own decisions and not criticize them or CU hockey unless we have some sort of inside knowledge. All of them know a lot more than we do.

Endless speculation about things that we have no knowledge about makes this Forum no different than any other social media site. I used to come here for good honest discussion from people who loved watching CU hockey.

I loved hearing about critiques of plays or games, ideas about what we have to do to get to the NCAAs, or having a board near the end of the year where you can analyze who has to beat who for us to attain an end of season position.

Enough said. Now I'll go back to catching up on all that I've missed by not being on eLynah for 2 weeks.

Thanks to those that post about what they've seen from the games. I appreciate it.

[BearLover]

Now that we've locked the NCAAs and met my bar for a good year, I will look back on the most shocking moment of last offseason, Ben Robertson ditching his friends, teammates, coaches, and school in favor of Michigan.

1. Robertson's departure was mitigated by the arrival of Veilleux, another offensively minded left-handed defenseman who is frankly just a better player.

2. Moreover, viewing the portal gains/losses in totality, I might argue that 3 years of Fisher + 3 years of Ashton is worth more than 2 years of Robertson. That is to say, we quite possibly came out ahead.

3. However, I believe this is the wrong framing. The goal with the portal is not merely to improve your team; it's to improve as much as, or more than, the teams we want to beat in late March and April. From that perspective, we did well by "Cornell standards" but not by "making the Frozen Four standards." Particularly since Robertson went to one of those teams we want to beat.

4. If Robertson's goal was to get an NHL contract, I think he has so far failed in his mission. With the caveat that I've watched 0 of his games this year, putting up 0 goals and 18 assists in 36 games for a stacked team which he leads in ice time and quarterbacks the first PP unit is...really not impressive. It's frankly worse than his freshman year at Cornell. Of course, the fact he's on the ice so much is itself a positive indicator, but half a point per game with 0 goals? Really? Unless (and probably even if) he's been playing otherworldly defense, no NHL career for him.

5. Cornell being good this year takes a lot of the sting off.

6. Still, all of this is beside the point: we'd be a better team this year if Robertson were still on it. Imagine the highly realistic world where Robertson and Bancroft return. We'd probably be looking at a 1-seed right now.

7. Overall, if I could press a button to undo everything that has happened since Cornell's 2024-25 season ended, I would not press it. I'm too content with where things stand. At this point, the most troubling part of all of this is...

8. I do wonder whether Robertson's departure set some kind of precedent or is some kind of harbinger of what's to come. Are we going to see our best players transfer out on a semi-regular basis? Or is this a one-off event? That's the key question at this point. It's a problem that has afflicted many mid-majors. Are we one of them?

[arugula]

Now that we've locked the NCAAs and met my bar for a good year, I will look back on the most shocking moment of last offseason, Ben Robertson ditching his friends, teammates, coaches, and school in favor of Michigan.

1. Robertson's departure was mitigated by the arrival of Veilleux, another offensively minded left-handed defenseman who is frankly just a better player.

2. Moreover, viewing the portal gains/losses in totality, I might argue that 3 years of Fisher + 3 years of Ashton is worth more than 2 years of Robertson. That is to say, we quite possibly came out ahead.

3. However, I believe this is the wrong framing. The goal with the portal is not merely to improve your team; it's to improve as much as, or more than, the teams we want to beat in late March and April. From that perspective, we did well by "Cornell standards" but not by "making the Frozen Four standards." Particularly since Robertson went to one of those teams we want to beat.

4. If Robertson's goal was to get an NHL contract, I think he has so far failed in his mission. With the caveat that I've watched 0 of his games this year, putting up 0 goals and 18 assists in 36 games for a stacked team which he leads in ice time and quarterbacks the first PP unit is...really not impressive. It's frankly worse than his freshman year at Cornell. Of course, the fact he's on the ice so much is itself a positive indicator, but half a point per game with 0 goals? Really? Unless (and probably even if) he's been playing otherworldly defense, no NHL career for him.

5. Cornell being good this year takes a lot of the sting off.

6. Still, all of this is beside the point: we'd be a better team this year if Robertson were still on it. Imagine the highly realistic world where Robertson and Bancroft return. We'd probably be looking at a 1-seed right now.

7. Overall, if I could press a button to undo everything that has happened since Cornell's 2024-25 season ended, I would not press it. I'm too content with where things stand. At this point, the most troubling part of all of this is...

8. I do wonder whether Robertson's departure set some kind of precedent or is some kind of harbinger of what's to come. Are we going to see our best players transfer out on a semi-regular basis? Or is this a one-off event? That's the key question at this point. It's a problem that has afflicted many mid-majors. Are we one of them?

Thought a lot about this.  If he and Bancroft stay, I would think not every newcomer arrives. Maybe no XV? Or Fisher? Or Ryan?  Highly speculative.  Would love to know why Ben left.  Dalton pretty clearly made a mistake. 

[stereax]

Now that we've locked the NCAAs and met my bar for a good year, I will look back on the most shocking moment of last offseason, Ben Robertson ditching his friends, teammates, coaches, and school in favor of Michigan.

1. Robertson's departure was mitigated by the arrival of Veilleux, another offensively minded left-handed defenseman who is frankly just a better player.

2. Moreover, viewing the portal gains/losses in totality, I might argue that 3 years of Fisher + 3 years of Ashton is worth more than 2 years of Robertson. That is to say, we quite possibly came out ahead.

3. However, I believe this is the wrong framing. The goal with the portal is not merely to improve your team; it's to improve as much as, or more than, the teams we want to beat in late March and April. From that perspective, we did well by "Cornell standards" but not by "making the Frozen Four standards." Particularly since Robertson went to one of those teams we want to beat.

4. If Robertson's goal was to get an NHL contract, I think he has so far failed in his mission. With the caveat that I've watched 0 of his games this year, putting up 0 goals and 18 assists in 36 games for a stacked team which he leads in ice time and quarterbacks the first PP unit is...really not impressive. It's frankly worse than his freshman year at Cornell. Of course, the fact he's on the ice so much is itself a positive indicator, but half a point per game with 0 goals? Really? Unless (and probably even if) he's been playing otherworldly defense, no NHL career for him.

5. Cornell being good this year takes a lot of the sting off.

6. Still, all of this is beside the point: we'd be a better team this year if Robertson were still on it. Imagine the highly realistic world where Robertson and Bancroft return. We'd probably be looking at a 1-seed right now.

7. Overall, if I could press a button to undo everything that has happened since Cornell's 2024-25 season ended, I would not press it. I'm too content with where things stand. At this point, the most troubling part of all of this is...

8. I do wonder whether Robertson's departure set some kind of precedent or is some kind of harbinger of what's to come. Are we going to see our best players transfer out on a semi-regular basis? Or is this a one-off event? That's the key question at this point. It's a problem that has afflicted many mid-majors. Are we one of them?

Thought a lot about this.  If he and Bancroft stay, I would think not every newcomer arrives. Maybe no XV? Or Fisher? Or Ryan?  Highly speculative.  Would love to know why Ben left.  Dalton pretty clearly made a mistake. 

Eh, Dalton had an NHL deal.

You don't turn down an NHL deal when you're 25 and undrafted and that's your entire dream in life.

In the rearview mirror we can say eh, probably shoulda stayed, racked up points, but even so.

[arugula]

Now that we've locked the NCAAs and met my bar for a good year, I will look back on the most shocking moment of last offseason, Ben Robertson ditching his friends, teammates, coaches, and school in favor of Michigan.

1. Robertson's departure was mitigated by the arrival of Veilleux, another offensively minded left-handed defenseman who is frankly just a better player.

2. Moreover, viewing the portal gains/losses in totality, I might argue that 3 years of Fisher + 3 years of Ashton is worth more than 2 years of Robertson. That is to say, we quite possibly came out ahead.

3. However, I believe this is the wrong framing. The goal with the portal is not merely to improve your team; it's to improve as much as, or more than, the teams we want to beat in late March and April. From that perspective, we did well by "Cornell standards" but not by "making the Frozen Four standards." Particularly since Robertson went to one of those teams we want to beat.

4. If Robertson's goal was to get an NHL contract, I think he has so far failed in his mission. With the caveat that I've watched 0 of his games this year, putting up 0 goals and 18 assists in 36 games for a stacked team which he leads in ice time and quarterbacks the first PP unit is...really not impressive. It's frankly worse than his freshman year at Cornell. Of course, the fact he's on the ice so much is itself a positive indicator, but half a point per game with 0 goals? Really? Unless (and probably even if) he's been playing otherworldly defense, no NHL career for him.

5. Cornell being good this year takes a lot of the sting off.

6. Still, all of this is beside the point: we'd be a better team this year if Robertson were still on it. Imagine the highly realistic world where Robertson and Bancroft return. We'd probably be looking at a 1-seed right now.

7. Overall, if I could press a button to undo everything that has happened since Cornell's 2024-25 season ended, I would not press it. I'm too content with where things stand. At this point, the most troubling part of all of this is...

8. I do wonder whether Robertson's departure set some kind of precedent or is some kind of harbinger of what's to come. Are we going to see our best players transfer out on a semi-regular basis? Or is this a one-off event? That's the key question at this point. It's a problem that has afflicted many mid-majors. Are we one of them?

Thought a lot about this.  If he and Bancroft stay, I would think not every newcomer arrives. Maybe no XV? Or Fisher? Or Ryan?  Highly speculative.  Would love to know why Ben left.  Dalton pretty clearly made a mistake. 

Eh, Dalton had an NHL deal.

You don't turn down an NHL deal when you're 25 and undrafted and that's your entire dream in life.

In the rearview mirror we can say eh, probably shoulda stayed, racked up points, but even so.

Presumably a two way deal so still making ahl money. Not the glorified semi pros of the echl but not great.  Is he 25?  Oy.

[BearLover]

Now that we've locked the NCAAs and met my bar for a good year, I will look back on the most shocking moment of last offseason, Ben Robertson ditching his friends, teammates, coaches, and school in favor of Michigan.

1. Robertson's departure was mitigated by the arrival of Veilleux, another offensively minded left-handed defenseman who is frankly just a better player.

2. Moreover, viewing the portal gains/losses in totality, I might argue that 3 years of Fisher + 3 years of Ashton is worth more than 2 years of Robertson. That is to say, we quite possibly came out ahead.

3. However, I believe this is the wrong framing. The goal with the portal is not merely to improve your team; it's to improve as much as, or more than, the teams we want to beat in late March and April. From that perspective, we did well by "Cornell standards" but not by "making the Frozen Four standards." Particularly since Robertson went to one of those teams we want to beat.

4. If Robertson's goal was to get an NHL contract, I think he has so far failed in his mission. With the caveat that I've watched 0 of his games this year, putting up 0 goals and 18 assists in 36 games for a stacked team which he leads in ice time and quarterbacks the first PP unit is...really not impressive. It's frankly worse than his freshman year at Cornell. Of course, the fact he's on the ice so much is itself a positive indicator, but half a point per game with 0 goals? Really? Unless (and probably even if) he's been playing otherworldly defense, no NHL career for him.

5. Cornell being good this year takes a lot of the sting off.

6. Still, all of this is beside the point: we'd be a better team this year if Robertson were still on it. Imagine the highly realistic world where Robertson and Bancroft return. We'd probably be looking at a 1-seed right now.

7. Overall, if I could press a button to undo everything that has happened since Cornell's 2024-25 season ended, I would not press it. I'm too content with where things stand. At this point, the most troubling part of all of this is...

8. I do wonder whether Robertson's departure set some kind of precedent or is some kind of harbinger of what's to come. Are we going to see our best players transfer out on a semi-regular basis? Or is this a one-off event? That's the key question at this point. It's a problem that has afflicted many mid-majors. Are we one of them?

Thought a lot about this.  If he and Bancroft stay, I would think not every newcomer arrives. Maybe no XV? Or Fisher? Or Ryan?  Highly speculative.  Would love to know why Ben left.  Dalton pretty clearly made a mistake. 

XV was 100% coming regardless.
Probably no Ashton if Robertson stays, as both are left handed defensemen.
Maybe no Ryan if Bancroft stays. Not sure though.

If those were indeed the outcomes, then can't say we're much worse off.

[stereax]

Now that we've locked the NCAAs and met my bar for a good year, I will look back on the most shocking moment of last offseason, Ben Robertson ditching his friends, teammates, coaches, and school in favor of Michigan.

1. Robertson's departure was mitigated by the arrival of Veilleux, another offensively minded left-handed defenseman who is frankly just a better player.

2. Moreover, viewing the portal gains/losses in totality, I might argue that 3 years of Fisher + 3 years of Ashton is worth more than 2 years of Robertson. That is to say, we quite possibly came out ahead.

3. However, I believe this is the wrong framing. The goal with the portal is not merely to improve your team; it's to improve as much as, or more than, the teams we want to beat in late March and April. From that perspective, we did well by "Cornell standards" but not by "making the Frozen Four standards." Particularly since Robertson went to one of those teams we want to beat.

4. If Robertson's goal was to get an NHL contract, I think he has so far failed in his mission. With the caveat that I've watched 0 of his games this year, putting up 0 goals and 18 assists in 36 games for a stacked team which he leads in ice time and quarterbacks the first PP unit is...really not impressive. It's frankly worse than his freshman year at Cornell. Of course, the fact he's on the ice so much is itself a positive indicator, but half a point per game with 0 goals? Really? Unless (and probably even if) he's been playing otherworldly defense, no NHL career for him.

5. Cornell being good this year takes a lot of the sting off.

6. Still, all of this is beside the point: we'd be a better team this year if Robertson were still on it. Imagine the highly realistic world where Robertson and Bancroft return. We'd probably be looking at a 1-seed right now.

7. Overall, if I could press a button to undo everything that has happened since Cornell's 2024-25 season ended, I would not press it. I'm too content with where things stand. At this point, the most troubling part of all of this is...

8. I do wonder whether Robertson's departure set some kind of precedent or is some kind of harbinger of what's to come. Are we going to see our best players transfer out on a semi-regular basis? Or is this a one-off event? That's the key question at this point. It's a problem that has afflicted many mid-majors. Are we one of them?

Thought a lot about this.  If he and Bancroft stay, I would think not every newcomer arrives. Maybe no XV? Or Fisher? Or Ryan?  Highly speculative.  Would love to know why Ben left.  Dalton pretty clearly made a mistake. 

Eh, Dalton had an NHL deal.

You don't turn down an NHL deal when you're 25 and undrafted and that's your entire dream in life.

In the rearview mirror we can say eh, probably shoulda stayed, racked up points, but even so.

Presumably a two way deal so still making ahl money. Not the glorified semi pros of the echl but not great.  Is he 25?  Oy.

Yeah, he's "only" making like 200k this year in the A (SB + minors salary). Interesting in that he was traded after NHL TDL, so ineligible to play in the NHL, but has a contract bonus if he played 5 games in the NHL.

[BearLover]

I suspect if you told Bancroft he was going to spend the entire season in the AHL, he would have returned for his senior year. Given he was operating under greater uncertainty at the time, he might have thought he'd have a chance to crack the NHL. From that perspective, it wasn't a crazy decision. But with the benefit of hindsight, it was the wrong decision.

[Dafatone]

Worth noting that we have zero clue what is actually going on with any of these players.

Maybe [player] found upstate NY to be too bleak and grey and had to get out for mental health reasons. Maybe there was a bad breakup or a fight with a friend. Maybe [player] wanted to wind up closer to (or further from) family. Maybe they just really hate school.

Speculating about whether a player's decision was "right" is difficult at best.

[underskill]

These are young guys. They can only play hockey for so long so better to go for it early and come back for the degree later.

[The Rancor]

For any of you saying the AHL or ECHL are 'semi-pro' hockey and not 'worth it' you simply do not know how good you have to be to even sit on the bench in these leagues. Ask anyone who has played any competitive hockey, they will tell you. Obviously, the NHL is the dream of dreams, but hockey players want to play, and getting paid to do so is a rare thing.