I was gonna click "Like" but I figured it might be misinterpreted. I think you mostly nailed it on the head. As I followed the team and the comments on this board this year, I thought fans definetly overrated the Spirit. In order, I thought 4 of the major reasons for their successes were 1. Cormier 2. Cormier 3. Middleton and 4. Kohn. Two of which are surely gone next year and one that is probably gone. A good portion of the roster are 3rd-4th liners with little upside I think. Now on the OTHER hand, I thought Blade Jenkins was a overrated Daddy's boy who quit the NTDP because Daddy wasn't coaching anymore and he wasn't getting ice time....and he was dirt for about a dozen games before he shoved those words down my throat. I still think Central Scouting has him ranked a little bit high but he is the REAL deal and has 2 more years to grow and develop. He's gonna be a monster. As a Flint fan what concerns me about Saginaw is their youth, mass of future draft picks and their ability to sign Busdecker and then pull Jenkins and Goldowski from the NTDP. I don't think they land Wilde but they've shown they can get the U.S. Kids to report. Combine those factors and the future still looks pretty damn good. Might wanna grab a coach though. This series isn't gonna look so bad when the Soo rolls other teams the same way in the next rounds. I think there is potential for them to possibly, maybe...MAAAYBE get beat by Sarnia or Kitchener if Culina stands his head or even OS if they could ever get goaltending but if the Soo makes it to OHL Finals I fully expect them to dust the East champ in a similar fashion.
I can certainly believe that. USA Hockey and the NTDP clearly have an NCAA bias. If I'm not mistaken there's a pretty hefty buyout tag though. $15,000 after one year I believe I read. If that was his and his parents plan it was a pretty expensive one. Either way, it worked out for you guys and him it looks like.
