Dalpe, revisited

This kind of slipped through the cracks last week, but I think there's a final word to be said about Zac Dalpe and his choice between college and junior hockey.

First of all, there's no comparison between the Dalpe decision and the Jack Johnson situation. Two different animals with different stripes.

Let's go back over the Dalpe situation just in case anyone's unclear.

Basically, there was almost no chance Dalpe was going to play for Carolina this season. He's a good prospect who may turn out to be a second-round steal, but he has a lot of developing to do.

The question was whether he would do it at Ohio State, where he had previously committed, or in the Ontario Hockey League with the Plymouth Whalers -- who just happen to be owned by Hurricanes owner Peter Karmanos and who quietly picked up his rights not long before the NHL Draft.

The Canes wanted him in Plymouth, for obvious reasons. He also would be able to attend training camp and play in preseason games. Dalpe, having been previously spurned by the OHL for two years, chose to honor his commitment to Ohio State. No harm, no foul.

If there's a larger issue here, it's whther the Hurricanes are honoring the NHL rule that keeps pro teams unaffiliated with junior teams. Aside from their tendency to draft Plymouth players, even players the Canes drafted from other OHL teams have often ended up with the Whalers (Justin Peters and Nikos Tselios, off the top of my head). That's a debate for another day.

OK, so that's Dalpe's situation.

This is far different from Johnson, who chose to stay at Michigan for his sophomore year when the Canes wanted him to turn pro after his freshman year. His refusal to join the team for the playoffs burned almost all of the bridges there. Johnson was an NHL-ready prospect who could have turned pro any time after he was drafted. The only question was 'when?'

I don't believe the argument that he would never have played for the Canes. I think he would have been willing to play for them after his sophomore year. But Johnson -- and his father -- wanted to stay in Ann Arbor for another year, and the Canes couldn't wait. (They also took umbrage at the notion that Johnson would know better than them what's best for his career -- an entirely different debate for another time.)

To summarize:

Johnson staying at Michigan =/= Dalpe choosing Ohio State over Plymouth.

Zac Dalpe is probably going to have a pretty good year for the Buckeyes. He's probably going to stay there for a couple years, and if he continues to develop, there's a pretty good chance he'll play for the Hurricanes down the road. He'd play more games in Plymouth, under the close watch of the Hurricanes' brass, but maybe he'll become more mature in a college environment.

Different players make different choices for different reasons. Dalpe made his. In the long run, it may not matter that much.