Another WCHA defector: Wheeler leaving the Gophers

FELDY: With much credit to one of mine and Phersy's favorite college hockey reporters, the Star Tribune's Roman Augustoviz (if you don't know Roman, look for the guy in the press box walking around with jeans, a dress shirt and a used-car-salesman-short tie on. He's one of the nicest guys you'll meet and a good reporter), Blake Wheeler has decided to leave the University of Minnesota hockey program to pursue a professional contract.

Here's the part of the story that intrigues me the most: "Wheeler is a 2004 draft pick of the Phoenix Coyotes. The Coyotes have 30 days to sign him. After that he becomes a free agent."

Maybe I'm reading too much into this and the Coyotes have a deal waiting for him, but if that's not the case, why does Wheeler leave now with a year of college eligibility left? Is that an indictment of the Gophers coaching staff? Is it because Gophers fans were so far off the Blake Wheeler bandwagon this past season that he just can't stomach playing another minute for the team? Or does he want to play pro hockey so badly that he is willing to give up a spot in one of college hockey's most storied programs?

I heard Gophers rubes say a lot of bad things about Wheeler this past season. Far be it from me to staunchly defend anything about Gophers hockey, but in all honesty, I would have loved to have put Wheeler in a green-and-black Sioux jersey this past season to see how much he would helped my favorite squad.

He's a big dude (6-4, over 200 pounds) who can skate well. He needs to finish his chances around the net better, but anytime you have a forward with his size who can move as well as he does, he should be appreciated.

And while we're on the subject, cosider this: Wheeler is the ninth player since the end of the 2005-06 season to leave the Gophers program early. Throwing aside my Sioux-fan bias, I look at that two ways: 1) the Gophers have had some extremely high-end talent, and 2) it seems to me that the top-end talent that comes to Minnesota doesn't improve a great deal.