Best Gopher Defenseman

[formerallstar]

"For those of you that say that Johnson is overrated and shouldn't have been taken #1, I think you're all nuts. He didn't put up the numbers that Vanelli and Goli did obviously. He didn't have as good of a year as the other two guys mentioned, but he has all the tools to be a stud NHL player." George Blanda

That is exactly why he is overrated. The kid was supposed to be the real deal and he didn't impress as well as a lot others this year.

And the ratings on Hockey's Future, if you ask me, that's all crap. Its the amount of heart in the player. Remember, hardwork beats talent when talent doesn't work hard.

Example-there was a great article on citypages.com this week about the Wild's own Derek Boogaard. You should read it, it was quite inspirational of how hard this guy worked to earn a spot on the Wild's roster.

[George Blanda]

He's overrated because he has all of the tools to be a solid NHL player? That's weird.

You're seriously bringing up Derek Boogaard in this conversation? WOW!

Like I said, just because a guy didn't put up HUGE numbers in college doesn't mean he won't be a solid NHL player. He is by no means overrated. He's a very solid player and worthy of his draft pick.

[formerallstar]

He's overrated because he has all of the tools to be a solid NHL player? That's weird.

You're seriously bringing up Derek Boogaard in this conversation? WOW!

Like I said, just because a guy didn't put up HUGE numbers in college doesn't mean he won't be a solid NHL player. He is by no means overrated. He's a very solid player and worthy of his draft pick.

Sorry for the confusion, I didn't cut out "he has all of the tools to be a solid NHL player?" like I meant too.

Oh the Boogaard article was a pretty good example of it not being all about the skills but also about the heart inside the player. And i think there was a lot more gophers that played with more heart than EJ this year. He was too worried bout himself. If it is true about how he complained of how he wasn't used properly this year (stated in above post), then that is truly sad. Sounds to me that he is more worried about himself than the team doesn't it? Whatever happened to the good old days where the 20 players on a team played for each other? Now its all about impressing the NHL scouts and coaches. Did you see Briggs complaining publicly about not getting to play against UND? No. In that one game against Michigan Tech (WCHA playoffs) EJ attempted over 20 shots from the point. I saw that game and a lot of those were selfish shots on the powerplay and 5on5 where he could of passed it off instead of shooting right into the MTU player's shin pads.

Erik Johnson will leave early, and who knows, maybe he wil have an outstanding NHL career, or maybe he won't.

He just certainly didn't live up to the hype this year at the U of M.

[ACTUALFORMERPLAYER]

Saying someone is going to be a great pro does not make them a great college player. It is also true that the best college players haven't always had pro success. I hope Johnson stays one more year too. The problem for the Gophers is I am a Sioux fan.

I did say only one more year. I think he has great untapped potential.

Goligoski was there best D this year.