Nigel Williams Thoughts

I haven't had much time to post my thoughts over the past few days, but have been thinking about Nigel Williams departure from UW to the OHL. My first instinct was to go off on the kid like Hockey Thoughts did. My second thought was about whether he was ready to play.

Western College Hockey indicates it was likely not a good idea to bring Williams in a year early. I have to disagree with the notion that bringing him in early was a mistake. Next year UW has Brendan Smith, Cody Goloubef, Ryan McDonagh (whose arrival has been pushed up a year due to his development) and possibly Garrett Suter coming in at defense. If Williams had not come in this year, the Badgers probably would have needed to bring in another defenseman in case of injuries for this season. That would mean that instead of potentially 10 defenseman next year, UW would potentially have had 11 if nobody left early!

Besides the number of players, it is true that skill development and improvement takes place in practice through repetition. Nigel Williams, in my opinion, would have been better prepared to fight for a spot in the lineup next year by working hard this year with the Badgers in practice and playing in whatever games he got into. For an example of great development in less than a season, look at John Mitchell who grayshirted at forward with the Badgers for the second semester last season. He literally could not crack a USHL lineup and was traded to 3 different USHL teams before being traded to a team in the NAHL. Rather than go to the NAHL he grayshirted with the Badgers for the second semester and is now playing in front of many players that most people (myself included) didn't think he'd play in front of for this season, or even potentially the rest of his college career. Williams has already been drafted by Colorado in the NHL. What he needs to do now is develop his skills through hard work and competition....both of which he would have gotten if he would have stayed at Wisconsin.

Kudos to Mike Eaves for handling the situation with class. He's probably really pissed at the kid for putting the team in a bind, but didn't take even the slightest "dig" at Williams. He basically just indicated that the areas that Nigel needed to improve were puck handling and decision making, and that the Badgers on the whole need as much puck handling ability in the lineup as they can get at this point. Poor overall team play, and some big early series against North Dakota and Boston College probably didn't help Williams' chances of getting on the ice either.

It's too bad Williams wasn't prepared to stay and work for a spot in the lineup this year, and in the future. I can't blame the kid for wanting to be in the lineup, but I can be peaved at the fact that he leaves UW short at defense. I think it's also fair to question his work ethic and debate whether or not he is a quitter. He left himself open to those questions when he broke his commitment to the team.