seamus casey

Michigan Hockey lost another impactful piece today, as defenseman Seamus Casey signed an Entry Level Contract with the New Jersey Devils: 

Best of luck Seamus Casey and thank you for all you've given to Michigan Hockey#GoBlue〽️ ➡️ #ProBlue pic.twitter.com/PI4qnQkc7F

— Michigan Hockey (@umichhockey) May 6, 2024

Casey was not featured in Peter's wrap-up exit piece a few weeks back, so I figured we ought to give him one here. Casey came to Michigan from the USNTDP, a native of South Florida born in Miami and raised in Fort Myers. He was drafted 46th overall in the 2022 NHL Entry Draft by the Devils, an intriguing mix of skill and skating ability with the drawback being his small frame and inconsistencies defensively. The scouting report that we were handed by the NHL Draft scouts that summer more or less came to fruition, as Casey was exactly that for the Wolverines. 

Over two seasons in the Maize & Blue, Casey was a consistently high scoring defenseman. As a freshman in 2022-23, he was second to fiddle to Luke Hughes when it came to ice time and power play opportunities, but Casey still found ways to rack up points, scoring eight goals and 29 points in 37 games. The breathtaking skill (hands especially) that is so rare for a defenseman was on display in the biggest stage that the team played on last season: 

After Hughes departed for the NHL, Casey returned for his sophomore season and inherited those increased responsibilities. As the point man on Michigan's historically great power play, Casey probably had the biggest hand of anybody not named Brandon Naurato when it came to getting the PP to exceptional levels. Casey was a wizard with his dekes, fakes, and edge-work at the blue line, a master at beating the high forward through his deception and general slipperiness, creating numbers advantages for Michigan down low, which they exploited countless times. At 5v5 he was also impactful, a puck-rushing defenseman who helped create offense at an exceptionally high level. He was reunited with USNTDP defense partner Tyler Duke, who had transferred in from Ohio State, and those two formed a solid pair for the Wolverines, one that was sometimes liable to having its lack of size and strong defensive ability exploited but they normally won their minutes. 

All in all, Casey scored 45 points in 40 games this past season earning All-B1G First Team and All-American honors. He was one of the highest scoring defenseman in the NCAA and helped get Michigan in position to make a second Frozen Four with him on the roster, even if he was unable to play in the decisive game against Michigan State due to injury. Signing with the Devils, Casey will likely start next season with the Utica Comets of the AHL. The New Jersey Devils had a deeply disappointing season and already have three right-shot defensemen on the roster when fully healthy (Dougie Hamilton, Šimon Nemec, and John Marino), not to mention two very young defenders (Nemec and Hughes). I doubt that promoting another offense-first defenseman under the age of 22 (who is also right handed) is the solution they are looking for to get the franchise back into the postseason. Thus he will probably simmer for some time in the AHL before a position on the NHL roster can open up. 

As for Michigan, it is an unfortunate blow, but not one they were necessarily ill-prepared for. The team is returning Ethan Edwards, Tyler Duke, and Jacob Truscott from last season's top five defensemen group and are adding in elite transfer Tim Lovell (Arizona State). That gives them a rock solid top four and then have the option to either add another transfer or rely on an expansive freshman class of defensemen to fill the other holes (Luca Fantilli is also still around). Among the incoming freshmen include puck-moving RHD (who could be a Casey replacement) Gennadi Chaly, big and defensive RHD Hunter Hady, solid USNTDP LHD Dakoda Rheaume-Mullen, and undersized USHL LHD Jack Willson. Casey will certainly leave a void in the team's offensive output but the combination of having a core group of established college players returning on defense and bringing in a deep and versatile freshman class means that Brandon Naurato shouldn't have too much trouble fielding a solid blue line in 2024-25. 

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The Howard Interview. Juwan Howard sat down with Brendan Quinn for what Quinn says is his first one on one interview in two years. That, in and of itself, is part of the issue. This section is kind of like… well… I mean…?

In the end, Howard says he wishes he’d opened up more. He wishes people knew junior forward Will Tschetter keeps a garden in his backyard, where he and Jenine grow jalapeño, kale, bell peppers, lettuce. He wishes he’d been more open about his feelings on going from one-game shy of the Elite Eight in March 2021 to outcast in March 2022. He wishes he hadn’t been so reticent about his heart surgery. He wishes people knew that, during the interview, former captain Eli Brooks called to check in on him.

He says he wishes he let people get to know him.

One of the issues with hiring a first-time head coach is that sometimes they don't know the shape of the job. They've seen it, they've been around it, but being it for the first time is something different. Especially when you come from a Miami Heat organization where all that stuff is minimized because you have a long-term, secure coach in a well-run organization. Beating the bushes is not a thing that Howard ever had to do.

The other main takeaway from the interview is that Howard should not have coached this year:

Doctors set his recovery time at 6-12 weeks. He spent 15 days in the hospital post-op.

Howard told assistant coach Howard Eisley, a lifelong friend, that he would return in two weeks. He saw doctors’ recommendations as races to win, not timelines to live by. And he suffered for it.

“I thought I was a Marvel hero, but this was real life stuff I was dealing with, and I was extremely naive,” he says. “I was impatient with the process.”

Howard wasn’t fully recovered when he returned to the Michigan bench for a November trip to the Battle 4 Atlantis in the Bahamas, he says. Multiple complications emerged throughout the season. He rarely slept through the night. Doctors advised him to step away and undergo another surgery to address an atrial flutter that sapped his energy and caused severe discomfort. He was scheduled to undergo a 7 a.m. procedure following a Jan. 23 road game at Purdue, but heavy snow grounded Michigan’s return flight. Howard’s surgery was canceled and he declined to reschedule it in-season, against doctors’ recommendations and to Jenine’s displeasure.

The surgery is scheduled for April 19.

There is a timeline where Howard does not get Terrence Shannon and Caleb Love spiked into the earth by admissions (and Shannon, uh, settles down with a nice poli sci major in Ann Arbor); a timeline where he does not have health issues. He likely still has his job, and Michigan might have been really good through year five. That is not this timeline, but it is so close that it hurts. Howard's issues were only half of his own making.

[After THE JUMP: basketball roster stuff, hockey items]