I have a feeling you’ll see a defense that’s much improved out of SCSU.

Lee has talent. But I agree on the remark on team defense potentially hurting him. His numbers may end up looking a little more inflated than what his talent normally would allow because St. Cloud really does not have a very good defensive team. Their forwards are generally poor at backchecking and the defense is filled with pretty average players. Motzko isn’t a very good defensive coach.

I have the feeling Lee will leave St. Cloud before his junior year too.

I’d argue if he leaves after 2 years he and the team had a pretty good if not great 2 seasons.

It is possible the Coyotes could eventually want him to get more game action than what college provides. Less game action always seems to be the biggest knock on college goalies when compared to a guy in the CHL or the minor leagues.

They may also feel he could benefit from better coaching since an NHL system is going to have better goalie coaching than most college programs.

Lee is the type of kid that has the talent but may suffer because of what is in front of him. SCSU generally has soft forwards that are one way players (Roe, Lasch, Festler, etc) and they don’t have really any great defensive guys. Maybe Raboin but he is more of an offensive guy as opposed to a top defender.

Unless he unexpectedly flops, I think Lee is gone within two seasons no matter how his team does.

First, I don’t think you can call any of the three forwards you mentioned “soft.” One way players? For the most part yes but not soft.
As for the other criticisms of college players, my only repsonse to that is well that’s all college teams and if NHL teams don’t like that, don’t draft guys who are going to college.
Also, look at who else is in PHX’s system right now. Scott Darling, who’s about to enter his sophomore season at Maine and Brett Bennett, who played 2 years at BU, transfered and is about to be a junior at UW. If they were a type to rush goaltenders, I doubt Bennett would have played last year in the USHL after leaving BU if they preferred the NHL system so much. They also have Bryzgalov, Labarbera, Montoya and Tordjman in their system, they aren’t hurting for goalies at the moment. Goalies are also usually the last to fully mature and develop so why not let them do it on someone else’s dime, especially when the kid is 18.
Also, SCSU’s defense last year was extremely young, 3 first year players, 2 sophomore and 1 junior and 1 senior received the bulk of the time. That group will get better, they may not all be stars, but they have the ability to develop into a solid unit.
Now, I don’t expect Lee to be a 4 year player, but I do think he sees 3 years and if he is gone after 2, it is still my belief that SCSU has won a title of some sort with him in the pipes.