Mike Eaves met with the media today in the wake of Kyle Turris signing Monday with the Phoenix Coyotes. He also fielded questions about the season. Here's a sampling of what he said:

On Turris' progression: "He's a better hockey player now than he was at the beginning of the season. He was a pretty good player then. The question is, how effective will he be at the next level? And only time will tell us. If you take a look at some of his colleagues at the same age, Sam Gagner and Patrick Kane, they've had some pretty good success. Will he be able to have that same kind of success? Only time will tell here."

On the end of the season: "As disappointed, as much as it stung on Sunday night, the one thing that we told the boys is we stayed together through a lot of storms and we ended up playing our best hockey at the end of the year. For that, we can be proud, and for that we can walk away out of the locker room with our heads held high."

On the prospects for next season: "Very excited. You lose a young man like Kyle and I think that's a hole right away. We have excellent young people coming in, and I think you pick up that offense by committee, much like I think the way that Bo Ryan's team played this year. They lost some key people and yet they came back and had an unbelievable season because they did it by committee. Everybody grabbed the rope and pitched in, different guys on different nights. That'll be part of the formula that we use next year."

On the program being better off for having Turris for the time he was here: "When you have a young man like Kyle who has his god-given ability, he makes people better around him. The type of person he was makes people better because they look up to him. So having him here even for one year makes us a better program, without question."

Eaves also estimated that the Badgers will bring in six players next season, although he emphasized that's an estimate right now.

He said individual meetings with players are scheduled for next week, and one task he has assigned them is watching the video of Sunday's 3-2 overtime loss to North Dakota and offering their perspective. He'll do the same.
"That forces me to watch it earlier than I probably would," Eaves said.

Check Wednesday's TCT for the UW season wrap-up.