The Wisconsin Badgers have been pretty devastated by graduation and early departures this summer--though it would be difficult to classify any of the departures as 'unexpected'. Still, their roster needed a little extra help heading into next season, and at this time of the year, options are pretty limited. Most top players have already committed to a college, and signed a letter of intent, binding them to their school for a year.
There is an exception though. Ivy League schools don't sign National Letters of Intent, and there's no "gentleman's agreement" in place between WCHA coaches and ECAC coaches about not recruiting committed players.
As a result, Wisconsin has gotten Sioux Falls forward Matt Lindblad to back out of his commitment to Dartmouth and sign with the Badgers for next season. Lindblad had a nice year for Sioux Falls last year, with 73 points in 60 games.
This isn't exactly a black-and-white issue, though I'm sure some people will take it as such. The WCHA does operate with a "gentleman's agreement" within their own league about not recruiting players committed to other colleges, though that agreement doesn't necessarily have unanimous support throughout the league. So teams do see some value in not trying to poach players from other teams. But on the other hand, if Lindblad was really more interested in continuing his education and hockey career at Wisconsin than at Dartmouth, what should stop him from doing so?
I'm sure there's a wide range of opinions on this, so I'll throw a poll out there. What do you think of Wisconsin recruiting a player already committed to another college?