As most of the Badger hockey players cleaned out their Kohl Center lockers Tuesday, the locker of Kyle Turris already sat empty.

One day after freshman Turris signed an entry-level contract with the Phoenix Coyotes of the NHL, Wisconsin head coach Mike Eaves reflected on the less-than-surprising decision of his star forward.

“Kyle and I, during the course of the season, had some very open dialogue about the possibilities, especially when he got back from the World Juniors and there were rumors flying out there,” Eaves said. “We sat down with Kyle, and we said, ‘Hey, we don’t want you to be nervous or scared about coming and talking to us. Come and chat with us, and let us know what’s going on. We want to be here to help you.’ And he indicated at that time that there was a pretty good possibility of that happening.”

Following Wisconsin’s 3-2 loss to North Dakota Sunday in the NCAA Tournament, the possibility of turning pro became a reality for Turris.

“When the season was over, Kyle came in again and sat down and said, ‘Coach, it’s become a reality.’ And now we move forward,” Eaves said.

Turris will join the Coyotes for their final three games of the season: Thursday against Dallas — where Turris could possibly make his NHL debut — Friday on the road against the Stars, and Sunday against the Anaheim Ducks. Phoenix is out of playoff contention, so Turris will enter a no-pressure situation to get his feet wet at the professional level.

“He’s got three games right now; he’s going to go get a little taste of it,” Eaves said. “And that will be the beginning of the new chapter in his life.”

While Turris came in as a heralded forward and the No. 3 overall selection in the draft, Eaves feels Turris’ one year in college was beneficial in preparing him for the adjustments he’ll have to face in the pros.

“He’s a better hockey player now than he was at the beginning of the season, and he was a pretty good player then,” Eaves said. “The question is, how effective will he be at the next level? And only time will tell us.”

“The one thing that you have to wait and see is, there’s been a lot of good college hockey players that haven’t been able to make that adjustment. They don’t have that next gear because it is definitely a pace faster, stronger, everybody’s skilled, the goalies are better. Instead of playing in fourth gear, can you find that fifth gear? And that’s what we’re going to have to watch here together.”

Turris is certainly not the first player Eaves has coached to jump early to the pros from the Badgers. Most recently, Jack Skille and Joe Piskula left after their sophomore and junior seasons, respectively, in 2007. Skille is now with the Chicago Blackhawks, while Piskula is skating with the Los Angeles Kings. Robbie Earl, Joe Pavelski and Ryan Suter all left Madison before finishing out their collegiate careers.

The trend of players leaving early, Eaves said, is one becoming more common around the league.

“Our world in college hockey has changed,” Eaves said. “Our virtue is our vice. Being a big-time college hockey school allows us to attract some pretty fine student-athletes. At the same time, these same student-athletes are leaving us earlier. So that’s the world in which we live, and we have to learn to deal with that.”

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Others following suit?

Tuesday, a few other players were mentioned as potentially following Turris out the Kohl Center doors into the waiting arms of the NHL.

Sophomore defenseman Jamie McBain, a second round pick of the Carolina Hurricanes, is one of the more likely current Badgers to make the leap early. McBain, who has eight goals and 34 assists in two seasons, scored goals in each of UW’s two NCAA Tournament games this past weekend.

“I’ll speak with Jamie next week and see [if] he has heard anything from them specifically,” Eaves said. “In talking to (Carolina Director of Player Development) Ron Francis, they need to sit down at the end. They’re battling for a playoff spot right now, so we’ll see.”

The name of sophomore John Mitchell, a 6-foot-5-inch forward not currently signed by any NHL team, has also been thrown around as a player who would potentially not finish out his career at Wisconsin. Mitchell had just one goal in 18 games as a freshman last year, but he saw an increase in both playing time and productivity in his sophomore campaign, playing in 40 games and scoring 13 points.

“In having some initial talks with John, I think that we are both in agreement that coming back would be the best thing right now because he’s just starting to get some confidence,” Eaves said. “Before you leave one level and go to the other level, you need to have a huge deposit of confidence because you’re going to get hammered. If you have that confidence to fall back on, you will survive that next step.”