Toggle sidebar

2025-26 NTDP U17 Team Selection

digicamo said:
Truthfully I don’t think there should really be a debate. Todays hockey is all about opportunity and the Canadian kids are choosing the NTDP because of the development and exposure it offers, not because they want to play for the USA.

Maybe that’s a hot take but the program has proven to churn out pro player after pro player and if you’re Barch or Thibodeau, under the new NCAA rules, why not take the opportunity to play with some of the best 09s in the world for two years rather than playing 3rd or 4th line minutes on an OHL team.
Click to expand...
I think some kids have a measure of patriotism, but most in this context are probably opportunistic. It's all possible as duals that they have been raised to feel pride in both countries.
 
It doesn't really matter why they choose this path. As long as the US citizenship policy is what it is and they have citizenship, they have the right to this choice. Period.
 
  • Like
Reactions: macbowes
digicamo said:
Truthfully I don’t think there should really be a debate. Todays hockey is all about opportunity and the Canadian kids are choosing the NTDP because of the development and exposure it offers, not because they want to play for the USA.

Maybe that’s a hot take but the program has proven to churn out pro player after pro player and if you’re Barch or Thibodeau, under the new NCAA rules, why not take the opportunity to play with some of the best 09s in the world for two years rather than playing 3rd or 4th line minutes on an OHL team.
Click to expand...
If Barch and Thibodeau are good enough, they'd be in the top 6 of most O teams that aren't London right away. And conversely, plenty of NTDP guys get buried down the lineup because there's not enough ice time to go around on an all star team, and thus several guys have their development stunted. Several NTDP guys are better off on normal USHL teams or in the O, getting more minutes.
 
Last edited:
  • Like
Reactions: wetcoast
I guess I'm having some kind of age crisis here. It's so hard to internalize that these teams are starting to have sons of players who played in the NHL in the late 2000s when I started seriously following the NHL as a teenager.

It was exactly the same feeling when Ovie broke Wayne's goal record. It feels like just yesterday I was arguing with my friends on the outdoor rinks when they both came into the league about who was better. Crosby or Ovie. Or when we rewatched Ovie's goal against the Coyotes a million times on YouTube. Now he is all time leading goal goal scorer in the league history and both of them are almost retired.

And sorry about this off topic.
 
Rumors on social media about possible defections, haven't heard it from anyone or anywhere else yet but something to keep an eye on.
 
  • Wow
Reactions: Hockeyville USA
Corso said:
Two players taken fairly high in the OHL draft, but I haven't heard anything to substantiate it
Click to expand...
Not sure who you would be alluding to. Barch is dead set on NTDP, Daley didn't show up to Soo development camp, Saginaw GM already went public and said Milojevic will be playing for NTDP for 2 years. Those are the only guys drafted in the first 5 rounds.
 
bigdog16 said:
Not sure who you would be alluding to. Barch is dead set on NTDP, Daley didn't show up to Soo development camp, Saginaw GM already went public and said Milojevic will be playing for NTDP for 2 years. Those are the only guys drafted in the first 5 rounds.
Click to expand...
Like I said, there were some RUMORS making the rounds on social media about possible defections but I could not SUBSTANTIATE any of it.
 
WarriorofTime said:
Can you at least post some tweets that are making the rounds so probably know what rumors you’re talking about
Click to expand...
This is what he is likely referencing

Barch.PNG
 
  • Like
Reactions: WarriorofTime
$50K break fee is steep but if your dad is say, Trevor Daley, and had $38.8 million in career earnings, then it’s not a deal breaker in the event a kid is buried on the bottom half of the 25-man roster and the OHL team comes calling and saying we’ll make you top pair.

I doubt anyone would break after literally just committing but it’s definitely something that could happen over the course of two years.
 
WarriorofTime said:
$50K break fee is steep but if your dad is say, Trevor Daley, and had $38.8 million in career earnings, then it’s not a deal breaker in the event a kid is buried on the bottom half of the 25-man roster and the OHL team comes calling and saying we’ll make you top pair.

I doubt anyone would break after literally just committing but it’s definitely something that could happen over the course of two years.
Click to expand...
Yeah I would be shocked if anyone left before they even played a game for the NTDP. After year one, maybe. That's happened once or twice. Although Kitchener would fall into the category of the "haves" in the OHL that could pony up the release fee for Barch. Not saying they definitely will though.
 
bigdog16 said:
You seem to be one of the only people here with legitimate inside knowledge. Have you heard of any defections?
Click to expand...

nope, i could see barch after a year like max jones. the soo took daly the same way that they took croskery last year, roll the dice.

barch just from a geography and play style makes sense for kitchener, but i dont see it being this year.

thibedeau 0 percent
 
Trojans86 said:
Let’s be honest, that’s always been most of the ntdp. Daley as well I believe
Click to expand...
They should only select players that have absolutely no connection to Canada at all so we don't have to read garbage like this every year. There are plenty of great young American players that have no connection to that country with its obnoxious fans.
 
  • Wow
Reactions: Hockeyville USA
You must log in or register to reply here.

Users who are viewing this thread

  • ... and 3 more.
    • Total: 12 (members: 10, guests: 2)

    Latest posts

    Ad

    Ad

    Top Bottom