Corso
Registered User
- Aug 13, 2018
- 566
- 1,209
For now the top kids will still likely keep going to the WHL but what will it do for the level of competition if "super junior A" starts taking players who might have been lower tier players in the WHL? You can only lose so many bottom six forwards before the quality of play starts to deteriorate.
It's hard to imagine that the WHL won't feel this to at least some extent.
I would think that a more fragmented hockey landscape is going to hurt development, at least in the short term.
I can see the WHL losing more depth-type players who choose to stay at home in BC/AB. I can see traditional Jr. A losing its top players who want a more competitive environment but don't necessarily want the WHL.
Eventually things will settle down but there will be a lot of upheaval over the next few years. I wonder if any eastern Jr. A teams will follow suit with their own regional super Junior A in that part of Canada?
This move is as much as a shot across the bow of the USHL as it is to the WHL. The BCHL power brokers could not understand why transfer cards were granted to U-18 Canadian born hockey players (Fantili, Power among others) to play in the USHL but not given to the various out of province domestic leagues and hence the divorce from Hockey Canada.
The BCHL knows that there is a core group of high end Canadian talent that will always choose the NCAA path and they want to be the league that those players choose to play in as opposed to the USHL. So adding the best AJHL programs is a step in the right direction in the forming of Canadian Tier 1 model but they will have to begin acting as a Tier 1 league and the question of finances comes into play.
The USHL is successful because they cover the full cost of attendance. All travel expenses, meal plans, billet fees and equipment are covered by the respective teams. Players bear no cost for playing in the USHL and have access to trainers, medical officials and exercise/strength and conditioning coaches. Furthermore the USHL has a minimum requirement for facilities and arena capacities. This of course all costs significant money and I know for a fact that there are a couple of USHL teams struggling to meet all of their obligations to the players.
So if the BCHL is serious about being the Canadian answer to the USHL then how do they finacially propose to do this. The vast majority of the teams (including all the new AJHL ones) average far less than 2000 paying fans a game. Sure some of the larger centers like Pentiction, Chiiliwak and maybe Vernon have the finanial wherewithall when combining attendance with sponsorship monies but how would a a team like Merrit find the operating cash to provide for an all expense paid experience to it's players??
I think that this story is far from over and that you may well see a number of the smaller market teams flee the BCHL back to a Hockey Canada sanctioned league while the BCHL morphs into a 12-15 team league split into two conferences spanning B.C. and Alberta....but the finances will have to work.