It sucks that so many sure-fire high first round picks have to pretend like they want to go to school and make that a priority. This guy is going to play in the NHL for 15 years even if he doesn't get an ounce better in Europe. He's going to make more than 99% of us will ever make doing that. If he so chooses, chooses mind you, he can go back to school with that fat wad of cash he'll no doubt make when he signs his ELC and subsequent contracts.
It's so weird how we give athletes so much hell for these kind of decisions when we praise trade workers for the same decision on lower levels. You want to go mine coal instead of going to college? Good for you for having a life plan. You want to play hockey for $400,000 instead of going to school? You're a bad person. You're a risk now. You accepted half a million dollars to play hockey in one of the most beautiful places on earth at 18. How dare you!
And somehow, we haven't even talked about how this stands to improve his game... which it does. Going to the CHL and scoring 120 points like everyone else? I mean.... it's not a bad plan for sure. But if you can go get some professional experience, especially when you were *so close* to this being your draft +1 season, why not give it a shot? There are TONS of European stars in the NHL that played in various professional leagues before making the jump. It's a non issue.
The only people this hurts, just like when star basketball recruits have done it in the past, are the people who still view Junior/NCAA as some kind of rite of passage for North American kids. Just because it's how everyone has done it before doesn't mean it's the right move. Hopefully, we allow more kids to chase their dreams.
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