Some months back, when this issue first surfaced, Chris Peters had a debate with UND beat writer Brad Schlossman and pretty well much said everything you just posted. Scholssman was of the opinion that the NCAA would now be the top of the pyramid in terms of amateur development and first round CHLers would flock to the NCAA to play against older competition but Peters was having none of that. His claim, as yours, was that in no way would the NHL give up the way their prospects are developed and would in fact heavily influence the top end elite players to stay in the CHL.
I don't know how this is going to shake itself out but I'm kind of the opinion that you and Chris Peters are right. I have talked to some connected people and they are telling me that the CHL has long prepared for this eventuality, hence their willingness to change the NHL-CHL transfer agreement. I also was told that some pretty prominent college programs have already approached some CHL franchises in order to work out a development recruitment strategy (similar to what they currently have with all the USHL franchises) but were flatly rebuffed. It seems that the CHL stance is that you can have our 20 and 21 year old players but our top prospects will remain in the CHL.
Salary Cap: Pens '24-'25 Salary Thread: The Crosbicles Volume XIX
