New path will consistently be CHL > NCAA > AHL. Since the vote happened today and its not limited to overagers like some thought, kids will go NCAA at 18 to play against older competition. Worst case some kids do 3 years and off to NCAA at 19.
Yea but nobody could have expected this to happen. BCHL was a good option for kids, especially Americans who werent going to get playing time in the USHL but had college commitments.
Well said, the current system of 20-21 year old mid round picks going to the AHL and then put in a role where it’s very difficult to shine is crushing a lot of potential talent. These kids need to continue playing in roles where they have a chance to contribute and be important pieces to a team. I think this could result in a lot more players with top 6 skill at 24-25 rather than bottom 6 guys in the coast or ahl where their skill and confidence has been zapped.
This is the perfect move for 20-21 year olds who graduate from the CHL and are going to be good pro’s, but aren’t really ready for the AHL yet. The ECHL is ok, but I really don’t think it’s the proper environment for a young guy like that to develop. They need 2-3 more years, and the ncaa provides better competition than the Canadian University landscape does, overall. I agree that although the ncaa will likely try hard to poach the top guys, I don’t see it making sense for the first and second round guys, not to mention teams often sign these guys right after being drafted or development camp. But that becomes tricky because as of now you’re not able to play College hockey with a contract.
Read today that the CHL will honour the CHL scholarship for the NCAA provided the player plays out their eligibility. If they decide to leave before that, they lose their education package. You’re eligible to go to ncaa in your OA year though if you choose, which incentives players to fulfill their contracts even more. Plus you can’t as of now go to the NCAA if you’ve signed your ELC, which a lot of the high picks in the CHL have already done.
I’d eat my hat if a guy like DuPont ever steps foot on a college campus for hockey.
If you’re good enough to enter a decent ncaa team before your junior eligibility expires you’re likely a fully or at least 75 % anyways. Honestly if the CHL is paying the way for 20 year olds so the ncaa school itself doesn’t have to, I imagine the top teams are going to be even more stacked. Imagine third and fourth line players that take up zero of the scholarship allocation that aren’t paying a dime to go there.
It honestly isn't that bad for any Junior A league other than the USHL, other Junior A leagues will just be a stepping stone to the CHL-NCAA. The BCHL will be hurt by only having kids for one year but that was kinda the case for most of the eastern canadians/americans that came anyway who would go USHL after 1 BCHL year. Now it'll just be older players pushed out of the CHL by US kids and younger fairly high chl picks who will go for 1 year instead of playing another year Midget AAA or limited CHL minutes, basically becoming the WHLs AHL. We'll see how many CHLers go NCAA before they turn 20 but not sure it'll actually be that many as for the WHL at least most kids like playing close to home(relatively speaking), don't care about school(a good chunk won't be academically eligible for NCAA) or will have signed ELCs. Leagues like the SJHL/MJHL won't be effected at all really, might even benefit from the trickle down. USports will be hit hard but now players in the AJHL/SJHL/MJHL will just replace them while the Major Junior guys go NCAA(assuming grades are good enough). Another benefit of the CHL package is players don't have to use it on just University they can also use it for trade schools which quite a few do. Lots of unknowns how things will shake out but ultimately I think it's a win-win for most leagues, we'll see. Only thing is smaller population teams like a PA/PG/SC won't be able to get many of the top US kids who will mainly go to the Saskatoons/Cal/EDM/Van/Kel/Port/Seattles
