CHL can now play NCAA - change everything !

[Juniorhockeyguru]

I don't think you've looked at a map lately.

Bryce Lampman is from Minnesota and signed with the Blazers way back when.

 

[Bubbles]

I could identify every state on an unlabelled map of the USA or just by their own outlines as separately presented items. I can name every state, their capitals and largest cities.

Prince George is in the league, right?

Congratulations! Now you can explain why an entire state EAST of the closest WHL outpost in Brandon would want to play in the WESTERN HOCKEY LEAGUE. If anything, they would join the OHL.

You also downplay the importance of the Minnesota High School system. It's absolutely huge down there, as some fellow US posters can attest.

 

[Bubbles]

Bryce Lampman is from Minnesota and signed with the Blazers way back when.

The user was talking about WHL expanding into Minnesota, not players from Minnesota into the WHL.

 

[hypereconomist]

Are you implying that the majority of elite American prospects are going to react to this change by abandoning college hockey to spend the entirety of their amateur careers in the CHL? Because those types of prospects aren't going to the NCAA at 21+. I'm far less certain how this all plays out than most posters here, but that is one outcome I cannot see happening.

Given how rare is it for 18-19 year old prospects to get top playing time in the NCAA, I wouldn't be surprised to see more good American prospects play their D+0 and D+1 seasons in the CHL before moving to the NCAA. Players like Henry Thrun, Jack Devine, Ryan Chesley, Devin Kaplan, etc. that were fairly high draft picks (e.g 2nd or 3rd rounders) and good enough to be in the USNDTP, but needed an extra year or two of seasoning in junior before they were ready to be good college players.

The only way you do that is if the NHL steps in, and decides that they are going to have one uniform "minor leagues" pathway. It would have to become almost like what it is with baseball. Could still be difficult with the European leagues. How are you going to get them on board? There would likely also have to be a realignment with how the CHL works.

As long as you have leagues like the USHL, NCAA, BCHL, AJHL, NAHL, players are going to go wherever it benefits them. Theoretically it would be good if everyone played in the same place, but the idea that it would be good for EVERYONE to play in the CHL as it's currently constituted doesn't make sense.

In no way did my post imply that...it's impossible for the CHL to absorb "everyone" because not everyone is good enough for the CHL, hence the likely continuation of Canadian Jr A. and the USHL.

 

[WarriorofTime]

Yeah, good Canadian USHLers have less reason for existing, for present season that's 7/50 of the top scorers. For Americans, a bit less uncertain, probably more gap year NTDP-ers go CHL, but probably bulk of Americans still are playing USHL (some had already been playing OHL or WHL before). Question is if USHL can still serve as a strong NCAA feeder, I think so, probably for same reason you don't see every Finnish kid worth a lick rush over to the border to play for Swedish youth teams. Different countries have different pipelines generally speaking.

 

[Blue and Green]

Congratulations! Now you can explain why an entire state EAST of the closest WHL outpost in Brandon would want to play in the WESTERN HOCKEY LEAGUE. If anything, they would join the OHL.

You also downplay the importance of the Minnesota High School system. It's absolutely huge down there, as some fellow US posters can attest.

Minnesota is in WHL's territory, not OHL's. And Minnesota is a long way from any current OHL city.

If the WHL decides that it has enough talent and there's ownership interest, it's possible that it might expand into that area. Fargo and Sioux Falls have USHL franchises; putting a team in the Twin Cities area might be viable. WHL would probably like to get back into Winnipeg. Between those four and Brandon, I don't see why the travel would be an issue. Prince George is about six hours from Kamloops, the nearest WHL city, and 7-8 hours from Kelowna and Edmonton which are the next closest two. The league is already spread across the western half of the country plus the northwest of the US.

Minnesota high school hockey doesn't seem particularly relevant to the issue. USHL stripped most of its talent decades ago.

 

[WarriorofTime]

Minnesota high school hockey doesn't seem particularly relevant to the issue. USHL stripped most of its talent decades ago.

This is not as simple as you make it out. Many kids stay in MN HS Hockey until they graduate high school, perhaps supplementing with the USHL when they are 17 if they are good enough, and then go to USHL when they are 18/19/maybe 20 followed by NCAA. Sub in the word "Prep School" for MN HS for much of the country... and that you're usually already starting from a position of "kids that weren't picked for the 25 player USNTDP" that it's not so straightforward that a bunch of 16 year olds are going to pack their bags and move to Canada [again I'd expect the biggest growth there to come in the OHL states]

 

[Blue and Green]

This is not as simple as you make it out. Many kids stay in MN HS Hockey until they graduate high school, perhaps supplementing with the USHL when they are 17 if they are good enough, and then go to USHL when they are 18/19/maybe 20 followed by NCAA. Sub in the word "Prep School" for MN HS for much of the country... and that you're usually already starting from a position of "kids that weren't picked for the 25 player USNTDP" that it's not so straightforward that a bunch of 16 year olds are going to pack their bags and move to Canada [again I'd expect the biggest growth there to come in the OHL states]

What I meant is that I felt that the presence of high school hockey wouldn't have all that much affect on whether or not the CHL puts a team in Minnesota. NCAA D1 programs would seem to me like the bigger deterrent in some towns. But there aren't any USHL franchises in Minnesota (a couple within just a few miles) so who knows, maybe anything other than high school or university hockey wouldn't fly there.

Anyway, I said only that it wouldn't surprise me if the WHL goes into that area. No guarantee. We'll see what happens.

 

[Pavel Buchnevich]

In no way did my post imply that...it's impossible for the CHL to absorb "everyone" because not everyone is good enough for the CHL, hence the likely continuation of Canadian Jr A. and the USHL.

Okay, so you meant something even more ridiculous.

Amazing some people don’t understand that not everyone finds the CHL appealing. That includes players of all nationalities. Incredible people don’t understand this.

 

[Corso]

Minnesota is in WHL's territory, not OHL's. And Minnesota is a long way from any current OHL city.

If the WHL decides that it has enough talent and there's ownership interest, it's possible that it might expand into that area. Fargo and Sioux Falls have USHL franchises; putting a team in the Twin Cities area might be viable. WHL would probably like to get back into Winnipeg. Between those four and Brandon, I don't see why the travel would be an issue. Prince George is about six hours from Kamloops, the nearest WHL city, and 7-8 hours from Kelowna and Edmonton which are the next closest two. The league is already spread across the western half of the country plus the northwest of the US.

Minnesota high school hockey doesn't seem particularly relevant to the issue. USHL stripped most of its talent decades ago.

Geography makes it difficult for the WHL to expand into the Minnesota region. It would be a minimum 8-hour bus ride from the Minneapolis region to the nearest WHL city in Brandon. Rochester would be even further. The WHL would have to grant Winnipeg another franchise (or relocation) but where would a Dub team play in that city? They could try and poach Sioux Falls and Fargo from the USHL (two franchises with the financial means and fan support to able to play in the WHL) and then place a team in Minnesota but again, we are still talking really long distances between cities. So I'm not really sure you will see, in the near future, much WHL expansion into the Midwest/plains region of the U.S.

The Q expansion into the New England region is very likely within the next couple of years, however, and I can see the OHL adding a team or two in the N.Y/Penn area.