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CHL Can Now Play NCAA - Changes Everything

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qcal1427 said:
It is a junior league in the sense that it is a non-professional league that feeds into professional leagues
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I mean sure but that doesn’t make it a junior league in the way that people watching junior hockey would use that term. The NCAA is its own unicorn. Can’t think of any other league where the majority of the players are in the 20-23 range. Usually you skipped right over that range when you go from lower leagues to pro.
 
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Kingpin794 said:
I mean sure but that doesn’t make it a junior league in the way that people watching junior hockey would use that term. The NCAA is its own unicorn. Can’t think of any other league where the majority of the players are in the 20-23 range. Usually you skipped right over that range when you go from lower leagues to pro.
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I mean I feel like this is a distinction without a difference. The NCAA is the league with the best quality of play for amateur players who want to continue on with a professional career
 
qcal1427 said:
I mean I feel like this is a distinction without a difference. The NCAA is the league with the best quality of play for amateur players who want to continue on with a professional career
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Amateur and junior aren’t the same thing all the time. Your local beer league is an amateur league, it’s not a junior league. Squares and rectangles.
 
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Kingpin794 said:
Amateur and junior aren’t the same thing all the time. Your local beer league is an amateur league, it’s not a junior league. Squares and rectangles.
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For the purposes of my original post, they are functionally the same thing. Of all of the things to pick out about it this seems oddly specific and pedantic!
 
qcal1427 said:
For the purposes of my original post, they are functionally the same thing. Of all of the things to pick out about it this seems oddly specific and pedantic!
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No they aren't. I'm sorry you're annoyed someone is telling you that need to correct your nomenclature but you need to. Like driving a prius and saying you love driving your truck. I'm telling you that you don't have a truck and you're telling me that because it has 4 wheels and a motor that they are the same. They are both vehicles but you want to say how your prius is the best truck out there.
 
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Hockeyville USA said:
Maddox Labre (2007, QMJHL, Victoriaville Tigres) commits to Ohio State!

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Is scheduled for 26-27 and will do another year in the Q
Hockeyville USA said:
Finn Spehar (2009) signs his Standard Player Agreement with the Portland Winterhawks. 2025 NTDP Evaluation Camp Invite.

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Who was saying that Minnesota kids won't be going to the dub?? Small player but performed well at NTDP camp, was being chased by just about every USHL club for the upcoming futures draft
qcal1427 said:
I think success for the NCAA is the easiest to define. They have already positioned themselves as the best (in terms of quality of play) junior league in the world. Success means continuing to widen that gap in on-ice play over the CHL by poaching the players that can make the biggest NCAA impact. That will take on different forms for say Michigan (success being recruiting a McKenna type) vs. say a Vermont (who can maybe get a CHL overager that is better than a USHL guy). They could always sell themselves based off of the lifestyle, education, and smaller gap to pro hockey quality-wise. They just now don't have an artificially limited pool of players to make that pitch to.

For the CHL, success will probably be in two main avenues. The first is convincing the top drafted and D0 Canadian prospects to stay. They are a business, and they sell tickets based off of having the McDavids and Bedards and McKennas of the world. Yes there's always been guys like Makar and Fantilli that have gone to the NCAA before, but that path got a whole lot more straightforward and even losing some of these guys would be a massive hit to the prestige and bottom line of the league. They have the best top-end drafted talent and need to keep them. The second part will be increasing the talent at the bottom of their rosters, which is where you see real gaps currently with the NCAA. This will rely on convincing American players to forgo the NTDP or USHL and come north instead.
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Nice summation and you are correct that the battle being waged right now is for those 18 and 19 year old D+1 and 2 players. I've already given my thoughts on the matter. It will be real interesting to see how this plays out now with more and more young top end American talent taking the CHL route.
 
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All these OA's, USports guys coming in isn't going to make it easier for 18/19 year olds to thrive in the NCAA unless they are the upper upper echelon types. Still it will be interesting to see how Mews does next season. I wouldn't put him in the super star chl player range. He might be a thermometer for the future. It will take a few years for things to settle and the landscape becomes clear in regards to how good of a player you have to be to make it worth leaving the CHL early.
 
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Hockeyville USA said:
Maddox Labre (2007, QMJHL, Victoriaville Tigres) commits to Ohio State!

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His brother is there, wild how much his brother progressed from when he was my callup.

To be honest, not sure Maddox will be good enough in 2026-2027 to play meaningful minutes.

I think what some of these guys don’t realize is that they’ll go from 1st pair to 3rd pair or scratched, I can see why an OA player would go, but not a 19 year old who isn’t a top jr player.
 
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IHaveNoCreativity said:
His brother is there, wild how much his brother progressed from when he was my callup.

To be honest, not sure Maddox will be good enough in 2026-2027 to play meaningful minutes.

I think what some of these guys don’t realize is that they’ll go from 1st pair to 3rd pair or scratched, I can see why an OA player would go, but not a 19 year old who isn’t a top jr player.
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Just like they do with USHL/Junior A guys, Ohio State can defer Labre & send him back to junior for 2026-27 so that he's more mature/readier to come in as a 20 year old. If he takes off next year & shows he's ready, Ohio State will bring him in early. NCAA ETAs change on a dime, so not expecting Labre to be in Columbus in 2026-27 necessarily.
 
Kingpin794 said:
All these OA's, USports guys coming in isn't going to make it easier for 18/19 year olds to thrive in the NCAA unless they are the upper upper echelon types. Still it will be interesting to see how Mews does next season. I wouldn't put him in the super star chl player range. He might be a thermometer for the future. It will take a few years for things to settle and the landscape becomes clear in regards to how good of a player you have to be to make it worth leaving the CHL early.
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Sounding like a broken record but the next NHL CBA will have a large role in determining how things play out. A couple things are for certain though. The NCAA will get older and yes it will be harder for true freshman to play meaningful minutes in the NCAA. The number of Americans that opt for the CHL over the U.S. based domestic leagues will dramatically increase.

The next shoe to drop is the CHL-NHL agreement.

BTW enjoy Roscoe in Saginaw....tremendous upside!
 
Corso said:
Who was saying that Minnesota kids won't be going to the dub??
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This is a kid and family that bounces around like crazy. Of course those types will head up. Any MN kid that goes to Sioux Falls to play hockey... will probably check out the WHL. Tons of crazy families up here that send their kids all over the country.

Let's see how many MN kids go up that stuck with one association all the way up through at least a year or two of varsity HS hockey. Let's see if the 12th graders that have done enough in HS and don't really have a team that could make state choose to go the Canada for their 12th grade year instead of the USHL.

But overall, it's not going to be that many MN kids.
 
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Bonin21 said:
This is a kid and family that bounces around like crazy. Of course those types will head up. Any MN kid that goes to Sioux Falls to play hockey... will probably check out the WHL. Tons of crazy families up here that send their kids all over the country.

Let's see how many MN kids go up that stuck with one association all the way up through at least a year or two of varsity HS hockey. Let's see if the 12th graders that have done enough in HS and don't really have a team that could make state choose to go the Canada for their 12th grade year instead of the USHL.

But overall, it's not going to be that many MN kids.
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I think plenty of MN HS guys will go to the Dub after they graduate, especially if the NCAA program they've committed to advises that they do. But as you've alluded to, many will prefer to stay comfortable in the US Midwest & play in the USHL.
 
Hockeyville USA said:
Just like they do with USHL/Junior A guys, Ohio State can defer Labre & send him back to junior for 2026-27 so that he's more mature/readier to come in as a 20 year old. If he takes off next year & shows he's ready, Ohio State will bring him in early. NCAA ETAs change on a dime, so not expecting Labre to be in Columbus in 2026-27 necessarily.
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I think that’s fair, but at the same time some of these guys are going to be buried regardless. It’s a good door, but not necessarily all it’s meant to be.
 
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