Hockeyville USA
Registered User
Why won't it exist in 5 years? Stagnation of producing higher end talent because the sport is pricing kids out in usual hockey hotbeds like Michigan and Massachusetts?
This is the most out of touch comment I have ever seen on this board.
Oh really? Same USA hockey that just had less than 40 kids drafted and only 4 first round picks? The NTDP has struggled at the U17 and U18 level for years now, that’s their bread and butter. Let me ask you, who’s the best player in college hockey once Hagens, Hutson and Eiserman leave? Hage, Stiga?hysterical delusions
That and the USHL won’t be competitive enough to provide enough competition, and just a lack of interest amongst USA hockey top brass to continue the program. It’s run its course imo.
Yet, you won’t be able to refute any of it. Do you disagree that the USA 06-08 birth years are weak? They are, that’s a fact. The US might only have 3 kids drafted in the first round this year. They had some elite years and that in turn made the ncaa a high end place to develop and play, but the 01 and 04/05 age groups are soon to be done with college hockey and graduating to the pro’s, and the age groups coming up are weak.
Park is a candidate. Beyond him, there are a few returning kids who are also candidates (like Fink or Howard)
That is what really matters doesn't it; the NHL's decision on signing rights, drafts, ELCs and the CHL-NHL agreement will be definitive in how the amateur pyramid looks like in N.A.
Development often occurs in cycles. I am not suggesting that the birth years 2006-2008 are particularly strong or even average, nor am I claiming that the 2009 birth year has elite talent. However, from what I can gather, the 2010 birth year appears to be very strong, and the groups from 2011 to 2013 have more than held their own against Canadian competition. So it is, at best, very premature to conclude that USA Hockey is experiencing a decline in developing elite players, as this narrative may entirely flip visa vis Canada in five years.
The final story hasn't yet been written relating to this new rule change but I'm confident that the over-all impact on USA Hockey will be positive, even if they don't realize it yet.
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Blue and Green
Out to lunch
- Dec 17, 2017
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There's no right thread for saying Marner is worth $16M.
Blue and Green
Out to lunch
- Dec 17, 2017
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- 5,589
This stuff can be quite cyclical. There are updrafts and downdrafts in the entire talent pool, never mind just one country. A lot of NHL drafts in the mid-late 1970's and mid-late 1990's were rather weak at the top. Three relatively lesser crops in a row doesn't necessarily mean that a country is weakening.
There are more than a thousand players in D1 so a few more or a few less high-end Americans out of NTDP in any given year or two won't have much effect on the overall calibre of play, especially compared to the cascade of respectable players who'll be coming from CHL.
So 2 bad birth years and USA Hockey is done as a whole? The 09 American group is significantly deeper than the Canadian 09s. And if not for Dupont, they would have the better top end talent too. As it stands today the American 10s are better than the Canadian 10s. It’s idiotic to think the USHL will cease to exist and that the CHL will be the only place to play. Also, you must not understand how much $$ is dumped into NTDP. It is miles and miles a better place to develop than the CHL. In the nicest way possible, you have absolutely no idea what you are talking about
WarriorofTime
Registered User
- Jul 3, 2010
- 29,134
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Straight up talking out your arse, lol.
Back to back champs of junior hockey, an underwhelming NTDP group in terms of like 1st round NHL Draft Picks doesn't mean USA Hockey is falling off a cliff or that there aren't future college hockey players across the USA Hockey youth ranks. The numbers of registered players for younger age groups are the most important thing to be looking at and while they're stagnating a bit there's still a trend of growth.
AyeBah
Registered User
- Apr 5, 2019
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The same Park who went undrafted last year and has played 0 minutes of college
Hockeyville USA
Registered User
This kind of relates to the whole U.S. development system and the NCAA rule change; Minnesota is going to be a major pipeline for WHL teams (to the surprise of some here) and it is going to give players from Minnesota 23 more options to play at a very elite level for further development....
Here's kind of an interesting situation to pay attention to, the 2026 Memorial Cup hosts Kelowna Rockets traded for 05 d-man Mazden Leslie from the Vancouver Giants yesterday in exchange for a conditional 2028 first and a conditional 2026 third.
Leslie verbally committed to Bowling Green in February but the reporting is that Leslie's goal is to play pro next year. He's been passed over in last two NHL drafts and is ranked 133 for NA skaters in this upcoming draft, but has had free agent camp invites both years.
All this talk about the new pathways opening up for players and here's a player who can take advantage of that.
Leslie verbally committed to Bowling Green in February but the reporting is that Leslie's goal is to play pro next year. He's been passed over in last two NHL drafts and is ranked 133 for NA skaters in this upcoming draft, but has had free agent camp invites both years.
All this talk about the new pathways opening up for players and here's a player who can take advantage of that.
I've mentioned this earlier on this thread I believe. There is talk going around that some of these 04 and 05 born commits from the CHL may not make it to campus and instead sign pro deals. I believe, however, that the majority will be in college in the fall.
Hockeyville USA
Registered User
Kids that go to Shattuck are already outside of the "usual" MN kid. I don't think you'll get a ton of MN HS hockey kids heading up for 11th and 12th grade. And if they choose WHL for a year after HS instead of USHL, meh.
Same with the Spehar kids that bounce all over. And the Sawchyns.
