CHL Can Now Play NCAA - Changes Everything

[WarriorofTime]

Everyone knows hockey players are notorious non-drinkers. Never touch the stuff.

 

[Wieters]

Nope. Tell me you haven’t spent anytime around a high level professional athlete focused on making the Show without telling me you haven’t. There is zero evidence for any claim that high-level hockey prospects choose the NCAA “for the college lifestyle.” Joe Blow non-prospect whose choice is U-Sports, the ECHL, or playing Tier 2 in Central Europe, sure. But even then development is still the primary motivator.

It is such a waste of time that this is even being brought up. No one is talking about this in the actual hockey world. So let’s stop the creepy projection and leave this garbage.

The college experience beyond simply on-ice time is THE selling point for the NCAA. It's widely and openly talked about by coaches and players. Clearly you have absolutely no experience in or around college hockey. Which is fine, there is a whole wide world of hockey out there beyond the NCAA/America. But parading around a thread about the NCAA as if you know what matters and telling others they don't--while the evidence continues to mount up against you--is embarrassing.

 

[wetcoast]

Canadian hockey parents seeing their 100k+ investment in 10+ years of AAA hockey finally pay off

160 full rides and counting

CHL to NCAA Tracker: OHL, WHL, QMJHL players going to U.S. college ranks

Here's a look at players from the WHL, OHL and QMJHL who have made NCAA commitments since the start of 2024.

www.sportsnet.ca

View attachment 1044996

So basically a lot of older guys who have either aged out or could play as OA next year and a small number of guys who could stay in the CHL and others for the future.

Lots of stuff is going to happen back and forth over the next 2 years before we get a grasp on how much this impacts any of the leagues really, lots of moving parts here and some players will not find their NCAA experience worthwhile while others will find more opportunities to develop in the CHL playing more meaningful MPG and have a better opportunity to develop any future career.

 

[2Mototik2]

Obviously, some of these players aren't going to the NCAA to put in their four years for a degree and join the on-campus clubs while there, but it's kind of asinine to suggest that the life style and apparent "prestige" of being on an D1 campus aren't draws for players, especially Canadian who might not know much more than the names of the schools but know "US colleges" from movies and want to be able to wear the apparel of the "famous" schools back at home.

Throw a rock and you'll hit a handful of different YouTube channels, including Spittin' Chiclets who is huge with the junior hockey demographic, with video titles like "We Visited Quendelton State's $1,000,000,000,000,000 Sports Facility". Not all of those are hockey specific videos, but it's part of the draw.

 

[2Mototik2]

Lots of stuff is going to happen back and forth over the next 2 years before we get a grasp on hos much this impacts any of the leagues really, lots of moving parts here

I think that's really the only true statement right now. Anyone making any bold proclamations right now besides "NCAA teams now have access to more players" and "CHL teams now have access to more players" is foolhardy.

In saying all that (do as I say and not as I do), I will maintain that I have to think this off-season is going to be the most hectic with the movement because it's the first one and things will start to settle once next season starts. Mostly because players can't really enroll in school and join an NCAA team mid-season (besides any semester breaks?), so hopefully players and their CHL teams can use that time to work together for an outcome that is as beneficial as possible for both.

Until then I guess I am going to have to keep internet searching for "Calgary Hitmen NCAA" "Ben Kindel NCAA" and hoping I don't find anything, haha.

 

[PistolPete]

Justin Carbonneau might play for Boston College next Fall.

I thought on is we in French? On y va

 

[Andy Dufresne]

Because there are other leagues that can make a claim to be comparable from a developmental or financial standpoint.

Yeah? What leagues would those be?

 

[WarriorofTime]

I'd reckon you'll see more dominoes fall after the Draft.

 

[SergeConstantin]

I thought on is we in French? On y va

Sometimes it means we but it has a different meaning in this sentence. On me dit que = I'm told that

 

[PistolPete]

Sometimes it means we but it has a different meaning in this sentence. On me dit que = I'm told that

Dammit. How am I to become bi if they keep changing the rules????

 

[SergeConstantin]

Dammit. How am I to become bi if they keep changing the rules????

You know one more thing in french than you did yesterday.

 

[PistolPete]

You know one more thing in french than you did yesterday.

Damn. You should be a life coach. Solid point!

 

[jtechkid68]

Cooper Dennis - ushl - michigan recruit heading to ohl Bradtford . Maybe starting to pickup with USHL kids to the CHL ?

 

[Hockeyville USA]

So basically a lot of older guys who have either aged out or could play as OA next year and a small number of guys who could stay in the CHL and others for the future.

Lots of stuff is going to happen back and forth over the next 2 years before we get a grasp on how much this impacts any of the leagues really, lots of moving parts here and some players will not find their NCAA experience worthwhile while others will find more opportunities to develop in the CHL playing more meaningful MPG and have a better opportunity to develop any future career.

I think plenty of guys will stay in major junior in their 18 year old season and then move to the NCAA in their 19 year old season or whenever their NCAA team wants to bring them in. NCAA teams defer guys back to junior all the time, it'll happen to CHLers with NCAA commitments too

 

[Bonin21]

So basically a lot of older guys who have either aged out or could play as OA next year and a small number of guys who could stay in the CHL and others for the future.

Small number lol ya just half the top 10 players in the entire CHL in the first off season alone

 

[MrCreamm]

I think plenty of guys will stay in major junior in their 18 year old season and then move to the NCAA in their 19 year old season or whenever their NCAA team wants to bring them in. NCAA teams defer guys back to junior all the time, it'll happen to CHLers with NCAA commitments too

I think this will be the trend and it won't just be a total exodus of CHL talent to the NCAA immediately.

 

[Blue and Green]

I think plenty of guys will stay in major junior in their 18 year old season and then move to the NCAA in their 19 year old season or whenever their NCAA team wants to bring them in. NCAA teams defer guys back to junior all the time, it'll happen to CHLers with NCAA commitments too

Anyone who's fairly good will go at 18 or even 17. Second-round picks from USHL almost all go to D1 at 18 and probably a few of them could've been there a year earlier if they'd been academically qualified. Just about any kid projected to be a top-20 pick can be a useful D1 player at 17; Celebrini won the Hobey Baker at 17, it's not that hard to be at least a third-pair defenceman or third-line forward for a kid with good talent. Matthew Wood went from BCHL to D1 in his 17YO calendar year, was the leading scorer that season for UConn, and still ended up only getting drafted 15th.

 

[Daximus]

This is going to have massive ripple effects for a number of leagues.

Canadian kids will often go to Junior A to maintain NCAA eligibility, now they will likely go CHL for their 15, 16, 17 and possibly 18 year old seasons before jumping over. So Junior A teams are loosing a lot of talent they otherwise would have had access to.
Think guys like Cale Makar, Kent Johnson, Alex Newhook, Dante Fabbro.

Foreign kids (Canadians, Euros and Russians) will sometimes go to the USHL/NAHL in the US before attempting to make a jump into NCAA, some of them may now opt to stay in Canada and go to the CHL now instead and then jump to NCAA. So the USHL may lose a good number of those commits. There's also a chance some Americans may even opt to go to the CHL for 16, 17 and possibly 18 year old seasons instead of USHL/NAHL.

But in turn there are a lot of kids who will likely find they aren't getting the playing time to showcase themselves in the NCAA on more stacked teams or they just don't like the fit or miss home and potentially attempt to head to or back to the CHL to play more minutes and get more exposure.

 

[Bonin21]

Yes all of those ripple effects have been known for months

 

[jtechkid68]

Anyone who's fairly good will go at 18 or even 17. Second-round picks from USHL almost all go to D1 at 18 and probably a few of them could've been there a year earlier if they'd been academically qualified. Just about any kid projected to be a top-20 pick can be a useful D1 player at 17; Celebrini won the Hobey Baker at 17, it's not that hard to be at least a third-pair defenceman or third-line forward for a kid with good talent. Matthew Wood went from BCHL to D1 in his 17YO calendar year, was the leading scorer that season for UConn, and still ended up only getting drafted 15th.

Great post - CHL guys still delusional that their star guys not going college lol

 

[BadgerBruce]

Perhaps I view the issue a bit differently from most folks.

Bill Hay — yes, the same Bill Hay who served as CEO of the Calgary Flames — should have been the “amateur student athlete” model for hockey players.

Hear me out.

Hay played junior hockey for the Regina Pats as a 17 year-old, Canadian University hockey for the Saskatchewan Huskies as an 18 year-old, junior hockey once again for Regina (lost the Memorial Cup finals) as a 19 year-old, and then two seasons of NCAA with Colorado College as a 20-and-21 year-old. He brought two years of University of Saskatchewan transfer credits with him to Colorado and graduated with a Bachelor of Science in Geology, by the way, which eventually served him very, very well.

Anyway, Hay was Montreal Canadiens property under the old C-card/junior sponsorship system, but couldn’t get even a sniff with the big club (Beliveau, Henri Richard, Ralph Backstrom were likely the best trio of centres in NHL history, so Hay was shite outta luck).

Long story short, Montreal finally dealt his rights to Chicago, Hay won the Calder, centred Bobby Hull and Murray Balfour on the Million Dollar line, and won a Stanley Cup while doing so in 1960.

Hay played just 8 NHL seasons before leaving the game to become an extraordinarily successful full-time executive in the western Canada oil patch (that geology degree was awfully handy, no?). Later became president of Hockey Canada and chair of the Hockey Hall of Fame. The guy was truly a giant.

Bill Hay is usually seen as the first NCAA-trained hockey player to become an NHL regular. Yet, before doing so, he played Canadian junior hockey and Canadian university hockey. Fascinating and one-of-a-kind hockey and educational pathway in the 1950s, and I would be thrilled to see today’s teenage hockey players pursue “the Bill Hay route” 60 years after he first blazed that trail.

 

[Hockeyville USA]

Perhaps I view the issue a bit differently from most folks.

Bill Hay — yes, the same Bill Hay who served as CEO of the Calgary Flames — should have been the “amateur student athlete” model for hockey players.

Hear me out.

Hay played junior hockey for the Regina Pats as a 17 year-old, Canadian University hockey for the Saskatchewan Huskies as an 18 year-old, junior hockey once again for Regina (lost the Memorial Cup finals) as a 19 year-old, and then two seasons of NCAA with Colorado College as a 20-and-21 year-old. He brought two years of University of Saskatchewan transfer credits with him to Colorado and graduated with a Bachelor of Science in Geology, by the way, which eventually served him very, very well.

Anyway, Hay was Montreal Canadiens property under the old C-card/junior sponsorship system, but couldn’t get even a sniff with the big club (Beliveau, Henri Richard, Ralph Backstrom were likely the best trio of centres in NHL history, so Hay was shite outta luck).

Long story short, Montreal finally dealt his rights to Chicago, Hay won the Calder, centred Bobby Hull and Murray Balfour on the Million Dollar line, and won a Stanley Cup while doing so in 1960.

Hay played just 8 NHL seasons before leaving the game to become an extraordinarily successful full-time executive in the western Canada oil patch (that geology degree was awfully handy, no?). Later became president of Hockey Canada and chair of the Hockey Hall of Fame. The guy was truly a giant.

Bill Hay is usually seen as the first NCAA-trained hockey player to become an NHL regular. Yet, before doing so, he played Canadian junior hockey and Canadian university hockey. Fascinating and one-of-a-kind hockey and educational pathway in the 1950s, and I would be thrilled to see today’s teenage hockey players pursue “the Bill Hay route” 60 years after he first blazed that trail.

USports just doesn't have appeal to most high prospects.

 

[SpeedyCerviche]

This is going to have massive ripple effects for a number of leagues.

Canadian kids will often go to Junior A to maintain NCAA eligibility, now they will likely go CHL for their 15, 16, 17 and possibly 18 year old seasons before jumping over. So Junior A teams are loosing a lot of talent they otherwise would have had access to.
Think guys like Cale Makar, Kent Johnson, Alex Newhook, Dante Fabbro.

Foreign kids (Canadians, Euros and Russians) will sometimes go to the USHL/NAHL in the US before attempting to make a jump into NCAA, some of them may now opt to stay in Canada and go to the CHL now instead and then jump to NCAA. So the USHL may lose a good number of those commits. There's also a chance some Americans may even opt to go to the CHL for 16, 17 and possibly 18 year old seasons instead of USHL/NAHL.

But in turn there are a lot of kids who will likely find they aren't getting the playing time to showcase themselves in the NCAA on more stacked teams or they just don't like the fit or miss home and potentially attempt to head to or back to the CHL to play more minutes and get more exposure.

Very reasonable and level headed part here. This is kind of how I see it playing out myself. More players in the 16-18 yr ages in the league, with some of them then leaving at 18-19+ if they are good enough.
Also think that there will be a weird issue if college teams perhaps "overstock" their rosters, creating ice time issues as well. With that in mind, I wonder if the CHL becomes a weird de-commit option for players mid season before entering the transfer portal?

 

[PistolPete]

Perhaps I view the issue a bit differently from most folks.

Bill Hay — yes, the same Bill Hay who served as CEO of the Calgary Flames — should have been the “amateur student athlete” model for hockey players.

Hear me out.

Hay played junior hockey for the Regina Pats as a 17 year-old, Canadian University hockey for the Saskatchewan Huskies as an 18 year-old, junior hockey once again for Regina (lost the Memorial Cup finals) as a 19 year-old, and then two seasons of NCAA with Colorado College as a 20-and-21 year-old. He brought two years of University of Saskatchewan transfer credits with him to Colorado and graduated with a Bachelor of Science in Geology, by the way, which eventually served him very, very well.

Anyway, Hay was Montreal Canadiens property under the old C-card/junior sponsorship system, but couldn’t get even a sniff with the big club (Beliveau, Henri Richard, Ralph Backstrom were likely the best trio of centres in NHL history, so Hay was shite outta luck).

Long story short, Montreal finally dealt his rights to Chicago, Hay won the Calder, centred Bobby Hull and Murray Balfour on the Million Dollar line, and won a Stanley Cup while doing so in 1960.

Hay played just 8 NHL seasons before leaving the game to become an extraordinarily successful full-time executive in the western Canada oil patch (that geology degree was awfully handy, no?). Later became president of Hockey Canada and chair of the Hockey Hall of Fame. The guy was truly a giant.

Bill Hay is usually seen as the first NCAA-trained hockey player to become an NHL regular. Yet, before doing so, he played Canadian junior hockey and Canadian university hockey. Fascinating and one-of-a-kind hockey and educational pathway in the 1950s, and I would be thrilled to see today’s teenage hockey players pursue “the Bill Hay route” 60 years after he first blazed that trail.

With the money available to the players today, would NCAA be as necessary? Even some minor league players and those that go to Europe can make enough to retire comfortably after retirement.

If they have a specific career in mind, perhaps worth it? They can also still get a degree while playing, just do it part time. More of a hassle but still doable.

 

[Hockeyville USA]

Very reasonable and level headed part here. This is kind of how I see it playing out myself. More players in the 16-18 yr ages in the league, with some of them then leaving at 18-19+ if they are good enough.
Also think that there will be a weird issue if college teams perhaps "overstock" their rosters, creating ice time issues as well. With that in mind, I wonder if the CHL becomes a weird de-commit option for players mid season before entering the transfer portal?

NCAA teams will defer commits back to junior and potentially lose guys via decommitment that way if they feel they can bring in better players who are more talented &/or readier. NCAA commitment age being as it is, you're doing a ton of projection on a guy coming out of minor/prep/HS hockey, so a program like Western Michigan might defer/decommit some of their commits who don't progress if they can get a commitment from someone like Henry Brzustewicz.