NHL CONSIDERING 20 YEAR OLD DRAFT

[Howling In 16]

Hearing OHL teams have been contacted regarding age eligibility changing from 18 years of age to 20 years of age, thoughts?

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[jamemcca]

Stupid

 

[OMG67]

Sounds like a starting point that will compromise at 19 years old for the next CBA. Either that or a total concession the NHL will give up keeping it the same and they will use it as a hammer to get something else they want by “sacrificing” it.

 

[EvenSteven]

Hearing OHL teams have been contacted regarding age eligibility changing from 18 years of age to 20 years of age, thoughts?

Never happen. Lawsuit sets presedent:

Ken Linseman challenged the pro draft age

 

[OMG67]

Never happen. Lawsuit sets presedent:

Ken Linseman challenged the pro draft age

There are ways around it.

Here’s a scenario that I do not think would happen but it may be an interesting discussion.

1> NHL draft remains at 18. Any player drafted automatically gains an ELC. The round they are selected dictates their bonus structure allowance.
2> No more 2-way contracts. Once an NHL team drafts a player and automatically signs the player, they are placed on the active roster no matter where they play. If the NHL team sends the player back to Junior, that player gets paid their NHL salary. Same if they are sent to the AHL or ECHL. That salary counts fully toward their salary cap.
3> Same draft rules for 19 year olds and 20 year olds.
4> All draft ages are eligible in the same draft. So, an 18 year old can be drafted in the same draft as the 20 year old. It would work the same as baseball. Any player drafted that doesn’t want to sign an ELC, they go back into the draft the following year (or similar to baseball. Their players are all eligible out of highschool and if not drafted and signed they have to play two years of college before declaring for the draft again unless they sign a minor pro deal). Teams cannot hold the rights of players.
5> All future AHL/ECHL contracts are one year deals. Players are free agents after each season. They are free to be signed by any NHL club to 1-way NHL deal on an ELC or sign their AHL deal the following year.

Players would no longer be held under the thumb of NHL teams with no true recourse. They are not stuck in bad situations.

NHL teams can draft younger players but they pay a penalty for doing so…both in real $$$ and cap space. It is likely only elite 18 year olds would be drafted. Teams with a lot of money can pay the salaries but they won’t want to hold cap space and roster spots for Junior players. Less 18 year olds drafted means when they advance in age, the NHL teams have a better sense of where these kids are in their development and can make much wiser decisions. Effectively, more disciplined teams can likely benefit, especially if the draft is reduced to three rounds.

From a legal perspective, the only caveat of all this is players should then be allowed to sign Pro deals in the AHL /ECHL/Europe when they are undrafted at 18. It is unlikely they would sign those deals but it would at least skirt around the legal issue blocking adults from accessing pro wages. Same with being drafted and not getting paid as an adult player with no recourse to access other pro opportunities which is the case now.

This is very radical and simply off the top of my head but it reminds me a lot more of the baseball draft. Baseball teams do not hold the rights of players. They have a sign or release date soon after the draft. Their signing bonus is dictated typically by draft pick position (or at least the pool of money available for teams is based on where they pick). They are required to turn pro when they sign their contract and are placed in various levels of pro ball depending on age and maturity. Unsigned players can either continue playing college ball or can sign minor league pro contracts.

Teams could potentially have reserve lists for 2-3 of these “prospects” that they are paying NHL salaries to play elsewhere but those salaries still count against the cap as well as their signing bonuses and any other structured bonuses similar to how it works now.

If a player has an outstanding year in the AHL, he can translate that into an ELC in the same way as more mature NCAA players do when their NHL rights expire. Teams can no longer hold them back and other teams can benefit from having access to the players. I think this helps ensure NHL level players are playing NHL and not buried behind long depth charts.