USHL teams to join OHL?

[Hinterland]

A month ago, Jeff Marek dropped these news.

Today we got a follow up from Elliotte Friedman:

OHL green lights aggressive expansion plan

After a recent vote allowing Canadian Hockey League players to join men’s Division I NCAA hockey starting next season, one of the CHL's leagues is now eyeing expansion.

www.sportsnet.ca

Would certainly be an interesting development.

Click to read more...

 

[jigglysquishy]

Both teams are close enough to other American OHL teams I could see it happening.

Erie has always been a bit lonesome and Youngstown could help double up road trips.

 

[The Crypto Guy]

That would be pretty cool.

 

[JiggsNY]

I do worry for the future of the USHL as a whole. the CHL/NCAA decision was bound to make some winners and some losers, and I worry if the OHL just picks off a few of the more attractive USHL teams, then the rest left behind will suffer.

USHL as a fourth branch of CHL would have been nice to see, but does not seem to be going that way.

 

[Pavel Buchnevich]

I don’t buy it.

OHL mouthpieces have been laundering these stories the last two months how they’re about to bulldoze down the USHL, and there’ve been some reports that are already being shot down for their inaccuracy.

They try to make it seem like they’re going to do to the USHL what they did to the junior A leagues. They haven’t taken one player of real note from the USHL.

Apparently the excuse is they claim USHL are holding players hostage, but that doesn’t pass muster because they aren’t holding the not as good players hostage who’ve left. Not like they’re begging to lose their third and fourth liners for no real compensation, but they’ve still let a few of them leave that wanted to.

Not to mention there would be huge logistical challenges and contractual and probably legal challenges with moving from one junior league to another.

I think OHL might try to expand, but I doubt it’s anything near the stories being laundered. I think they’re trying to unsettle USHL players to get them to jump ship.

 

[MeHateHe]

Not to mention there would be huge logistical challenges and contractual and probably legal challenges with moving from one junior league to another.

The Wenatchee Wild say hi

 

[BKarchitect]

The Wenatchee Wild say hi

To be fair, when they were in the BCHL, that league was part of Hockey Canada. So it seems to me like that was much more just promoting a team already under the umbrella.

Raiding the USHL is not the same.

 

[Pavel Buchnevich]

And the Wenatchee Wild just basically took the name and licensing. That’s clearly not the implication from this. The implication is transplanting a fully USHL team into the CHL.

 

[Kingpin794]

And the Wenatchee Wild just basically took the name and licensing. That’s clearly not the implication from this. The implication is transplanting a fully USHL team into the CHL.

there is no transplanting a USHL into the CHL. The teams would have to go through expansion drafts, priority selections, import drafts and so on. Non of the players would be coming with Muskegon or Youngstown unless they happened to be signed as FA's. The only thing that would come with them would likely be name and arenas.

 

[Pavel Buchnevich]

there is no transplanting a USHL into the CHL. The teams would have to go through expansion drafts, priority selections, import drafts and so on. Non of the players would be coming with Muskegon or Youngstown unless they happened to be signed as FA's. The only thing that would come with them would likely be name and arenas.

And why would these two franchises go through all of the logistical hurdles that would additionally add if they are just taking the name and licensing with them and basically have to completely start over with everything about them as an organization?

Makes more sense the other way.

 

[MeHateHe]

To be fair, when they were in the BCHL, that league was part of Hockey Canada. So it seems to me like that was much more just promoting a team already under the umbrella.

Raiding the USHL is not the same.

They moved from the NAHL to the BCHL first. Teams move leagues all the time. It isn’t a turnkey change, for sure, but the assertion was made that there are a bunch of logistical challenges that make such a change untenable or close to it. I’m saying that there’s always a way.

 

[Hinterland]

And why would these two franchises go through all of the logistical hurdles that would additionally add if they are just taking the name and licensing with them and basically have to completely start over with everything about them as an organization?

Makes more sense the other way.

Nobody said they're gonna do it. It's obviously far from a done deal and the conditions have yet to be negociated but the OHL is a very strong and attractive brand. It's a strong league...in terms of talent output probably currently the strongest of the CHL leagues. All of their franchises are in a very good place.

 

[Blue and Green]

There are specified Canadian and American territories for the three CHL leagues. Some of those USHL players wouldn't even be eligible to play in the OHL because they are from locations that belong to WHL or QMJHL.

Expansion rules are the business of the OHL. It hasn't added any teams since 1998 so we don't really know what they might or might not do in order to accommodate potential new franchises.

 

[Hinterland]

There are specified Canadian and American territories for the three CHL leagues. Some of those USHL players wouldn't even be eligible to play in the OHL because they are from locations that belong to WHL or QMJHL.

Expansion rules are the business of the OHL. It hasn't added any teams since 1998 so we don't really know what they might or might not do in order to accommodate potential new franchises.

David Branch has done a fantastic job. He built what the OHL is today but I don't think the timing of expansion being on the table is a coincidence. New commissioner Bryan Crawford, good or bad, is much younger and and will approach things differently. Expansion was always gonna be on his agenda and he's gonna push it aggressively. Is it gonna work out? We'll see.

 

[Kingpin794]

Copy and pasting from the OHL threads

If the USA hockey was smart, they'd do something like this:

Dissolve the USHL and NAHL. Take the teams from both leagues and realign them into 3 leagues. One on the east coast, one in the north/plains, one in the south/west. Truly create a junior hockey system for most of the Americans that either can't make CHL clubs or don't want to go to the CHL, which is the vast majority of them. Actually try to develop talent on the whole instead of just having one league be a feeder for another.

 

[Corso]

Copy and pasting from the OHL threads

If the USA hockey was smart, they'd do something like this:

Dissolve the USHL and NAHL. Take the teams from both leagues and realign them into 3 leagues. One on the east coast, one in the north/plains, one in the south/west. Truly create a junior hockey system for most of the Americans that either can't make CHL clubs or don't want to go to the CHL, which is the vast majority of them. Actually try to develop talent on the whole instead of just having one league be a feeder for another.

Do you assume that the USHL will cease to function as a "tier 1" entity? If the USHL is eventually dismembered by the OHL/WHL then yes, your idea would make sense.

I can see Muskegon and Youngstown joining the O (though I really do wonder about their financial viability in the O, especially Youngstown), I can't see the rest of the U joining the CHL due to geographical limitations.

If I were the USHL, I would be making a full court press on getting USA Hockey on board to petition the NHL for some type of greater sponsorship agreements and then expand into Minnesota, Ohio, N.Y and Pennsylvania in order to head off OHL/WHL expansion.

Problem with my wishful thinking, however, is that at the moment both USA Hockey and the USHL leadership are paralyzed by this latest NCAA development and really do not have a clear plan on how to address it. Meanwhile, CHL leadership is laser focused on making sure they land on top.

 

[Kingpin794]

Do you assume that the USHL will cease to function as a "tier 1" entity? If the USHL is eventually dismembered by the OHL/WHL then yes, your idea would make sense.

I can see Muskegon and Youngstown joining the O (though I really do wonder about their financial viability in the O, especially Youngstown), I can't see the rest of the U joining the CHL due to geographical limitations.

If I were the USHL, I would be making a full court press on getting USA Hockey on board to petition the NHL for some type of greater sponsorship agreements and then expand into Minnesota, Ohio, N.Y and Pennsylvania in order to head off OHL/WHL expansion.

Problem with my wishful thinking, however, is that at the moment both USA Hockey and the USHL leadership are paralyzed by this latest NCAA development and really do not have a clear plan on how to address it. Meanwhile, CHL leadership is laser focused on making sure they land on top.

To be clear, my proposal is not what I think what WILL happen. What I think WILL happen is that the USHL will just absorb some NAHL teams to make up for the teams they lose and keep on trucking for the foreseeable future.

I just thought my hypothetical would be beneficial to them in the longer run. It would be 3 tier 1 leagues under USA Hockey. Basically their version of what Canada has.