Why does the NHL draft 18 year olds?

[HockeyH3aven]

Does anybody have a specific, concrete reason why the NHL drafts players into the league at 18 instead of say...20 or 21 like the NFL does?

The NHL is a physical game much like the NFL, the vast majority of 18 year olds are simply not physically ready to play the in the league, and it's usually about 5-6 years before most players establish themselves.

Why not draft players are 20 or 21 years of age? Seems like it would cut down on the development risk AND cost, and make the draft less of a crap shoot. This would enabled NHL teams to see prospects play at a very high level for two additional years.

This would also make the draft more exciting, since you wouldn't have to wait for four years to go by before that 1st round draft pick makes the big club.

 

[IkeaMonkey*]

Does anybody have a specific, concrete reason why the NHL drafts players into the league at 18 instead of say...20 or 21 like the NFL does?

The NHL is a physical game much like the NFL, the vast majority of 18 year olds are simply not physically ready to play the in the league, and it's usually about 5-6 years before most players establish themselves.

Why not draft players are 20 or 21 years of age? Seems like it would cut down on the development risk AND cost, and make the draft less of a crap shoot. This would enabled NHL teams to see prospects play at a very high level for two additional years.

This would also make the draft more exciting, since you wouldn't have to wait for four years to go by before that 1st round draft pick makes the big club.

For casual fans.

For people who are obsessed with the sport, the current system is a helluva lot more "exciting". Wondering about that 17 year old kid, playing in the tiny little town in Siberia in the Russian 4th Division who you took with the 5th round pick...makes it exciting.

 

[kdb209]

Does anybody have a specific, concrete reason why the NHL drafts players into the league at 18 instead of say...20 or 21 like the NFL does?

The NHL is a physical game much like the NFL, the vast majority of 18 year olds are simply not physically ready to play the in the league, and it's usually about 5-6 years before most players establish themselves.

Why not draft players are 20 or 21 years of age? Seems like it would cut down on the development risk AND cost, and make the draft less of a crap shoot. This would enabled NHL teams to see prospects play at a very high level for two additional years.

This would also make the draft more exciting, since you wouldn't have to wait for four years to go by before that 1st round draft pick makes the big club.

Because the NHL, unlike the NFL, has a developmental system - Juniors, NCAA, European teams, etc - where draftees can continue to play until they are ready for the NHL. It is not expected, and pretty rare, for a draftee to play in the year following his draft. In the NFL (and NBA), draftees are pretty much expected to play the next year (entering the draft revokes their NCAA eligibility, so they cannot go back to school to play after being drafted).

And if you did not draft 18 or 19 yos - how would you handle those few are ready to play? Absent a draft, they would be ineligible to play in the NHL.

edit: Note that the two leagues which draft 18 yos (NHL & MLB) have developmental leagues which allow draftees to continue to play until they are ready for the Show. The NFL & NBA do not - they rely on the NCAA to be their minor leagues. Although the NBAs eligibility requirements (19 yo and one yr past high school graduation) have pretty much made NCAA BB a joke - virtually all the top NCAA players are one and done.

 

[Gutless]

There is a deep interest in college football in the U.S. It makes loads of cash for the Universities and drafting and keeping football stars at the age of 18 would cripple the college system in some way (probably not too badly, though). More often than not, 18 year olds do not make NHL clubs, although it seems as if it's happening a little more recently. Most go back to junior or attend college or play overseas in a men's league so the NHL does not immediately take away from those league's talent pools, especially not before that pool can be replenished with a new crop of young guys.

Also, football requires a different body type than hockey: a much more mature body, so allowing for full or near-full maturation physically before entering into the NFL is a good idea. Hockey players come in all different sizes, so coming into the league at 18 isn't as big of a deal physically as it would be in football. In Hockey you play against men, but in football you play against giant men who are physical specimen.

 

[nitric]

Does anybody have a specific, concrete reason why the NHL drafts players into the league at 18 instead of say...20 or 21 like the NFL does?

The NHL is a physical game much like the NFL, the vast majority of 18 year olds are simply not physically ready to play the in the league, and it's usually about 5-6 years before most players establish themselves.

Why not draft players are 20 or 21 years of age? Seems like it would cut down on the development risk AND cost, and make the draft less of a crap shoot. This would enabled NHL teams to see prospects play at a very high level for two additional years.

This would also make the draft more exciting, since you wouldn't have to wait for four years to go by before that 1st round draft pick makes the big club.

Seriously, I like your idea. Don't know how it would work out but the "crap shoot" thing is spot on. Something like less than 30% of players drafted in the first round ever make it into the NHL. Crazy.

Then you have Pavel Datsyuk who was drafted somewhere around 170th overall. And look what he has become, my favorite player and arguably the best puck handler in the NHL right now.

 

[17Kurri]

Does anybody have a specific, concrete reason why the NHL drafts players into the league at 18 instead of say...20 or 21 like the NFL does?

The NHL is a physical game much like the NFL, the vast majority of 18 year olds are simply not physically ready to play the in the league, and it's usually about 5-6 years before most players establish themselves.

Why not draft players are 20 or 21 years of age? Seems like it would cut down on the development risk AND cost, and make the draft less of a crap shoot. This would enabled NHL teams to see prospects play at a very high level for two additional years.

This would also make the draft more exciting, since you wouldn't have to wait for four years to go by before that 1st round draft pick makes the big club.

It used to be a 20yo draft but, iirc, changed to an 18yo draft when the WHA and NHL "merged" due to the likes of Wayne Gretzky, Mark Messier, etc, already playing pro hockey...

 

[SidGenoMario]

Because this way we don't have the NHL's leading scorer (06-07 Crosby) playing against a bunch of kids.

 

[kdb209]

It used to be a 20yo draft but, iirc, changed to an 18yo draft when the WHA and NHL "merged" due to the likes of Wayne Gretzky, Mark Messier, etc, already playing pro hockey...

The big change in 1979 was that "amateur" was dropped as a requirement for eligibility so the former the WHA players (not under NHL contract or draft right) could be selected. The '79 Entry Draft (before then, it was called the Amateur Draft) acted as basically a dispersal draft for the WHA.

Also - here is a history of teh NHL draft requirements:

http://www.hockeydb.com/ihdb/draft/draftindex.html

NHL draft age changes

* 1963. All non-sponsored players 17 and older are eligible.
* 1965. The eligibility age is raised to 18 years old.
* 1967. The eligibility age is raised to 20 years old.
* 1974. NHL teams may select one 18 year old in either of the first two rounds. This was done to combat competition by the WHA's lower draft age.
* 1975. Draft age raised to 20 years old.
* 1979. Draft age lowered to 19 years old. Draft name changed from Amateur draft to Entry Draft.
* 1980. Draft age lowered to 18 years old.
* 1995. 18 and 19 year old players required to "opt in" to the draft. This prevents many NCAA players from being drafted since opting in would cause them to lose their NCAA eligibility

 

[Brodeur]

Does anybody have a specific, concrete reason why the NHL drafts players into the league at 18 instead of say...20 or 21 like the NFL does?

The NHL is a physical game much like the NFL, the vast majority of 18 year olds are simply not physically ready to play the in the league, and it's usually about 5-6 years before most players establish themselves.

Why not draft players are 20 or 21 years of age? Seems like it would cut down on the development risk AND cost, and make the draft less of a crap shoot. This would enabled NHL teams to see prospects play at a very high level for two additional years.

This would also make the draft more exciting, since you wouldn't have to wait for four years to go by before that 1st round draft pick makes the big club.

Some 18/19 year olds are ready to play in the NHL and have immediate impacts. Seems a little detrimental to keep future prodigies like Crosby out of the league for an additional two years just so a team picking in the latter half of the first round might get more immediate dividends.

Realistically the NFL makes players wait for three years after high school if only because most of them aren't mentally prepared for pro football. Heck, most first year college football players are still sorting out which position they're even playing and many end up redshirting (sitting out) their freshman season.

Plus once players are drafted in the NFL, there's no going back to college and the NFL simply doesn't have a viable minor league system.

If anything, the NFL doesn't draft 18 year olds because it makes zero sense for them to do so.

Plus to make the change now would mean there would be a two year stretch of barren drafts.

 

[Brodeur]

Seriously, I like your idea. Don't know how it would work out but the "crap shoot" thing is spot on. Something like less than 30% of players drafted in the first round ever make it into the NHL. Crazy.

Then you have Pavel Datsyuk who was drafted somewhere around 170th overall. And look what he has become, my favorite player and arguably the best puck handler in the NHL right now.

Datsyuk was actually drafted in his third year of eligibility. So even if they had pushed the draft back a couple years, Datsyuk wouldn't have suddenly been a top ten pick.

 

[Cousin Eddie]

Something like less than 30% of players drafted in the first round ever make it into the NHL. Crazy

That cant be right? Can it? I would think it would be more like 80 or maybe even 90% of first rounders play at least one NHL game


edit: i just looked up a few drafts. from 2000 to 2006 (anything after that doesn't really count since they are still young) there is a total of 18 players who have never played an nhl game. So 18 players from 7 drafts of 30 first round picks each is rounded up to about 9%. About 91% of players selected in the first round in those few years have played at least one nhl game.

 

[IkeaMonkey*]

That cant be right? Can it? I would think it would be more like 80 or maybe even 90% of first rounders play at least one NHL game


edit: i just looked up a few drafts. from 2000 to 2006 (anything after that doesn't really count since they are still young) there is a total of 18 players who have never played an nhl game. So 18 players from 7 drafts of 30 first round picks each is rounded up to about 9%. About 91% of players selected in the first round in those few years have played at least one nhl game.

Yes, but how many of those were like Huge Jessiman? Who's NHL career is of "Make-A-Wishian" proportions.

 

[theIceWookie]

Because the NHL, unlike the NFL, has a developmental system - Juniors, NCAA, European teams, etc - where draftees can continue to play until they are ready for the NHL. It is not expected, and pretty rare, for a draftee to play in the year following his draft. In the NFL (and NBA), draftees are pretty much expected to play the next year (entering the draft revokes their NCAA eligibility, so they cannot go back to school to play after being drafted).

And if you did not draft 18 or 19 yos - how would you handle those few are ready to play? Absent a draft, they would be ineligible to play in the NHL.

edit: Note that the two leagues which draft 18 yos (NHL & MLB) have developmental leagues which allow draftees to continue to play until they are ready for the Show. The NFL & NBA do not - they rely on the NCAA to be their minor leagues. Although the NBAs eligibility requirements (19 yo and one yr past high school graduation) have pretty much made NCAA BB a joke - virtually all the top NCAA players are one and done.

There is a deep interest in college football in the U.S. It makes loads of cash for the Universities and drafting and keeping football stars at the age of 18 would cripple the college system in some way (probably not too badly, though). More often than not, 18 year olds do not make NHL clubs, although it seems as if it's happening a little more recently. Most go back to junior or attend college or play overseas in a men's league so the NHL does not immediately take away from those league's talent pools, especially not before that pool can be replenished with a new crop of young guys.

Also, football requires a different body type than hockey: a much more mature body, so allowing for full or near-full maturation physically before entering into the NFL is a good idea. Hockey players come in all different sizes, so coming into the league at 18 isn't as big of a deal physically as it would be in football. In Hockey you play against men, but in football you play against giant men who are physical specimen.

Both of these things. The established system for one, is a huge reason why you have an earlier age. It allows teams to control the development of a player to a certain extent. Plus the University cash aspect for football is also a very real reason why the age is different and why the NBA has a higher age. College football and basketball brings in a ton of money. They have definitely worked with the NBA and NFL to get the age higher so they can keep the players longer. The NHL doesn't really have a comparable system.

Seriously, I like your idea. Don't know how it would work out but the "crap shoot" thing is spot on. Something like less than 30% of players drafted in the first round ever make it into the NHL. Crazy.

Then you have Pavel Datsyuk who was drafted somewhere around 170th overall. And look what he has become, my favorite player and arguably the best puck handler in the NHL right now.

The optics of the draft wouldn't really change. It would still be a crap-shoot. The only difference is that a larger numbers of players would be considered safe picks. The low end draft gems and late bloomers would still exist. People tend to forget that a large part of a players development is due to the team. The reason some first rounder's fail is not often that the player isn't capable, its that the team screwed up the development of that player. Your stat is wrong too. I'm pretty sure it's 30 percent of ALL players draft.

A large difference that hasn't been mentioned yet is the optics of the leagues. The NFL has non-guaranteed contracts and as such, the prospect of being able to replace older overpriced guys with a draft pick that contribute right away, is something very real. It's in their best interest to have a player that can contribute right away. That doesn't exist in the NHL.

The NBA also has such small rosters for the team that its only in the interest of the team to draft players that can play right away. It happens where a team drafts a player that might not play right away but it doesn't have often.

 

[PumpkinBombX]

They actually tried to change it to an older age, but in Canada is illegal to tell an 18 year old (a legal adult) they cannot work professionally.

 

[Guardian452]

They actually tried to change it to an older age, but in Canada is illegal to tell an 18 year old (a legal adult) they cannot work professionally.

Basically, that's the reason. The draft age was lowered because of the threat of legal action. Because employment as a player in the NHL is governed by a collective agreement, the league and the players' union can decide whatever minimum criteria they wish for entrance into the league.

 

[Teemu]

They actually tried to change it to an older age, but in Canada is illegal to tell an 18 year old (a legal adult) they cannot work professionally.

But wouldn't that invalidate the CHL-NHL agreement? It's preventing players from working professionally in the AHL

 

[Tigers1992]

But wouldn't that invalidate the CHL-NHL agreement? It's preventing players from working professionally in the AHL

It was discussed well before the CHL NHL agreement ever existed.

 

[gojacketsgo61]

I actually prefer the NHL method personally for reasons listed already.

 

[zeus3007*]

Another thing to think about, is that all of the good young talent would go to the KHL to get paid. I'm betting a good number of European players would opt to stay in the KHL getting paid more, rather than coming to NA on rookie contracts at 21 years old. If a player is getting paid to play, and he is good enough to play in the NHL, why not pay him to play in the NHL?

 

[WreckItRask]

In addition to all the above reasons listed, there's one key element to consider in terms of the draft age for the NHL versus that of the NFL/NBA...Has an increased age limit drastically reduced the amount of "busts" in any of those sports? Based on the OP, he's inferring that raising the age limit would drastically the risk associated with drafting a kid, but I don't think the NFL or NBA's track records really support that argument. Teams "miss" on their picks with almost the same frequency as the NHL in those leagues. Take a look at some of the star players in both those leagues, and you'll find a smattering of late round picks (that were selected at 20+) and undrafted players (that were likely 21+ when they signed)...those guys slipped through the cracks.

Increased age doesn't add as much clarity to the success rate of drafting as some like to think. It might allow some late bloomers more time to show what they can do, and it might weed out some kids that are studs at 18, but you're still going to have just as many "missed" picks even with a higher age limit.

 

[UConn126]

I think both ways of handling the draft have their upsides and downsides, and I can't really tell which one I prefer. Having a later draft age would make the draft a lot more interesting, as teams would start to draft more for need rather than best player available, but it would also take away from the developmental control teams have and excitement that builds watching your teams young guys mature into NHL-ready players.


If a change to the draft/ developmental leagues were to be made, I would like to see either the minimum age for the AHL eliminated or I think it'd be cool to see CHL teams make NHL/AHL affiliations so that an NHL team's prospects could play together in juniors rather than on separate teams. For instance, say Boston sets up a CHL affiliation with the St. John's Sea Dogs so when a player was drafted by the Bruins, he could have the option of moving to the Sea Dogs to play juniors where he could play with other Bruins prospects.

 

[David Dennison]

Ask Maurice Clarett.

 

[Hunter Gathers]

They actually tried to change it to an older age, but in Canada is illegal to tell an 18 year old (a legal adult) they cannot work professionally.

So let him work professionally in the AHL. That is what should happen. The kids should be able to play in the AHL as undrafted players. Or another pro league (CHL, ECHL, whatever).

 

[jukon]

Not to mention the mistake of rushing kids into the NHL.

 

[Sticks and Pucks]

It would be pretty tough to change the draft to 20 year old players now. You'd have to go 2 years without a draft.