The fact that the Rangers seem to be the ones that continually benefit from the NCAA loophole makes it especially BS. It's just not fair at the end of the day that everybody else has to try and draft well, and the Rangers also get to draft and also every couple years seem to get a top prospect somebody else drafted originally walk right into their organization as a prospect free agent. To whomever said Vesey didn't get backlash, that's way wrong. Preds fans were very mad. The reason there isn't some long-standing grudge is because Vesey turned out to be not that good. At the time though he was the Hobey Baker Award Winner. It was a pretty big deal.
I don't think Fox or any of the others that have taken advantage deserve to get personally vilified. At the end of the day, it's just a bad rule. The draft is supposed to be the means by which players are allocated to the league. Because the timing of when players are drafted (18) and when they may be ready for the League (often early 20s) that creates this disconnect that's allowing players to take advantage of the system and get around that. I don't think anybody in the NHL is interested in a free for all where the McDavids and Bedards and such can just pick whom they sign with as a 18 year olds, but this sort of system where players get to have free rides to top tier universities that pay for their education while they develop as hockey players between the time they are drafted and when they are ready for the NHL is giving them a pass to get around the draft system entirely. It's a de-facto special treatment for players that go that route even if it's not a de jure special treatment.
I don't like it personally from a competitive balance standpoint. I'd like for it to be addressed. I think a system where it's not tied solely to years post-draft is the fairest and looking at years after they become "professional". If you made Adam Fox go play in Switzerland for a year or two after he finished up at Harvard, it'd make it a lot less likely that he'd leverage that sort of power to become a free agent the same way that you don't see very many guys that go the CHL route (where they're typically done a year or two after they were drafted before they go Pro) do this "Justin Schultz Loophole" thing.