I've backed the NTDP for a long time but seeing the top players pass the team up is getting kind of frustrating. They should pull out all the stops to get the top guys to at least show up for the international tournaments. Don't blackball the CHL kids for the U17 World Challenge when they are available (Bobby Ryan anyone?). Unless it's injury or scheduling conflict there should be no reason to exclude a skilled player.
At the same time, I'd like to see the players themselves be a little more enthusiastic about getting the best team together. Injuries are one thing, but to miss a tournament you're available for without any good reason is wrong IMO.
I remember a few years back O'Sullivan skipped out on the U18s because his agent told him to. The only reason I could see an agent saying that is over the issue of a player's personal stock. O'Sullivan was a dominant player as an underager the year before so I guess he felt he had nothing to prove. To me, that's a poor and selfish excuse. Playing for your country is a matter of pride, not personal ambition.
Mueller did the same thing for last year's U17 World Challenge. He could have been the team's dominant player, something they ended up missing. I wouldn't be surprised if he skips out on this year's U18s even if he's avaiable which would be a real shame as they could really use him. Compare this to a kid like Okposo who wasn't interested in joining the program but made it to a number of tournaments with the NTDP. Hopefully he'll do the same thing this year.
Hopefully James O'Brien will be willing to join the U17s this year for the U17 World Challenge as they will need a player of his ability. If Jimmy Hayes, Mike Hoeffel, Nick Petrecki or Tristan Llwellyn really dominate in thier respective league between now and then I'd hope they could be brought along some how.
Part of me has thought that they should only try and bring in 9 forwards, 4 d-men and 1 goalie to form the core for international tournaments and then fill the rest of the team with role players of various age and abilities for the rest of the schedule (against the junior/college teams). Besides the flexibility it would give them to make additions for tournaments it would probably also cut down on the number of reasonably promising players who get no ice time in thier time with the program. It would probably also save the program some money which they could reallocate somewwhere else.