I wonder if as much as anything, our drafting has been impacted by not having to address that player contractually for a few years or alter their developmental path. having someone else carry the freight and develop a player in a self-interested fashion rather than doing what a lot of teams do and write off their drafted youngsters as secondarily important to the guys who are going to be around. maybe if you know you've got that guy for 3 years, you might be interested in what his Y1 looks like to maximize Y2 and Y3. It has always made me wonder why the relationships with the KHL have always been so adversarial and that the first few executives that could make nice over there with a geopolitical understanding could benefit massively from it. I guess the question is that as the game homogenizes across leagues with rink sizes, stylistic similarities, and officiating commonalities how important exactly is it that we have a player in the AHL vs. having them playing in Europe? The AHL these days seems like the waiver destination and where CHL players stuck between levels spend their first season. Another aspect is that the culture shock element that used to be so huge in the 80's and 90's has gradually lessened as the Westernization of the world continues. Plus, a lot of these kids have been to Canada and been to the US before they are even drafted in various tournaments. It's been a while since I saw a kid and thought, man it looks like nobody talks to him and he's entirely lost out there. Networking is so strong now that if you're NHL caliber, you know some guys before you even make it to the league.
The NCAA as being a storage unit also has some positives but some very real negatives. but with these CHL kids, most of them want contracts as soon as they can get them. especially with long shot picks, that might not be enough developmental time to make that call.
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