Otto posted an article a few pages back. In that article there were a few scenario’s laid out regarding eligibility of placing CHL players in the AHL.
One of the scenario’s seemed to be good to me. It suggested that each NHL team has one card they can use to transfer an underage CHL player to the AHL for advanced development. They can use that card once every four seasons. That means with 32 NHL teams, the average number of CHL players transferred from the CHL to the AHL early would be 8….across all three leagues. So, about three OHL players per year if the distribution were even across all leagues and across all years.
To me, that makes a lot of sense. The CHL may be the best development league on the Planet but it doesn’t work for all players. We have players that get placed in the NHL too early because the CHL isn’t the right place for them but the player isn’t eligible for the AHL so they go to the NHL early and collect an NHL pay check for participating in practise for four weeks straight while maybe playing 4 minutes in 3 games.
If players were somehow eligible to play in the AHL, I could see players that would normally have gone to the NHL as underage pro’s going to the AHL instead where they can play top 6 or top 4 minutes and develop gradually. There would be less players making the early jump to the NHL. They’ll have a stop at the AHL.
I don’t think it would significantly hurt the CHL. It may hurt a specific team in a specific season but it wouldn’t be detrimental to the overall developmental capabilities of the CHL to lose an average of 8 players per year. The level of competition would still be more than high enough to maintain that upward thrust of development through high performance competition.
In addition, with the continued influx of American born players into the league, there is already a talent push coming into the CHL. As the American programs continue to churn out top level players and the sport continues to grow in the USA, it should translate into more and more players jumping into CHL programs. We should be able to find a balance over time. Worse case scenario, if the CHL feels there is a talent gap, they can add an additional OA or Import roster spot to help fuel the top end of the performance areas of the league.
I think this would significantly help a small handful of players develop without restrictions. Those players do need those opportunities for their own professional development. The league shouldn’t be standing in the way of “Exceptional Status” CHL players. They should afford the right opportunities at the right time because that is what is best for the players and if this is a developmental league then they should bang the developmental drum.