Guadana
Registered User
If you include the US-NTDP, I would rank the USHL as the second best developmental league in the world outside of the CHL. I find the defensive play, physicality and skill all far ahead of the Swedish, Finnish and Russian juniors. I would argue that last year's Chicago Steel team could have seriously competed in the QMJHL or OHL.
The AJHL is a different story. Though it has caught up with the BCHL in recent years, the consistency of talent and coaching/development are just not up there with the CHL or USHL. The stats really should be taken with a grain of salt. I'm a big of fan of Carter Savoie as anyone, but the 52 goals he scored in 53 games with Sherwood Park last year would probably be cut in about half were he playing for the USHL or WHL.
As far as Ethan Edwards go, he scored a respectable 33 points in 50 games for Spruce Grove of the AJHL last year. It's going to be far more difficult for him the USHL, which is defensively more sound and more physical. Edwards lacks a standout quality and he's neither big nor a speedster, so it's going to be a big test for him in Sioux City. I'm hoping that with the year of development, he can continue to progress defensively and still put up similar scoring averages to last year.
I watched some qmjhl games and some mhl games and I don’t think defense in q is better. There are some really bad teams in mhl but if we talk about average level... I can’t remember sky numbers in mhl. 1.5-2 ppg in mhl are ridiculous numbers(only one or two players can do it per season), in ohl, whl and qjmhl... every day, nothing special(I'm exaggerating). Goalies are much better in mhl. And we are talking about translating of numbers.
Do I can trust any juniors league? No I don’t think so. If I can’t trust KHL, AHL or SHL in numbers translation how can I trust junior league? I still believe we should watch and rate skills no matter what league is it, but we should watch it in context.