Is anybody in favor for giving players who turn 18 after September 15 the chance to sign in the NHL?

[Mulletman]

So with the current draft rules players who are born after September 15th and before the regular season ends, get screwed out of the possible chance to play in the NHL as an 18 year old. Worst case scenario we get a player who misses out on a full year of NHL hockey just because they're born on the wrong day. Ovechkin, Tavares and Matthews all missed out on the possibility of playing a full year in the NHL as 18 year olds. Ovechkin then even lost a 2nd year with the lockout but that's a different subject. Other guys like McDavid and Stamkos missed out on half seasons since they're born in January and February. These guys are all all time greats and should've been able to have the chance to squeeze everything out of their NHL careers.

So would it be a good idea to give players who turn 18 after September 15 the chance to sign with any team of their choosing and play with them from the time they turn 18 until they can get drafted the next year? They need to be good enough of course, so this would pretty much only be the best guys who get signed.

Just imagine Ovechkin signing with the 2003-04 Colorado Avalanche. Tavares signing with 2008-09 Penguins. Matthews signing with 2015-16 Arizona Coyotes. And McDavid signing with the 2014-15 New York Rangers. That would've been really fun to see.

The draft rules are biased, bigoted and old fashioned and need to change. No need for a great player's career stats to suffer just because he's born during the wrong time of the year.

Click to read more...

 

[izzy]

that would be weird, the way it is seems fine

 

[GodEmperor]

Yes I agree, the NHL is ageist and this is disgusting (hello it's 2018!!).

 

[Suntouchable13]

So with the current draft rules players who are born after September 15th and before the regular season ends, get screwed out of the possible chance to play in the NHL as an 18 year old. Worst case scenario we get a player who misses out on a full year of NHL hockey just because they're born on the wrong day. Ovechkin, Tavares and Matthews all missed out on the possibility of playing a full year in the NHL as 18 year olds. Ovechkin then even lost a 2nd year with the lockout but that's a different subject. Other guys like McDavid and Stamkos missed out on half seasons since they're born in January and February. These guys are all all time greats and should've been able to have the chance to squeeze everything out of their NHL careers.

So would it be a good idea to give players who turn 18 after September 15 the chance to sign with any team of their choosing and play with them from the time they turn 18 until they can get drafted the next year? They need to be good enough of course, so this would pretty much only be the best guys who get signed.

Just imagine Ovechkin signing with the 2003-04 Colorado Avalanche. Tavares signing with 2008-09 Penguins. Matthews signing with 2015-16 Arizona Coyotes. And McDavid signing with the 2014-15 New York Rangers. That would've been really fun to see.

The draft rules are biased, bigoted and old fashioned and need to change. No need for a great player's career stats to suffer just because he's born during the wrong time of the year.

Under this scenario, McDavid signs with Toronto 100%. I mean you have Matthews signing with Arizona, why not McDavid signing with the Leafs?

 

[Mulletman]

Under this scenario, McDavid signs with Toronto 100%. I mean you have Matthews signing with Arizona, why not McDavid signing with the Leafs?

Why would he sign with Toronto when he gets 4 games less? With Rangers he gets the most games and has the best shot at beating Ekblad for the Calder.

 

[Anglesmith]

No. Nothing about this seems right.

And in what way is the draft "bigoted?"

 

[Cleatus]

No. Nothing about this seems right.

And in what way is the draft "bigoted?"

There's never been a black player drafted 1st overall.

 

[CanadianSniper]

The draft rules are biased, bigoted and old fashioned and need to change.

Haha oh my god that's dramatic.

 

[KirkOut]

Under this scenario, McDavid signs with Toronto 100%. I mean you have Matthews signing with Arizona, why not McDavid signing with the Leafs?

come on man it's a completely hypothetical proof of concept example that is set 4 years ago...

 

[Cor]

It already appears that there is a chance the draft age gets raised to 19, though that has quited down over the past year, so I would guess this is a big no.

 

[PBandJ]

It already appears that there is a chance the draft age gets raised to 19, though that has quited down over the past year, so I would guess this is a big no.

Wasn't it 19 before and it got dropped on lawsuit because you can't stop an adult from working?

 

[Voodoo Child]

A player who will make over a hundred million dollars in fifteen years needs an extra six months to make more money, I weep.

Completely disregarding that every year there's what, three, maybe four or five 18 year old guys who make it? The draft age should be raised if anything.

Oh...it's Mulletman!

 

[Cor]

Wasn't it 19 before and it got dropped on lawsuit because you can't stop an adult from working?

NHL's Declaration of Principles opens possibility of draft age change - Sportsnet.ca

It's a bit complicated, but that article sorta explains the difference between then and now.

Essentially, The NHL quietly signing that Declaration of Principles, can allow them to raise the draft age to 19, under the guise of it being better for both the young kids being drafted, as well as the game and league itself.

 

[Name Nameless]

Draft age should absolutely be 19 if the prospect hasn't finished High-School. So later, not earlier.

 

[Frank Drebin]

I'm not sure why they picked September 15 over December 31?

The rest of the op is stupid. We go from a draft that is"unfair" to the sept-dec crowd to one that is criminally unfair to the jan-sept crowd

 

[tony d]

If anything I'd have the yr. you turn 18 be your draft yr. No Sept.15 cutoff. IE my yr. of birth is 1982 but my birthday is after Sept.15 so I'd be eligible for the 2001 draft and not the 2000 draft.

 

[LamorielloAndSon]

How many players were nhl ready at the start of their draft year, mcdavid and crosby, maybe ovy?

Tavares didn’t have a great rookie year and if he played in the nhl a season prior I doubt he would’ve even reached 30 points

 

[DudeWhereIsMakar]

The deadline is there because that's when camps start.

 

[Mulletman]

How many players were nhl ready at the start of their draft year, mcdavid and crosby, maybe ovy?

Tavares didn’t have a great rookie year and if he played in the nhl a season prior I doubt he would’ve even reached 30 points

There's been a lot of top players that would've been NHL ready at 18, but never got the chance. Matthews scored 40 goals at 19. No doubt he would've been NHL ready at 18. But with the current draft rules they gave Laine a head start, as he was able to come in as a 18 year old.

Oh and you never know about Tavares. It could've been that he was in a slump instead back in 09-10 and would've done better in 08-09. Plus he would've most likely played for Tampa instead if he was drafted a year earlier. That would've boosted his numbers for sure...

 

[Michel Beauchamp]

So with the current draft rules players who are born after September 15th and before the regular season ends, get screwed out of the possible chance to play in the NHL as an 18 year old. Worst case scenario we get a player who misses out on a full year of NHL hockey just because they're born on the wrong day. Ovechkin, Tavares and Matthews all missed out on the possibility of playing a full year in the NHL as 18 year olds. Ovechkin then even lost a 2nd year with the lockout but that's a different subject. Other guys like McDavid and Stamkos missed out on half seasons since they're born in January and February. These guys are all all time greats and should've been able to have the chance to squeeze everything out of their NHL careers.

So would it be a good idea to give players who turn 18 after September 15 the chance to sign with any team of their choosing and play with them from the time they turn 18 until they can get drafted the next year? They need to be good enough of course, so this would pretty much only be the best guys who get signed.

Just imagine Ovechkin signing with the 2003-04 Colorado Avalanche. Tavares signing with 2008-09 Penguins. Matthews signing with 2015-16 Arizona Coyotes. And McDavid signing with the 2014-15 New York Rangers. That would've been really fun to see.

The draft rules are biased, bigoted and old fashioned and need to change. No need for a great player's career stats to suffer just because he's born during the wrong time of the year.

I could see Sept 15 moved to Dec 31, but that's it.

 

[Analyst365]

I was ready to drink when I was 15 and pissed off I had to wait until 18.

 

[Michel Beauchamp]

I was ready to drink when I was 15 and pissed off I had to wait until 18.

Thinking that might be a sign that you were not...

 

[Spade]

The only reason the draft age cut off is where it is now is due to employment liability issues. Having players under the age of 18 opens up a huge can of worms from a legal standpoint. So this idea that there's a bias against younger guys is dumb as heck, no matter how much someone uses the term bigoted in their opinion post.

Rarely has there ever been players who couldn't use another year to develop their maturity and confidence (and that's not even mentioning their skills). I'd argue that most people aren't ready for university at 18 and would do better to take a year off, make some money and travel and just be themselves and broaden their horizons. Same thing to an extent with potential multimillionaire hockey players and other athletes.

It's a marathon, not a sprint, let's stop rushing people who aren't ready for the responsibilities that their positions entail into roles they're generally not prepared for.

 

[Frank Drebin]

Thanks for the info. The "employment" part of it makes sense.

 

[Spade]

Thanks for the info. The "employment" part of it makes sense.

When the league revamped the draft rules to include players as young as 18, the September cutoff was there to make sure that any signed players were of age before camps could begin. The WHA and the Supreme Court ensured that the only legal barrier to entry for the NHL for players would be on the basis of age, and so that became the compromise at the time.

There are minimum age limits for many jobs, some that would be considered physically dangerous and others less so (such as being president of the United States). Not all of them are at the age of legal adult status, but they remain all the same.

The same people that complain about the current age cutoff were the same type of people that complained when Tavares ended up going back to juniors because he didn't make that same cutoff. There was never any real chance that he would get an exception as the NHL as a legal entity hate having ambiguous regulations, and an exceptional player clause for draft eligible players is exactly the kind of ambiguous subjective regulation that they hate, as there's too much room for open interpretation. Hard guidelines with no room for emotion wherever possible is what the NHL prefers when codifying its CBA, and they're constantly moving towards that end goal with every decision made.