The NCAA/College Effect

[WreckItRask]

What a strange thread.

The CHL is clearly the better developmental route for players, it is not even close. The NCAA meanwhile is best for marginal players. The CHL features overall much better coaching - coaches employing full pro systems play versus run and gun scatter-shot NCAA play. The CHL employs a pro style schedule that prepares players for the grind of professional hockey.

Note the increasing numbers of US players choosing CHL over college.

Note of late the growing number of players giving up college commitments after they've been drafted; this is because their NHL team usually strongly advises them to play in the CHL... because they are better prepared there.

I have no problem admitting that the CHL produces far more NHL players than the NCAA does, and because of that, should certainly be considered the better development path for kids that have a serious shot of playing in the NHL.

But don't marginalize the NCAA with nonsense the bolded. You can't look at NHL rosters right now without seeing a fair amount of NCAA talent on each of the 30. Saying stuff like the bolded simply makes you look like a CHL fanboy rather than someone that holds an objective opinion based in fact. The stats, by and large, support the argument that the CHL is far more prolific at producing NHL players than the NCAA...no need to denigrate the NCAA as a haven for marginal players that couldn't hack it in the CHL.

 

[BluechipBulletin]

Which is, in essence, the same thing. If you sign a contract, I'm pretty sure you wouldn't be able to play in the NCAA, and even if he could have, I'm sure he and the Rangers management would have discussed that possibility anyways.

No, there's a big difference between backing out of an NCAA commitment to go play in the CHL and an NCAA player signing an NHL contract, which forces you to play in the CHL.

 

[BluechipBulletin]

they really arent comparable. if ur a top youth player at 16 years old u can go to the CHL while the ncaa simply is not an option for another 2 years. its really a CHL v lower canadian junior hockey levels/USHL/NTDP/HS hockey.

Wow. I probably shouldn't respond to someone who puts the USHL with "lower canadian junior hockey levels" (the USHL is superior to the QMJHL and is working toward parity with the Dub), but did you seriously just put the NTDP on the same level with HS and Jr B? That's freaking insane, dude.

 

[Joe Hallenback]

They recruit American kids. An American kid uses the threat of going NCAA to keep teams that he doesn't want to play for from picking him early in the draft so he gets to be picked by the team of his choice. Not many Canadian kids use that wild card because teams don't really believe they will jump to the NCAA. So they pick them early anyway.

They don't recruit them they draft them. Very few of them get passed over in drafts. Albeit some of them go late in drafts because of that.

I know it is hard for Americans to fathom something that is not American being better but Canadian kids believe the CHL is the best option for them not only for hockey but for education purposes as well.

 

[WreckItRask]

They don't recruit them they draft them. Very few of them get passed over in drafts. Albeit some of them go late in drafts because of that.

I know it is hard for Americans to fathom something that is not American being better but Canadian kids believe the CHL is the best option for them not only for hockey but for education purposes as well.

You don't really believe this do you? I mean, there's no doubt the Canadian kids (rightly) believe en masse that the CHL is the best option for them athletically. But are you really trying to convince people that most CHL kids really weighed their academic options out at 16, and that particular vetting process resulted in them deciding that a CHL education package (that disappears if they decide to play in the minors more than one season) was a better choice for them academically than a degree from a higher end academic institution in the US?

To dig deeper, let's take a look at some recent US kids that jumped ship. Are we really to believe that Cam Fowler chose to move to Windsor because his academic options were superior to what Notre Dame was going to offer him? Or that back to back Michigan goaltending recruits felt that the University of Michigan just wasn't going to challenge them enough academically? No, these kids chose the CHL for hockey...plain and simple.

The two things I'm most tired of in the NCAA vs. CHL debate:
1.) The denigrating of NCAA hockey as a league to the degree that it's now apparently only for "marginal" hockey players.
2.) The hollow arguments that somehow have gained momentum here making the case that the CHL's education offerings are commensurate with those at most Division I hockey schools. They're not, plain and simple.

The CHL is a better avenue for producing NHL hockey players...no way around that, and anyone that argues that, is most likely a total NCAA fanboy. But I just don't feel it's productive, necessary, or remotely accurate to marginalize the NCAA as a development path to support an argument that the CHL produces more NHL talent. You don't have go that road.

 

[JacketsFanWest]

For each player, there's going to be the best development path to help make him the best hockey player he can be. There's pros and cons to both, and it just depends on which better suits the needs of the player.

There's more time to develop in the NCAA and that suits players that are smaller, who need to get stronger or who need to be more mentally mature. Less games in the NCAA means more time to devote to off-ice work outs.

CHL allows for more games and ice-time and that suits some players who learn better from experience rather than practice. It also leads to far more exposure to NHL scouts.

Boston College's Cam Atkinson could make the Jackets' opening night roster. Had he gone the CHL route, would he have made it? Or would he have come out of the CHL two years ago and been a career minor leaguer labeled too small for the NHL?

Ryan Johansen committed to Northeastern when he was a very scrawny 16 year old but then changed his mind and went to the WHL. Had he gone the NCAA route, there's no way he would have been the #4 overall draft pick. Would he have developed into an NHLer? Maybe, but he would have likely been way under the radar.

 

[Tasty Biscuits]

I know it is hard for Americans to fathom something that is not American being better but Canadian kids believe the CHL is the best option for them not only for hockey but for education purposes as well.

 

[BluechipBulletin]

For each player, there's going to be the best development path to help make him the best hockey player he can be. There's pros and cons to both, and it just depends on which better suits the needs of the player.

There's more time to develop in the NCAA and that suits players that are smaller, who need to get stronger or who need to be more mentally mature. Less games in the NCAA means more time to devote to off-ice work outs.

CHL allows for more games and ice-time and that suits some players who learn better from experience rather than practice. It also leads to far more exposure to NHL scouts.

Boston College's Cam Atkinson could make the Jackets' opening night roster. Had he gone the CHL route, would he have made it? Or would he have come out of the CHL two years ago and been a career minor leaguer labeled too small for the NHL?

Ryan Johansen committed to Northeastern when he was a very scrawny 16 year old but then changed his mind and went to the WHL. Had he gone the NCAA route, there's no way he would have been the #4 overall draft pick. Would he have developed into an NHLer? Maybe, but he would have likely been way under the radar.

Best post in the thread, by far.

 

[ecemleafs]

Wow. I probably shouldn't respond to someone who puts the USHL with "lower canadian junior hockey levels" (the USHL is superior to the QMJHL and is working toward parity with the Dub), but did you seriously just put the NTDP on the same level with HS and Jr B? That's freaking insane, dude.

i was referring to age years in development. relax.

 

[bluesfan94]

They don't recruit them they draft them. Very few of them get passed over in drafts. Albeit some of them go late in drafts because of that.

I know it is hard for Americans to fathom something that is not American being better but Canadian kids believe the CHL is the best option for them not only for hockey but for education purposes as well.

Let's not get carried away with generalizations?

 

[bigd]

They don't recruit them they draft them. Very few of them get passed over in drafts. Albeit some of them go late in drafts because of that.

I know it is hard for Americans to fathom something that is not American being better but Canadian kids believe the CHL is the best option for them not only for hockey but for education purposes as well.

They are recruited and then drafted. I know for a fact because it has happened to a few kids that my son played with. All through the process the claimed they were going to the NCAA and worked out a back door deal to be drafted by the team of their choice.