News Article: The shift away from the CHL: Leaving behind an organizational sore spot

[DS7]

I'll shamelessly direct you guys to a post I just did to analyze our drafts hehe

Visualizing the last 18 years of NHL Drafts (2003-2020)

Historically speaking, we've done pretty crappy in the OHL and WHL, most picks from it with less hits.

Blue = Regular/Roster players - 56 games played minimum
Red = Elite players (0.5 career PPG for forwards, 0.4 PPG for Defense, and 70 starts for goalies)

This is how the league is trending from 2003-2013

and During the Benning Era (2014-2020)

So while programs like the USHL are quickly catching up, we're potentially still missing out on a boatload of talent the rest of the league is drawing from.

 

[kcunac]

If it wasn't for the pandemic, Danila would have been drafted out of the Q. A lot of people here like Stankoven but I'm usually down on small forwards with questionable skating abilities. Personally I can see this year's 2nd round being really bad. Not a lot of "1st round fallers" I really like.

I was talking about Pinelli.

 

[Billy Kvcmu]

Don’t care
Just draft good players

 

[kcunac]

The CHL is great at developing their rookies and sophmores but not sure the same is true for players already drafted. Drafted prospects should be able to dominate the CHL and even then they are not a sure thing. At that age, new challenges can help prospects develop - like going to the NCAA, SHL, KHL, AHL, etc. not having these as immediate options available limits possibilities for prospects to take the next step. It's not a reason to avoid the CHL, but a prospect's development plan should be considered in drafting a prospect and staying in the CHL (or NHL) for the next 2 years is not always the best route. Having the option to play in a league between CHL and NHL quality is valuable and may be one of the reasons contributing to our move away from CHL drafting.