crump
~ ~ (ړײ) ~ ~
I think you hit the nail on the head here. The CHL is increasingly seen as the route to the NHL by a lot of Europeans and American players (see Bracco or Biggs) , it think you can see Dubas in this last draft thinking the same way..While not many players get drafted out of those leagues (unless they play in the high pros), they are becoming increasingly more popular in the CHL Import Draft because they are cheaper to acquire and often view the CHL as a better option for their development than their home country.
It's frustrating to watch players like Tontinato burn through 3-4 years of school only to become free agents at the end of it, or players who, while displaying talent at draft age, see their skills slowly atrophy away from a CHL style system and playing against inferior competition than their CHL or Euro/Russian league counter parts.
Watching players like Johnsson develop and play in Europe in men's leagues then finally making the jump to NA has been a thing of beauty.