NTDP
Registered User
Good point. Top end players coming from the CHL is hard to argue.
Your point about good players being cut from NTDP is very apparent in the birth years I follow (2000 and 2001). There are definitely legitimate top players on the NTDP. Turcotte being my favorite forward.
The problem is the selection of that team is so politically and "good ol' boy" club motivated it makes that entire program laughable. Many great players get cut or overlooked for a player that has a family NHL, Olympic, or USA Hockey pedigree. When you actually look at the players and their connections it becomes very obvious.
Check out what I wrote about some of the incoming players in the 2001 birth year in the NTDP Off Season thread. See if there is anything different you like about their games. The point about the political aspect has validity to it, but there's politics in everything. Some of those players though with NHL ties are pretty darn good, others haven't panned out as such. But there will always be people pissed for not making that team when you have such a deeper talent pool to choose from now. I still have a lot of respect for the program though.