KTF

How much are the blue blood hockey programs offering in NIL money to top recruits. I know that Mike McMahon once tweeted that 1st and 2nd round NHL prospects were earning 100 to 120k a year but that has been widely discredited (I think). If it is true though, can UND athletics afford it???

Who should they be focusing on? A ton of rumors about Michael Misa going out east or even Minnesota. I'd love to know who exactly has the coaching staff talked to?

I'm wondering if they've talked with several "blue chippas" from the CHL and have some soft commits on one or two but those players are waiting until after the NHL draft to announce their intentions?

Wow, what a well thought out response..don't even know how to reply to such deep insight and analysis.... Well something tells me I overstayed my welcome here. I understand that in this day and age having a countervailing position to the general (group think) consensus is quite frowned upon on American college campuses. I would hate to get in trouble with the though police down there, especially during my annual fall trip to the Big House to see Michigan play. To yzerman 19, you seem like a well informed poster who is not quite so provincial minded, even though I'm sure you feel NoDak is better, perhaps you could continue to educate some of these college fans about the merits of the CHL.

Again I will say I saw much more time and space in the NoDak - Quinn game than the Memorial Cup game...on NoDak's first goal, 2 on 1 numbers down in the slot, where is the Q Defense?? Gersich all alone was allowed two quick shots, his second goes in. On the 2nd goal, horrible goal tending from Garteig , No. 6 Toews from Q utterly misses his check and lets Boeser easily pass him by for the goal after a misplay from Garteig. 3rd goal, absolute confusion from Q D, Boeser easily takes puck away and passes it to an unmolested wide open Caggiula for the goal. 4th goal, Boeser on a one on one battle going to the net spins around and passes to yet again a streaking and wide open Caggiula for the goal. 5th goal. after Garteig gives up a fat juicy rebound, Poganski all alone shoots it in.

Those two games were in essence try out games for the Canada hopefuls while the CIS finally got to play on a big stage with a ton of scouts watching...the games meant everything to both sides playing, were hard fought and intense and of course proved that the CIS was in no way superior to what some posters on HFBoards thought...after all the college boys were flat out dominated in the second game Tkachuk and Mathews complimented each other quite well...who knows, maybe of Boeser was as good as Tkachuk instead of his inferior he might of got to play more with Mathews.. Your last point was merely a biased opinion...I'm still waiting for you all to explain the mighty NoDak depth over London..

Hmmm, the best CIS players squared off against a portion of the better CHL players in a pre exhibtion WJC tune up for the Canadian World Junior team. Now keep in mind that the best Canadian CHLers sat out the games because their spot on the team was assured and that many top American, Russian, Swede and Czech CHLers were of course not there. The CIS all star team was of course several years older and in fact many of them were ex CHL players and were from teams like UNB, Alberta and the like that generally do well against NCAA competition. So the best from the CIS faced off against the not so best from the CHL and according to these so called sages from HFBoards, the CIS should of mopped the floor with the much younger and smaller CHL players right.? Well not exactly, the first game ended in a tie but the CIS did win in a shoot out. The CHL players then blew the door off the older, supposedly stronger and more experienced CIS players 5-0 the next game. So much for the CIS being better...imagine if the CHL actually had all their best players playing...

Dvorak earned PP time, Schmaltz did not..Marner did much better than Boeser and had the same PPG as Schmaltz... UND is older but I've proven that age isn't anything and for the upteenth time show me this better depth!

Fact, Dvorak centered the 2nd line while Schmalts centered the third...Fact, Tkachuk was on the first line. If it was only about chemistry then why were two players that were part of the best line in college hockey on the third line and why did Tkachuck finish with a point total that equaled that of Schmatz and Boeser combined?? Spin it how you want but when the two best players on NoDak played with the two best players from London, the NoDak players were second fiddle..

I understand that, and I've already been over the line combinations, my point was and remains (and is quite valid) that London's top line would have been among if not the outright best line in all of NCAA hockey.

CHL players are not paid to play. They receive a monthly stipend to offset living expenses in much the same way college athletes now receive cost of attendance subsidies. Sorry for high jacking your thread, but it always made me laugh the way many college fans, who for the most part are completely unfamiliar with the level of play in the CHL dismiss the league as being second rate. In terms of development, it is hard to argue against the CHL route but there are many players who would be better served going through the college route. The fact is, that if you are an elite prospect that is almost guaranteed to have a NHL career then the CHL is the preferred option, now that doesn't mean its the only option however. If you are a border line NHL prospect then the NCAA offers you more advantages, with the greatest being the time it allows you to develop. You can enter college at 18, 19 or even 20 and give yourself a full four years to strengthen your body and hone your skills and then hit the pros as a very mature and well rounded 23-24 year old. I happen to know more than a few agents from various agencies and that is generally the advise they give. The high end prospects are steered toward the CHL while the rest are told the merits of the D-1 route. Now of course many elite prospects will take the NCAA way while many marginal ones will go on the CHL path but by and large that is the way it is increasingly playing out over the past decade or so.

Fact is that Mathew Tkachuk was tied with Auston Mathews as the leading point getter on the team and Dvorak was the teams second line center and had more than double the points of Boeser while Schmaltz centered the third line...small sample size but what evidence do you have that would suggest that NoDak's top line is better...let me know when the crickets stop chirping.

Ahh thanks hon...

The assertion made was that London's top line was a cut below that of NoDaks but the best two London players, when placed together with the two best NoDak ones, proved to be better.

Not at all, just that the two London Knights were on the top two lines while the two best NoDak players rounded out the bottom lines.