I think it's going to be interesting to see what will happen when (assuming) college hockey is opened up to kids from the major junior ranks. I listened to Mike McMahon's podcast interview of Shane Malloy of Fractal Hockey the other day. Fractal Hockey does analytics on the CHL kids.
Like others, Malloy predicts that the NCAA will become the top of the pyramid for hockey development in Canada and the US. You'll have high schools and leagues like the NAHL at the bottom, then the USHL and CHL leagues, with college hockey being the finishing league prior to the NHL. Malloy predicts that the talent level in college hockey is going to jump dramatically, with many/most of the top end kids playing in the CHL to likely make at least an appearance in college hockey.
The CHL teams are 100% in favor of it. Malloy says that their scholarship programs are a significant cost to the teams, and it's something they are going to do away with as soon as those kids can go to US colleges.
Another interesting point he raised is that from a broadcasting/streaming standpoint, we should see significant upgrades. He predicts huge demands out of Canada for college hockey broadcasts/streams.
An interesting listen, and I still wonder to what extent that is influencing recruiting right now in the US.