yzerman19

These are all valid points and I respect your point of view. My statement does not take away from yours. It's a different lens. I do think your point about funding is an interesting one. The CHL receives significant $ from the NHL for development. I believe that the development money that goes to the USHL drives the NTDP budget (I might be wrong, but I heard that one time). RFA rules and sending Jr eligible guys back to CHL vs AHL is also important and details that will need to be bargained and addressed. I also don't want to dismiss the appeal of playing closer to home for a 16/17 year old kid. For a Minnesota kid, Des Moines is much closer to home than Swift Current. USHL will still attract high end players for that reason. The stipend $ (with rare exceptions) is pretty immaterial for a business...for most guys it's gas and beer money...

Long term, however it will drive college hockey expansion as barriers to competitiveness will come down. You can get U Washington playing competitive Big 10 hockey pretty quickly by stacking the roster with guys aging out of the WHL. I don't disagree that the pipeline to college hockey gets tougher short term, but won't it also raise the competitiveness of college hockey...I mean all else equal you want the best players on the ice wherever they hail from. For the ultra elite player (chippas) it's amazing...you have more development options without life altering consequences. Say you are a stud at 16/17 and you go major junior on the fast track to NHL, but you hit road bumps in terms of system or an injury or whatever and you end up getting drafted late or not drafted...now, head to college and extend that runway....or maybe you have a great year and go first round, but you are 5'10 165...go to college, play fewer games put on 20 pounds of beef live the college athlete life while in a prep year to the NHL. while I don't disagree it will be much, much harder for NAHL guys to make it to d1 over the short term, I think the long term expansion of college hockey and mitigated consequences for 16-18 year old kids is huge. I also believe that the quality of product on the ice will only get better in college hockey as a result.

Can't have a team of nothing but elite scorers...wouldnt be Sioux hockey without a sandpaper line....Eades and Archibald for sure....

I can't quite put my finger on it, but there used to be certain mystique around Sioux hockey...where you knew they would both out hit and out skill you. You knew you were in for a fast and heavy game.

We can't change the location of Grand Forks, we can't change the fact that you don't get Big10 football or hoops on off days, the Ralph isn't a huge differentiator anymore (although by no means a detriment)...somehow we gotta get the chippas that other chippas want to play with while recognizing the constraints we have vs Big10 and Hockey East. At the peak of our recruiting success, players knew that Sioux hockey was where you played to prepare for the NHL...the coaching, facilities, training was all geared towards that...somehow we have lost a great deal of this, and rather quickly

So what do we have to do to get the swagger back?

I mentioned a couple 2009 studs from minnesota. Crazy to think that 2009s are up next...2010s being looked at seriously...where did time go? These kids were born during the pony express era...

One of the biggest mistakes coaches make is forcing skill guys into systematic players. Why no skilled playmaker is their right mind would pick Notre Dame right now. I've seen it too many times where a dynamic player is forced into a system of pucks deep, work the wall, start the cycle, get net front, stay on the defensive side of the puck...yes those things need to be deployed at times to win games, but when you bring in a kid that scores 2 points per game based on speed, skill, and IQ and you turn him into a cog in the machine...barf

Btw- heard nothing but great things about David Carle...heard he is big time professional and pitches kids on exactly what he sees them doing for the next 2-4 years and how that will develop them and drive their and the program's success. Sounds like he is a great person and a great recruiter

Bobby losing Mikey Berchild is not good for that program. There is a lot of grumping about Motzko not letting the horses run. They lost a committed Eiserman...I'm waiting to see who they land. Next year the two top Minny kids will be Schneider and Fitzhenry. If they opt to go somewhere else....

What about chippas?

Discourse

Interesting perspectives. I enjoy reading this, makes great dis purse (too bad our national politics weren't the same way!) NTDP kids will still go NTDP, get drafted, go to college, likely get six figure NIL deals. No impact there. Kids debating between USHL and CHL now have a choice based on what fits them best...does a kid from minny or GF really want to move to Medicine Hat or swift current? The league is just a league, the kids will now have more choices for the team, coaches, geo that feels best. NAHL and tier 2 leagues...kids in that league are always one cut in the league above from being released. It is a hard grind below tier 1 and always will be. if anything, this could promote parity. The rich won't stay rich. Fledgling programs and historical basement dwellers will give blue blood programs a run with "20 year old Canadians" to quote what the googers used to say about us. as a parent of a hockey player, I love more options for fit and development while still keeping NCAA hockey an option.

Bummy is high end. He's a good get. Not sure who else we are going after hard.

They are pushing it because they believe the NCAA won't want to fight a bunch of lawsuits on this. It's piling on to force the issue. As I said earlier, the bigger issue will be with "of age" players, especially ones who are NHL draft picks. The rules there have to be bargained by the league and NHLPA in terms of RFA status, etc. Right now the rules are different for drafted NCAA players and drafted CHL players. I agree that short term it will create some choices where a CHL "graduate" might be a better choice than a kid from say the NAHL for limited spots. Long term, however, I believe it fuels college hockey expansion. More experienced players to help make a fledgling program competitive more quickly. From a player perspective, I like that it gives kids more choices on where they develop while still keeping NCAA an option...CHL is great hockey. Blue Chippas still gonna chippa...first rounders will sign and follow the NHL/CHL rules. I don't expect them foregoing signing bonus and not signing in order to stay college eligible. Your 6th round pick out of the WHL might not sign though in order to keep college as an option. That's where the league and especially the NHLPA is going to weigh in.

Mikey has Gophers written all over him

Great players beget more great players...every blue chippa knows the other blue chippas and they talk... you can win with older, less talented players for sure, but boy its fun to watch the best dazzle...Oshie and Toews didn't win...but wow was that fun...

not trying to call anyone's baby ugly...just calling out the facts. The blue chippas are going to Big 10 at 5x the clip NCHC and to Hockey East at 3x... Lot to those choices that can have a million things to do outside of school or hockey, but it is worth noting. NIL $ is going to start playing an even bigger role too...I think DU and UND will be okay competing in salary bidding, but will St Cloud and Omaha?

Since 2019 (inclusive) NHL first round picks from or going to college by conference Big10: 24 HE: 16 NCHC: 5 (and one of those transferred to Big10 after 1 season)

Word on street among the absolutely elite prospects is NCHC is lagging Big 10 and Hockey East..obv our team is still a wagon, but top kids are hesitating

correct, the development bonuses to CHL clubs is big. Like everything, I think the principles align with CHL being amateurs for NCAA considerations, but the $ is going to be the challenge in negotiations

Yes, in scenario 1, if you like the coaching staff, organizational fit etc with the major junior team that holds your rights vs say the USHL team that holds your rights, but you aspire to play NCAA hockey, you would be able to go to the CHL and matriculate to college and play NCAA. Another example might be a kid going CHL as a blue chippa thinking they will be a first rounder, but then having an injury plagued or poor draft year...gives them a fallback. A blue chippa 16 year old from Canada could now in theory play 2 years in the CHL and then go on and play NCAA. From a player perspective this creates more options and doesn't force a choice at 16 years old. There is another element that would need to be considered as well, and that is the CHL scholarship money...if you played in the CHL enough to get 3 years of school paid for AND you get a scholarship to play NCAA what happens to that scholarship money...

NIL $ and the CHL lawsuit (potential NCAA eligibility of CHL players) will definitely impact what we see here. The CBA will have to be re-negotiated in terms of RFA rules for drafted players. NIL $ could potentially make the entry level deal less appealing for bubble NHLers...so much moving now in college hockey. My proposal would be to make CHL players eligible for NCAA, have their draft free agent rights be the same as NCAA. Leverage this new glut of talented players to expand college hockey...picking up guys aging out of the CHL would allow for start-up programs to be more competitive right away. No barrier to stop say the University of Washington or University of Illinois or Northwestern from starting a program up. From a player perspective it also gives more options to the kids. The draw back is it will hurt the Tier 2 junior leagues, especially up in Canada. If college eligibility remains playing in the WHL, why would you play in the BCHL or the AJHL if you are a top talent. Add the USHL to the CHL as a 4th Tier 1 league...same rules...they just get to play for the mem cup now... More Blue Chippas and more teams eligible for college sounds pretty good to me.

Yea, Omac is top 6. To those worried about Blake….he’s not going anywhere. Nowhere near NHL ready

22 needs to be creating. I like him with Gaber more than I like Blake with Gaber. Gaber is an elite finisher. 22 is an elite playmaker. Blake can do both, but he strikes me as a difficult player to play with in terms of how he reads the ice and attacks. It’s kinda unconventional and the result of his individual gifts. That is likely part of what makes him special in that he’s hard to manage defensively because of it, but that also makes him hard to play with as a line mate. Kid is rookie of the year, I’m not knocking him at all, and I could be wrong, but anyway, back to the portal.