I would say it might just be a change in mindset of younger players too. It's likely that younger players who are on the cross-roads of deciding whether to pursue hockey as a career or not are deciding to go the college route so they have a backup plan in case hockey doesn't work out.
It's not a bad mindset to have, I know a few guys that made the OHL and WHL, phenomenal rec league players, working dead-end jobs unfortunately.
That's my take on the increased number of NHLers who attended college.
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