Quote:
Originally Posted by Textcritic
The NCAA is NOT an an inferior development program to the CHL; it only appears that way because the talent-pool available to the NCAA is alot smaller than for the CHL.
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But isn't quality of competition important? It's like arguing that some obscure hockey league's player development program isn't inferior to the CHL and that it only appears that way because the talent-pool is a lot smaller. At some point, disadvantages matter.
There are obviously good things going for both the CHL and NCAA. But the talent playing NCAA hockey has been getting worse the past few years. As mentioned, many NHL teams have been actively steering their prospects towards the CHL. Our very own Patrick Sieloff decided to play for Windsor instead of for Miami (I assume Flames management had something to do with that).
I do think the CHL is a superior development program and it has to do with quality of competition, quality of teammates, and the number of games they play. The problem with the NCAA is that if you're not on a good team you're going to be stuck in a losing environment. Providence has a new coach now, but their program has sucked for years and it's not easy turning around a program or building up a program in the NCAA (although the current incoming glass with Jankowski and Gillies is a good start). The only hope is that Jankowski carries his team to success, but if he fails to do that you can bet he'll be stuck on a losing program for the next few years. That's not the case for players in the CHL, the existence of an entry draft can translate to success on the ice being cyclical. There's also the fact that older players stuck on bad teams are frequently traded to better teams and get to experience playoff hockey. CHL players don't get to play against 22-23 year olds, but they get to play against much higher quality talent on a night to night basis.
While the NCAA has benefitted from the US producing better hockey players both in quantity and quality, top players forgoing college and playing in the CHL has become a real problem for the NCAA in recent years and I don't think this can be dismissed. At some point, lack of competition is going to seriously hamper player development.