Quote:
Originally Posted by Cecil Terwilliger
How is it a worse deal? The leagues are fundamentally different. College players often don't mature as fast. There is a reason this never happens to CHL players. Ever. NCAA players and the route they take is fundamentally different. Why treat them exactly the same?
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The reason it rarely happens with CHL players is that they can sign with their teams anytime, and if they don't within 2 years, they will get redrafted.
So in order to hit FA, a CHL player has to refuse to sign with his NHL team, get drafted to who-knows-where, refuse to sign with THAT team, and then they are UFA. There are a lot of options for teams in that scenario, and a lot of headache for a player that wants to force a signing to his preferred team.
These are rules that the NHL just can't apply to an NCAA draftee because there's no way of getting a player to commit before they leave college under the NCAA rules. But the PA will still fight for the 4 years to UFA for all draftees.
The crappiest part of all of this is that it's the NCAA, through their own ridiculousness, that will drive talent away from their league. NHL teams won't spend high picks on college or college-bound players, thus players are less likely to go to the NCAA. Which is bad for the NCAA as well as the kids IMO.
It's absolutely stupid that NCAA doesn't even allow letters of intent. I mean, can't a business or law student have a job lined up after for when they graduate? Can't they spend their free time working at said job for money? Can the firms pay for their education as part of them wanting to join their company? It's ridiculous that they give these rules for their student athletes. It makes no sense.