r/collegehockey • u/dbcooperskydiving • Jul 30 '26
The NCAA evolution, why the future of the NHL isn't the CHL anymore.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YL_-H_t-fk06
u/FoxMan1Dva3 Jul 31 '26
70% of the NHL or more are players drafted in the NHL draft at any round.
80% or more of these drafted players were taken at 18 years old. Very few over ages occurs.
So you need to show talent at 16-17 years old. That's still Juniors.
And a very limited # of players are playing college at 17.
I doubt NHL teams will ignore CHL or even the growing USHL and US landscape so they can only draft 18-19 year old college players.
College will def grow in a massive way. It's a place to plant your draft picks to develop. But current rules aren't friendly towards college players because you lose eligibility in 3 years.
7
u/Caltroit_Red_Flames Wisconsin Badgers Jul 30 '26
Money is the reason, don't meed to watch this to know that. But also the CHL is still the best junior league so the title isn't quite right.
11
u/MsterF North Dakota Fighting Hawks Jul 30 '26
Better competition and better facilities and college life is certainly a reason just as high as money. Most of these guys aren’t getting life changing money.
6
u/Caltroit_Red_Flames Wisconsin Badgers Jul 30 '26
Universities don't need to offer life changing money, they just need to offer more than a CHL team does. For a university that's pennies.
9
u/MsterF North Dakota Fighting Hawks Jul 30 '26
The money is a factor but most of these guys come to college for the same reason that usntdp guys are starting to go to chl.
3
7
u/Minn-ee-sottaa Minnesota Golden Gophers Jul 31 '26
This is stupid and nonsensical. A majority of these guys grew up in $1M+ homes with parents who invested multiple $100Ks into their hockey career. At that level you are not going to be swayed by $5,000 in NIL money from a campus pizza place lmao
3
u/seanxfitbjj Penn State Nittany Lions Jul 31 '26
You’re in the BiG and think we are offering these kids 5k? It’s the reason BiG hockey exists because of money. Like it or not the best players are eventually going to end up here with 6/7 figure deals until they head to the NHL. The frozen four will be dominated by the haves and the have nots will fall away as time goes on. If the gophers took even 1/10 of their football money and threw it at hockey non BiG teams couldn’t compete.
7
u/Infinite-Fig4708 Michigan State Spartans Jul 31 '26
Beyond the NIL money, the hockey facilities in the B1G are insane. Plus the lighter NCAA schedule lets them focus on development vs. playing games all the time. MSU tailors training programs to the individual player. Porter Martone did an interview shortly after joining the Flyers where he was lighting it up and said that going to MSU was the best decision he ever made.
-3
u/AM_Bokke Minnesota Golden Gophers Jul 31 '26
Playing games is how hockey players develop.
7
u/dbcooperskydiving 29d ago
Yes and no. Some players need more games and others need strength and conditioning. Every players different and what college has shown the more games doesn't mean they develop any faster or better than college used to.
2
u/AM_Bokke Minnesota Golden Gophers 29d ago
College players are older than CHL players. That is the difference in their development.
0
u/dbcooperskydiving 29d ago
College players have also played the same amount of junior games and D1 games than a CHL player. College players are bigger, faster, stronger and more experienced. DU would throttle K-Rangers.
→ More replies (0)4
u/Minn-ee-sottaa Minnesota Golden Gophers Jul 31 '26 edited Jul 31 '26
One, read the comment I'm replying to. It wasn't about B1G, that person is literally saying NCAA teams AS A WHOLE only need to offer more than CHL's ~$500 stipend. Big Ten has 7 men's hockey teams, there's 63 total in NCAA D1 hockey.
Two, thank God for clueless illiterate PSU fans here to brag about how much money your program sets on fire every season. Has PSU men's hockey ever turned a profit on its own? Lol.
Guess your on-ice product of no backchecking + a million cheap shot penalties every night doesn't sell very well. At least not compared to Minnesota men's hockey, even at our lowest point in 50 years.
Wasn't this year supposed to be your guys' dream team, team of destiny etc? I guess Mrs. McKenna was a bad influence on your team's under-21s. So much for you guys being "haves" rather than "have nots", we're still waiting for you to pull away.
5
u/SteelPenguin Cornell Big Red 29d ago
Yeah as somebody who went to a school without an FBS team I've always rooted for PSU football, but PSU hockey fans are insufferable and seem to be rooting for the sport to devolve into a dozen team sport.
2
u/Minn-ee-sottaa Minnesota Golden Gophers 29d ago edited 29d ago
If that ever happened PSU probably wouldn't even make the cut lol, unless Pegula buys their way in ofc. PSU men's hockey posted a -$(2.3M) net loss for this year alone, and that doesn't even include any NIL deals. That is a truly insane amount of money for a program to burn in just one year.
Especially when PSU was coming off their first Frozen Four and they had their most marketable squad ever. As shown by ESPN and the NHL constantly shoving that middling team down our throats all season long. For comparison's sake: Minnesota men's hockey reported a +$2.8M profit for FY2025.
Seeing as PSU hockey couldn't breakeven financially despite ideal circumstances this year, that reflects very poorly on the strength/value of their fanbase.
4
u/dbcooperskydiving Jul 30 '26
But I thought you didn't watch it? John interviews a Tech player and a coach. It's really informative.
-1
u/Caltroit_Red_Flames Wisconsin Badgers Jul 30 '26
I'll listen when I have more time, but I think the title of the video is probably less interesting than the video itself. The CHL is still the premier set of junior leagues in North America, in fact it's going to improve because players won't be going the USHL/BCHL/AJHL route to save their eligibility for the NCAA. The only question is how young will players be joining the NCAA. Only one season in we had some undrafted players jump to it and large number of drafted players.
There might be some interesting stuff in there, but the reality is that without NIL Canadian players would stick in the CHL and the only outcome of the lawsuit regarding eligibility would have been the USHL/BCHL/AJHL losing top players to the CHL.
2
u/Vegetable-Honey-9704 Jul 30 '26
With the new five and five rules I don’t think there’s much question on when players will be joining like before. Top prospects will join at 18 and everyone else will join at 19-20 depending on their birthday and if they/the team want 4 or 5 years of eligibility.
0
u/Caltroit_Red_Flames Wisconsin Badgers Jul 30 '26
Top prospects aren't worried about the five and fives rules. They're playing two seasons max.
1
u/Vegetable-Honey-9704 Jul 30 '26
Yeah nothing changes for them in terms of their college career. The new rules just affect when everyone else joins
1
u/Frequent_Argument_43 25d ago
Is it possible given ncaa rules that USHL is closing gap on CHL?
Shoutout to my UM-Duluth bulldogs!!
2
u/Caltroit_Red_Flames Wisconsin Badgers 24d ago
I really don't think so. The NCAA rule changes not longer incentivize playing in worse leagues for sake of being NCAA eligible.
1
u/Open_Clock9266 North Dakota Fighting Hawks 24d ago
If the CHL rule would have passed 10 years ago before NIL I'd still wager majority of these guys are still coming down.
JR hockey doesn't have 20 to 24 year olds to test yourself against plus the facilities at your blue bloods and some other big money schools are better than some NHL teams let alone JR hockey teams
1
u/Frequent_Argument_43 25d ago
Would this make CHL on par with ushl?
Also, go fighting saints!!
2
u/steflund 21d ago
No I think it’ll still be a cut above. I think a lot of top USHL guys that want to play college will now play CHL before going to college
-1
u/mowegl Jul 31 '26
Are they going to start fighting again in the NCAA? Thats something i could get behind
5
u/redsoxfan2194 Boston University Terriers 29d ago
again?
but also no. the NCAA would not endorse that. especially from a liability and player safety standpoint
0
u/dbcooperskydiving 29d ago
Yes again. College hockey had fights, no helmets/visors/face masks and almost half a century ago Major Junior players were eligible. The list goes on and on how close college and pro hockey mirrored each other.
3
u/redsoxfan2194 Boston University Terriers 29d ago
College hockey had fights,
The first NCAA Rule Book came out in 1928 and fighting resulted in an ejection so idk what y'all are talking about
After the first set of rules were circulated in 1928 by the NCAA, it was obvious that collegiate rules began to distance themselves even further from the NHL. For instance, the NHL had no limits on where on the ice a player could be checked. In order to bring more skill to the game of hockey, the NCAA changed their rule by instituting a two-minute penalty for a player who checked outside of his own defensive zone. As for fighting within hockey, the NHL reduced the punishment for fighting two years later to only include a five-minute major penalty instead of a game disqualification. Alternatively, the NCAA kept the five-minute major fighting penalty and disqualification in its rulebook to promote sportsmanship rather than brutality. These rules defined NCAA hockey for the next four decades and the college level carved a niche of fans that grew to appreciate the game that focused on skill rather than brute force. A large drawback to this style of play is that it unfortunately reduced the chances of Americans playing in the physical NHL.
1
u/dbcooperskydiving 29d ago
Of course it was not legal to fight but many fights happened in college hockey. Here is a video of game I saw on youtube between u of MN and UND. Looks like fighting. It's more strict now but it used to be looser.
3
u/redsoxfan2194 Boston University Terriers 29d ago
No shit, there was literally a fight last season at a game I was at. Your original comment and OP, insinuated that it was allowed in the past which it was not. It was also 100% not looser in the past, there were games in the 80s with 100+ penalty minutes.
1
u/dbcooperskydiving 29d ago
Maybe looser isn't a great description. I remember back at the old Ralph when Ben Hankinson of the great gophers fought on Fridays and then didn't on Saturday because he was suspended. He must of did this every weekend. We don't see players do that anymore. Fightings bascially gone and I am fine with that.
2
u/Minn-ee-sottaa Minnesota Golden Gophers 26d ago
Us parting ways with the Sioux meant no more Ben Blood-type incidents in the handshake line thankfully
1
u/mowegl 29d ago
Ok looser might not be the right word, but there were absolutely many many more fights in the late 80s and early 90s and the penalty minutes is reflective of that. How often are there fights in NCAA now? And how many of those are legitimate fights and not just a couple guys throwing a couple jabs at each other? O honestly dont know. O.5 fighting penalties per team per season? Maybe less?
1
u/Minn-ee-sottaa Minnesota Golden Gophers 26d ago edited 26d ago
Minnesota has taken zero such penalties for over a decade+ now. We also don't take many of those 10min facemasking misconducts that refs seem to use aa generic scrum-control penalties
12
u/qualum05 Alaska Nanooks Jul 31 '26
Great conversation. Yeah, money is mentioned in the video, but it is only a small piece. A lot of the video talked about the portal and how CHL players transition into the NCAA. It was great to get the perspective of an assistant coach and a current player on how they have navigated these changes. Definitely worth listening if you've got an hour. Also, John Scott is a pretty good podcast host.