CHL to NCAA Recruiting Megathread

[cinnamoroll]

05 F Maël St-Denis commits to Clarkson, will attend this fall. Val D'Or recently traded for his rights. Played for Rimouski last season, one of their better players during the playoffs/Mem Cup.

2025 1st round pick Carter Bear signed his ELC with Detroit, so no NCAA for him.

Quinnipiac commit Nicolas Sykora signs to play with Owen Sound Attack this season.

Here's a fun primer on that "why the CHL is freaking out about NCAA" post i promised via the wildest thing to be said by a member of management so far in this entire debacle.

Let's talk about some reactions of CHL management, specifically the 3 commissioners. All 3 leagues recently had longtime commissioners retire so all are fairly new, QMJHL hired Mario Cecchini 2023, OHL hired Bryan Crawford 2024, WHL hired Dan Near 2023. The responses to the rule change has been largely temperate from Cecchini and Crawford. Both expressed concerns on how it will sort out on their end, which is understandable and I would find it weird if they didn't have those, but have been largely professional and measured. Dan Near has been the most actively hostile on the whole–understandable with the mass of WHLers with remaining eligibity leaving for college, but has bordered on unprofessional. Not as bad as the USHL commissioner, but compared to the other two it is more obvious.

Recently on the Pipeline Show, Dan Near put out this argument for why players should stay in the CHL. Worth a listen in itself, it's only a 30 second clip, but the tl;dl via BCHL_Alberta on twitter:

In a recent interview on @TPS_Guy’s “The Pipeline Show” WHL commissioner Dan Near concedes that the NCAA is “business class” but cautions that “playing a Friday and Saturday schedule and then pumping iron and drinking smoothies all week” will make you soft and ill-prepared for professional hockey as chartered flights (or an otherwise well-resourced hockey program) deny you the character building opportunities of twelve hour bus trips through Saskatchewan in January.

Great pitch to your own players you got there. The reactions have been fun to see as well, Schlossman thinks College Hockey Inc. should send a gift basket in thanks. In all seriousness, there are plenty of legitimate arguments for each individual kid to stay in junior another year. That is distinctly not one of them and it is mind-boggling he would say this at all.

 

[Puckstopper467]

The NCAA really blew this one and the schools jumping on the CHL players will falter

 

[Sparkee]

The NCAA really blew this one and the schools jumping on the CHL players will falter

Let me guess, your team didn’t pick up any CHL players?

If you go by neutral zone ratings many teams got better rated recruits then they otherwise would have gotten.

I think it is wishful thinking to say you think teams other than your own will falter with the obvious bias due to your team not getting any CHL recruits.

It is very likely teams got a good rebuild out of this, or closed the gap on the top end teams in their division.

 

[TalonsUpPuckDown]

Let me guess, your team didn’t pick up any CHL players?

If you go by neutral zone ratings many teams got better rated recruits then they otherwise would have gotten.

I think it is wishful thinking to say you think teams other than your own will falter with the obvious bias due to your team not getting any CHL recruits.

It is very likely teams got a good rebuild out of this, or closed the gap on the top end teams in their division.

He's on a crusade. Engage at your own risk.

 

[Terrier86]

The NCAA really blew this one and the schools jumping on the CHL players will falter

Why?

 

[TalonsUpPuckDown]

Why?

He's on an anti-CHL crusade. He posts that at every opportunity, surprised it took him this long to post here. He has BG finishing last in the CCHA because we have the most CHL'ers.

 

[cinnamoroll]

He's on an anti-CHL crusade. He posts that at every opportunity, surprised it took him this long to post here. He has BG finishing last in the CCHA because we have the most CHL'ers.

oh no this is the second foray into this thread unless i’m forgetting other ones i ignored after the first.

but yea, generally just unproductive and useless drivel. there’s legitimate concerns around which i’ve already addressed at various points in this thread. i’m just here to try and give folks context on the new landscape so ignoring is generally the best option.

 

[boblav1]

Local roundup: Canadian forward completes UML hockey incoming class

An energetic forward from Canada completes UMass Lowell’s incoming hockey class. David Adaszynski, a 5-11, 197-pound native of Coquitlam, British Columbia, is the 15th member of the promising…

www.lowellsun.com

Cinnamoroll, any thoughts/information on David Adaszynski?

 

[cinnamoroll]

Local roundup: Canadian forward completes UML hockey incoming class

An energetic forward from Canada completes UMass Lowell’s incoming hockey class. David Adaszynski, a 5-11, 197-pound native of Coquitlam, British Columbia, is the 15th member of the promising…

www.lowellsun.com

Cinnamoroll, any thoughts/information on David Adaszynski?

Good kid, hard worker. 05 born, 4 seasons with the Hitmen, last two he had an A. Won’t put up a ton of points but is fast and relentless- good fit for college style of play and what Norm himself mentioned as a big area of concern to address.

 

[boblav1]

Good kid, hard worker. 05 born, 4 seasons with the Hitmen, last two he had an A. Won’t put up a ton of points but is fast and relentless- good fit for college style of play and what Norm himself mentioned as a big area of concern to address.

Thank you.

 

[cinnamoroll]

USA Hlinka Gretzky selection camp roster has been released, of the 38 players, 22 are committed to/have played in the CHL, 10 from the WHL and OHL respectively, plus a pair from the QMJHL. Highest amount of CHL players this century on the USA's Hlinka-Gretzky roster is 6, in both 2010 and 2015. Worth noting that Hlinka-Gretzky does not have the NTDP guys participating because of team insurance iirc

Here's the invites both committed to NCAA and CHL teams:

Trevor Theuer (Saginaw Spirit) Miami
Joseph Salandra (Barrie Colts) Harvard
Ryder Fetterolf (Ottawa 67’s) Penn State
Leo Laschon (Oshawa Generals) Northeastern
Caden Harvey (Windsor Spitfires) Penn State
Colin Feeley (Oshawa Generals) Harvard

Gavin Clark (Saskatoon Blades) Merrimack
Noah Davidson (Medicine Hat Tigers) BC
Jake Gustafson (Portland Winterhawks) CC
Will McLaughlin (Portland Winterhawks) CC
Jimmy Egan (Brandon Wheat Kings) ASU
Sean Burick (Penticton Vees) DU

Nolan Duskocy (Charlottetown Islanders) UMass

Only one of these guys has already made their CHL debut, Trevor Theuer got into 6 games with Saginaw. The other players who have already played on CHL teams have not committed, such as Brooks Rogowski, Shaeffer Gordon-Carroll, Noa Ta'amu, Kalder Varga, Brody Gillespie. There's a further few incoming CHLers who have not committed, like Jaxon Williams (son of Mr Game 7) or Kaiden Donia.

The impact on the other side (Canada not inviting talented college players) will be potentially seen in mostly the older competitions- that is usually where such omissions become really obvious, and it's also where they are actively struggling. I'm guessing it probably won't be a problem for this year's World Juniors since they put the Hunter brothers in charge of that, and they do not give a shit about anything but getting the best team together.

Speaking of NTDP, plenty of rumored departures going around. Most credible report is Michigan commit JP Hurlbert signing in Kamloops instead of playing his U18 year.

 

[eaglekeeper]

That is correct, Most guys are invested in the education. You can’t be a knucklehead otherwise you simply don’t play with GPA requirements. The 1st round guys like McKenna and the two boys going to North Dakota etc.. they are not that invested or not nearly as invested when these boys are gonna be playing in the NHL the following year. Not to say they aren’t good students I’m sure they are but the goal is to get them ready for the NHL.

He's on a crusade. Engage at your own risk.

The risk for CHL players is seeing their numbers go down playing against older players and perhaps slipping in the draft, but for those already drafted college is better prep for the NHL. I think it will be a 50/50 split in the long run. Money can always change that and there is no doubt that college hockey will be significantly improved with CHL talent

 

[TalonsUpPuckDown]

The risk for CHL players is seeing their numbers go down playing against older players and perhaps slipping in the draft, but for those already drafted college is better prep for the NHL. I think it will be a 50/50 split in the long run. Money can always change that and there is no doubt that college hockey will be significantly improved with CHL talent

I haven't seen anyone disagree that CHL numbers will go down. In the case of the CCHA, the big dogs got the first bite of the apple and scooped up all the USNTDP and USHL guys leaving us with the scraps. You hoped that maybe you'd possibly find a diamond in the rough but aside from that we were all left with the leftovers. So, even if the crop of CHL guys post 1/8 the numbers this year compared to last year, they are still WAY ahead of the guys traditionally available for us to recruit. That, in my mind, is the real story here.

Puckstopper has a raging case of the sads because the CHL guys are taking spots not from the USNTDP and USHL guys, but from the BCHL and NAHL guys. He's hoping and praying that all the CHL guys turn out to be worse than the NAHL guys who would normally find a home in the CCHA.

 

[cinnamoroll]

Wenatchee Wild sign 07 Slovak defensemen Michael Capos, Western Michigan commit.

Friedge reports Porter Martone to Michigan State. 6th overall pick by the Flyers, big productive winger.

I haven't seen anyone disagree that CHL numbers will go down. In the case of the CCHA, the big dogs got the first bite of the apple and scooped up all the USNTDP and USHL guys leaving us with the scraps. You hoped that maybe you'd possibly find a diamond in the rough but aside from that we were all left with the leftovers. So, even if the crop of CHL guys post 1/8 the numbers this year compared to last year, they are still WAY ahead of the guys traditionally available for us to recruit. That, in my mind, is the real story here.

This is the part that really has me intrigued. There's only so many Gavin McKennas or Porter Martones to go around, but now any team can pitch to the guys who were the forgotten piece on lines with the high end players. Take recent Michigan Tech commit Teydon Trembecky, who got 88 points this season riding with Cole Reschny, the best playmaker from this years' draft. He won't have the elite setups he was getting this season in Victoria, but he undoubtedly has the speed and finishing ability that could make a big impact in their lineup, plus a chip on his shoulder to prove he wasn't just feeding off of Reschny's skill. It might not translate fully this year, but once he gets stronger, he might end up a huge difference maker.