Sunday 11 December 2011

NCAA route to the NHL

NCAA route to the NHL


In this hockey manual, your family has heard the pros and cons of having a professional hockey agent representing your son. Your family has also heard the pros and cons of your son playing Major Junior “A” hockey and living with Major Junior “A” land-parents. Now I’m going to tell you about the pros and cons of your son playing University Hockey, (NCAA)
As a retired professional hockey player, I can honestly say there are no cons just pros when your family decides to take the University route to the National Hockey League!!!! Your son will be on a full scholarship ride, receiving his University education for free. Another advantage your family has over a Major Junior A  hockey player is that your sixteen you old son can now live at home for two more years before he leaves to play University hockey. 
It will be in the best interest of your son in the long run if lives at your home until he’s eighteen years old. If you ask me, all hockey players should remain in their family’s home under the watch eye of their own parents. As a family your number one goal during his journey to the National Hockey League is to protect your son, everything else is secondary. 
Always remember, never let the game of hockey use your son, let your son use the game of hockey. From a business point of view, there’s no need to rush your sixteen year old boy out the door to play Major Junior “A”.  Here’s why, back in the early 90’s, before Philadelphia Flyers signed Eric Lindros to an NHL contract, the NHL owners and their General Managers had a pretty good stranglehold on the so called market value of their new NHL draft picks.
After the Philadelphia Flyers made Eric Lindros the richest draft pick in the history of the NHL, owners lost the stranglehold they previously had on new NHL draft picks.  Eric Lindros new NHL contract was the contract we as hockey players had been waiting for since the NHL started. Agents were now using Lindros contract as the new benchmark for signing NHL draft picks. The newest benchmark from business point of view, would cost NHL owners millions of dollars. 
NHL organizations and their General Managers were now signing their unproven NHL draft picks to guaranteed million dollar NHL contracts. For draft picks during that short period of time, it was like money was falling from the sky.  Agents came into contract negotiations with the attitude that if one hockey player received this amount of money, then the next player picked in the NHL entry draft deserves the same amount of money. 
Give agents credit for capitalising on the owners and General Managers mistakes at the time. The straw that broke the camel’s back was that three quarters of these unproven NHL draft picks signed guaranteed million dollar NHL contracts weren’t good enough to play in the National Hockey League at the time. After the NHL strike came to an end, NHL owners and the NHLPA worked out a new bargaining agreement that would put a salary cap on new NHL draft picks. We’ll talk more about the new NHL bargaining agreement between players and owners later on in my blog and hockey manual.
When it comes time to sign unproven NHL draft picks, it will always be a hit or miss situation for General Managers and their owners. General Managers don’t like signing young, eighteen year old draft picks to big, multi-million dollar NHL contracts. Every time General Managers take a chance and sign an eighteen year old hockey player to a big contract, their actually risking their jobs as General Managers. 
If that eighteen year old hockey player doesn’t pan out and become a superstar in the National Hockey League, then it looks bad on the team’s General Manager for spending millions of dollars on a unproven, draft pick.  Before an NHL organization signs a hockey player to a NHL contract, the General Manager and the organization’s NHL scouts will have meeting with the coaching staff.  


During these meetings the brass will discuss the team’s strengths and weaknesses. Management will always look at their scouts depth charts to see if any of their weaknesses can be strengthened by signing one of their up and coming NHL draft picks. If and when an NHL organization decides to strengthen their hockey team by signing one of their own draft picks to a contract, the next question management has to figure out during this meeting is which draft pick to sign to a NHL contract.


As you can see, for every NHL organization it’s a big gamble projecting draft picks six years down the road. When I say six years down the road, most NHL organizations feel that hockey players reach their full potential roughly at the age of twenty four years old. The truth is when it comes to projecting the potential of eighteen year olds six years down the road, NHL organization are usually wrong about their projections.   


There could be many reasons why eighteen year old hockey players don’t reach their full NHL potential. This is the reason why NHL General Managers don’t like signing eighteen years old draft picks to guaranteed, million dollar contracts. On the other hand, a graduating University hockey player, at the age of twenty four, is six years older than a Major Junior “A” drafted hockey player.
When NHL organizations sign a University hockey player at the age of twenty-four, there’s no projection work needed here. What the General Manager sees with his own eyes is what he’s going to get when he signs a University hockey players to NHL contract.  


watch more University hockey games, the players at the age of twenty four are bigger and smarter than eighteen year olds playing MJ “A” hockey. Plus the transition to the NHL isn’t as difficult as it is for a younger hockey player. 


You can see how it makes smart business sense for NHL teams to sign more University hockey players then MJ “A” hockey players. Why would a General Manager take a chance on signing a young boy from MJ “A” hockey when he can sign a twenty four year old University hockey player? Can you imagine your son graduating from University hockey with his degree in his back pocket and then signing a guaranteed NHL contract worth $10 million dollars.


University hockey is the smartest route to take to the NHL. You’re probably wondering why I’m telling your family to go the University route after I personally went the MJ “A” route and ended up to be a first round draft pick in the NHL. Your son can still be a first round draft pick even if your family chooses to play University hockey. 


I personally made a lot of mistakes during my journey to the National Hockey League. To this day, I can honestly say choosing to play MJ “A” hockey instead of playing University hockey was the biggest mistake I ever made in my professional hockey career.  


No matter what happens in your son’s hockey career if he makes it or not…..Your boy will have his University degree to fall back on. As parents you have done your job protecting your son from the business side of professional hockey. 


All the Best,

Shayne Stevenson

Major Junior "A" Land-Parents

This chapter is for the hockey families who have decided to play Major Junior “A” hockey. I’m going to give your family different example of land-parent situations that your son could run into during this MJ “A” hockey career. As parents it’s very important that you know how and why fans become land-parents of MJ “A” hockey players.
Before these people became land-parents of hockey players, they were fans of MJ “A” hockey. One day these fans decided that it would be nice to take in a MJ “A” hockey player. Within days, these fans became land-parents of a new hockey player.  As parents, you should have a thousand questions by now.  Here’s a few that come to my mind right away.
What kind of family would want an eighteen or nineteen year old man living under the same roof as their two teenage daughters? Anyone can see that there could be major problems in this land-parents household in the near future.
Remember these are just examples of what could happen to you son at his land-parent’s home during the hockey season. Let’s say your son is in his draft year and there’s talk that your son could go in the first round of next year’s NHL draft.  Your son’s land-parents are vacationing down in Florida during the March break and your son in the land-parents daughter started sleeping together. Going one step further with this example, can you imagine if the land-parents sixteen year old daughter gets pregnant? What could also happen next is the land-parents sue your eighteen year old son for sleeping with his underage daughter. If this happens, your son’s career will be over before it even began! Trust me when I say this, this happens all the time in MJ “A” hockey. NEVER let your son’s hockey team put him in a house that has teenage daughters or young mothers…. TRUST ME, DON’T LET THIS HAPPEN…. Protecting your son on and off the ice starts in his land-parent’s house.
Here’s another situation you don’t want your son in, Let’s say there’s a young couple who’s having financial problems and they couldn’t pay their monthly bills on time. One evening, this couple came up with the idea of becoming land-parents of a MJ “A” hockey player. Before we continue, MJ “A” hockey teams give land-parents a cheque for roughly $400.00 dollars a month for each hockey player that the land-parents have in their house during the hockey season.
The couple then thinks, why not house three hockey players for $1,200.00 a month? The couple decides that three hockey players will live in their basement of their home. The couple calls the hockey team and tells them they have room for three hockey players. By the end of the week this young couple gets three new hockey players in their basement and a cheque of $1,200.00 dollars with their name on it.   
A day later, that $1,200.00 dollar cheque went to the land-parents visa card company and there wasn’t enough food in the fridge each day to feed these three hockey players. The players tell the coach that there’s never enough food in the house. The coach tells the boys, hang in there the team will start looking for new land-parents for you guys…. 90 percent of the time hockey players get left in these houses because there’s a shortage of land-parents in their towns.  VERY COMMON PROBLEM IN MJ”A” HOCKEY. 
Ask yourself this question, how many land-parents in MJ “A” hockey really are looking out for your son’s best interests? Expect problems between your son and his land-parents. Be ready for anything and everything while your son is living with total strangers during the hockey season. While your family is meeting your son’s assigned land-parents for the first time, make sure your family’s questions are answered to your satisfaction. If for any reason during your family’s first visit meeting your son’s new assigned land-parents. If you feel that this particular home isn’t the right home for your son, then speak up right away and tell the team.
Here’s another situation your son could run into during the hockey season. At the start of the hockey season when your son first met his new land-parents. Both your son and his land-parents seemed as if they would get along well during the hockey season. But three months into the hockey season both your son and his land-parents are at each other’s throats. Maybe it’s your son who can’t stand his land-parents cooking. There could be a thousand different reasons why hockey players and their land-parents can’t get along during the hockey season.
If your son’s land-parents situation can’t correct itself, it will come to a point in the house that your son will be living in his bedroom. Or your son will go out and get a girlfriend in town, so he can spend his time over at her house. When this situation occurs between the hockey player and his land-parents during the hockey season, it’s a tough situation for everyone involved. Both parties will be trying to save face around the rink and town blaming their current housing problems on the other person.
It will come to a point where the hockey team will take the hockey player out of the land-parent’s home. Once again, if there’s a disturbance during the hockey season NHL Scouts want to know who’s to blame for this….. Yes, coaches will tell NHL Scouts about your son’s Land-parent situation.  No Good…. for your son…. There’s never a winner when it comes to a hockey player who needs new land-parents during the hockey season. Because of this disturbance, both land-parent and your son’s credibility in the hockey world will be tarnished.
As parents of a young hockey player new to MJ “A” hockey, here’s some good advice. It’s a good idea to stay away from seasoned land-parents who have billeted MJ “A” hockey players in the past. My advice to your family would be to try and find potential land-parents who have never had a hockey player before. When you can find land-parents in MJA that are new to billeting hockey players, everything is new to both the land-parents and the hockey player. There aren’t any previous expectations from past hockey players that have lived in the same house.
New land-parents and your son will be learning together as they go during the hockey season. Most of the time, new land-parents and their hockey players become lifelong friends…( Teddy and Darlene Micher  were my Kitchener Land-Parents, Teddy was in my wedding party and is the God Father to my first son Jordan…  I was their first player, I love it there…. Thank you guys.) 
 Getting back to business, lol’s.  Here’s another reason why it’s in your son’s best interest to find new land-parents, who have never had a hockey player in the past. Let’s say, for example for whatever reason both your son and his land-parents don’t see eye during the hockey season. Nine times out of ten the land parents don’t want another hockey player in their home ever again.
There personal experiences with that particular MJ ”A” hockey player left such a bad taste in their mouths that the family stops going to hockey games all together. When it’s the land-parents first time around, the NHL Scouts will give that particular hockey player the benefit of the doubt in this particular land-parents situation.
You have to remember no matter what the situation is in life, whatever the reason, someone will always have problems when two or more people are living together under the same roof for any length of time.
Once your son has been drafted by a MJ “A” hockey team, get in touch with your son’s agent to start setting up appointments to meet possible land-parents for the up-and-coming hockey season. Remember, the sooner you son settles into his new land-parent’s home. The more productive he’ll be during the hockey season. Your son deserves the best land-parents that MJ”A” hockey can provide. Remember protecting your son on and off the ice during his journey to the NHL is your number one priority…. 

( Stay Tune… More valuable hockey information to come in the near future on how to protect your son from the business side of hockey.... My hockey manual will be available to your family to invest in in the near future, just copy righting the book at this moment in time...)

Saturday 10 December 2011

Major Junior "A" Contracts .

Here’s a bulletproof Major Junior “A” contract for those hockey families who decide to take the fastest route to the NHL. As a graduate of Major Junior “A” Hockey, I will guarantee your family that this contract will be the best MJ ”A” contract in the hockey business. If your son is going to play MJ "A" you have to fight fire with fire! Make sure agent puts some of the following clauses in your son’s MJ “A” contract. I’m going to start with family clauses first.

1.  If parents decide to stay overnight after hockey games, the team pays  
      for their hotel.

2.  Parents will receive $250.00 cash at each home and away game  
     when they arrive at the rink to see their son play hockey.  

3.   Team pays for son’s insurance policy, in case of career ending injury.

4.    Team pays for tutors at school.

Make sure you get these clauses in your son’s contract. They’ll save your family thousands of dollars down the road. Here’s some MJ “A” player clauses for your son’s contract.

1.   You want your son’s education paid, if your son doesn’t sign a NHL  
       contract. For example, Four years at a collage of your son’s choice.

2.   Stick pattern of your son’s choice.

3.  Brand new hockey equipment of your son’s choice.

4.  Two brand new pair of skates every year of your son’s choice.

5.  Get the hockey team to rent your son a vehicle, plus insurance and
     gas money.

6.  Team jackets, suits, school supplies paid by the team.

Remember the more you get in your son’s contract the less it’s going to cost your family. Remember your sending your son halfway around Canada at the age of sixteen years old. 

As parents the final contract I want you to sign is between you and your wife. As a husband and wife, you should sign this contract before your son leaves the family home to play Major Junior “A” hockey. This contract will protect your marriage later on in life, especially if your son professional hockey career doesn’t go as plan.

As parents we both agree to let our son take the fastest route to the National Hockey League and play Major Junior “A” hockey.

I                               (wife signs her name here)

I                               (husband signs his name here)
                              
Now put this contract away in a safe place somewhere in the house. Believe me this contract between a husband and wife will save a lot of marriages down the road. If you ask me, I think the most important thing you can do for your son is direct him towards University Hockey. Imagine your son having a University degree in his back pocket and at the age of twenty four signing an NHL contract worth $10,000.00 dollars. As parents you now know the pros and cons of Major Junior “A” hockey. Make the right decision for you son during his journey to the National Hockey League…  ( Stay Tune… More valuable hockey information to come in the near future on how to protect your son from the business side of hockey.... My hockey manual will be available to your family to invest in, in the near  future, just copy righting the book at this moment in time...)

CHL Junior "A" Vs NCAA Hockey

“Should my son play Major Junior “A” or should he play University Hockey? “  Before your family chooses which route your son is going to take to the National Hockey League. I want your family to keep something in mind. Did you know that your hockey agent won’t see a single dollar until your son has signed his name to a Professional Hockey League contract.
When your agent tells your family that your son shouldn’t play University hockey, the truth of the matter is your son won’t sign his first NHL contract until he’s around the age of twenty-four. If your son is only sixteen years old now, your agent will have to wait eight years before he sees a single dollar from your son’s NHL contract.  Even after you agent has waited eight years for his ship to sail in, chances are the hockey player he’s representing won’t even sign a NHL contract after his University hockey career is completed! 
In most cases, agents want their hockey players playing Major Junior “A” Hockey. The reason being is that if by chance any of the agents hockey players go in the first round of the NHL entry draft, agents will then have the opportunity of getting paid after two years of representing their hockey players. Looking at it from the agents business point of view, it would be in his best interest for your son to play Major Junior “A” hockey instead of University hockey.
Remember parents, when it comes to the protecting your son from the business side of professional hockey, never let your guard down. This includes your agent’s advice too regarding which route your son should take to the National Hockey League.
During my hockey blog and manual chapter, I would like to give your family the opportunity to hear the pros and cons of both Major Junior “A” and University Hockey. As you know, there are millions of families in the hockey world, just like your family, who have the same dream of one day seeing their son play in the NHL. In reality, out of those thousands of kids, there might only be three hockey players on planet earth who are talented and mature enough to play in the NHL at the age of eighteen.
Right now as a gung –ho hockey family you’re saying to yourself. “My boy will be one of those three hockey players on planet earth that will be ready to step right in and play at the National Hockey League level at the age of eighteen years old… If your family decides to take the fastest route to the NHL and play Major Junior “A” hockey. Beware because there could be a price to pay at the end of your son’s career, and that price could be your son’s education. 
First of all, as parents, why would you want to put your son’s life in jeopardy by trying to become one of those three hockey players who will play in the NHL at the age of eighteen years old? If your family wants to play that game with your son’s life I can’t stop you, I can wonder warn you. But a smart hockey family will look at the overall picture differently. I’m not saying that all Major Junior “A” hockey players don’t graduate from high school and go on to lead healthy lives.
What I’m saying here is it’s very easy to see how your son’s education will be on the back burner during his Major Junior “A” hockey career. Your family has to remember that your son is only sixteen years old when he leaves your family’s home to Major Junior “A” hockey. As parents, the distance between your family’s home and your son’s new hockey town will determine the amount of times your family will see your son during the eight month hockey season. At this time, I would like to give your family an example of what could happen to your son during his first year of Major Junior “A” hockey. This is what I mean when I say your son’s education could be in jeopardy if your family decides to play Major Junior “A” hockey.
During your son’s first year of Major Junior “A” hockey, your son will leave his family’s home and live at his new hockey land – parent’s home in his new hockey town. Your sixteen year old boy will now be hanging out with 17, 18, 19 and 20 year old boys at school, bars and of course, on the ice. During your son’s rookie season, he won’t be seeing a whole lot of ice time. His new hockey coach might only play our son three shifts a game because of the calibre of play of Major Junior “A” hockey.
As gung-ho hockey parents, this isn’t going to sit well with your family, especially when you start seeing NHL scouts in the crowd and your boy is sitting on the bench again. Your family’s frustration level will be at an all-time high as you watch your son sit on the bench game after game. Night after Night, you will be on the phone with your son’s agent trying to find out why the coach is always benching your son.
Your agent tells your family that the coach feels your son is making to many mistakes in his own zone. “Every time, I put that kid on the ice the other team scores a goal”.  “Maybe when he’s eighteen years old, I’ll start playing him on a regular basis, no guarantees…..” After your agent’s phone call, your family now knows that for the next two years your boy will be sitting on the bench. Your family won’t even want to go to your son’s hockey games anymore due to the frustration it causes you to watch your boy sitting on the bench.  
Your family will need deep pockets during your son’s Major Junior “A” hockey career too. It’ll cost your family $100.00 dollars in gas to travel five hours somewhere on a Wednesday night to watch your son sit on the bench. Let’s say you and your wife grab something before the game at McDonalds, that’s another 20.00 dollars. At the rink you and your wife pay for parking, coffees, that’s another $15 dollars gone…. By the time it’s over your family just spent $135.00 dollars plus your time to watch your son sit on the bench as his hockey team lost yet another hockey game 6-1.
To make things worse, your son can’t even ask the coach to trade him to another hockey team because, med way through the hockey season, you son’s stats are:
Games   Goals   Assists   Points       PIM
42            3             6           9                10
As parents, you’re running out of answers, your wife now on medication from her doctor and your son is an emotional mess because of his current hockey situation. As a hockey dad, your temper is at an all – time high and you’re about to blow a gasket on the coach the next time you see him. 
When the game is over, you have fifteen minutes to visit with your son. He’s crying his head off to his mother telling her how much he hates his coach and teammates. He doesn’t know if he has the will power to finish the hockey season. During your family’s fifteen minute visit with your emotionally upset son, do you think either parent will mention your son’s grades in History and Science class? 
As parents you will be trying to get your boy through another day of Major Junior “A” hockey.  The Canadian Hockey League is all about surviving on a daily basis, it’s a cut throat business and your son has to deal with people who don’t always have his best interest in mind. Believe me, I know when your son is crying in front of you the last thing on your family’s mind will be your son’s failing grades at school.
This example above happens all the time during kids first year of Major Junior “A” hockey and this is the reason why your son’s education could suffer if your family decides to play Major Junior “A” hockey.
Let’s continue with our example of what could happen to your son during his first year of Major Junior “A” hockey. Let’s say, one night after your son’s hockey game someone in your family ended up yelling at the coach. Now the situation is beyond repair and your family has asked to be traded to a different hockey team. The coach immediately agrees that a trade is needed here.
Here’s some important information that your family needs to know about regarding hockey players being traded to different hockey teams.
When a trade occurs in Major Junior “A” hockey, NHL scouts want to know who’s to blame in the situation, the hockey player or the coach. The scout’s question will only be answered in time. Here’s the reason why, when a hockey player asks to be traded to a different hockey team, there’s never a winner between the coach and the hockey player. Both names will be tarnished in the professional hockey world.  
Remember, it takes only five minutes to get a bad reputation in professional hockey and a lifetime to lose that bad reputation. I will tell your family right now that no NHL organization will touch a player who has a bad reputation. Think about it for a second, why would an NHL organization sink millions of dollars into a kid that has a bad reputation in the hockey world. In most cases what an NHL scout will do in a situation like this is write both names down in his scouting book and make a note of the disturbance. Since it was both the coach’s and the hockey player’s first disturbance in professional hockey, the scouts will give them both the benefit of the doubt the first time around.
After the trade if the same disturbance occurs to either the coach the hockey player, it will be clear to everyone in professional hockey that the coach or hockey player causes problems wherever he’s coaching or playing hockey. From that moment on, that particular hockey coach will never get a coaching job in professional hockey again.
Once again the same rule applies to the hockey player who was involved in the same trade. If that particular hockey player runs into the same on or off ice problems with his new hockey team then NHL scouts will now know that this player causes problems on every team he plays on. Moving forward this particular hockey player will have a black mark beside his name for the rest of his professional hockey career.
In professional hockey there’s always a chance of getting fired when the coach you employed didn’t work out or when the hockey player you drafted didn’t become superstars. Keeping this in mind, would you take a chance on hiring a coach or singing a hockey player who had a bad reputation in professional hockey?  Or would you hire a coach or sign a hockey player who had a great reputation in professional hockey?
As a NHL GM, it’s like having an insurance policy with your NHL owners. When you sign coaches and hockey players to NHL contracts that have great reputations in professional hockey as opposed to bad reputations. The reason being is two years down the road if that particular coach or hockey player doesn’t work out. Chances are the owners will want to fire their General Manager. As a General Manager, your only chance of keeping your job at the end of the season will be by telling your owners that the coach or hockey player came to other organization with great recommendations from our NHL scouts and the rest of the hockey world. That’s why I signed that particular coach or hockey player to a NHL contract.
After the owners take all this information into consideration, they decide not to fire you as their General Manager for hiring that coach or signing that hockey player to a NHL contract.
The flipside to this situation is that GM’s won’t have that insurance policy with his owners when they sign a player or coach that had a bad reputation in the hockey world… They will be fired immediately.   This theory and insurance policy applies to NHL scouts with their NHL General Managers as well.
Now if you were a NHL Scout would you draft a hockey player that has a bad reputation, of course you wouldn’t!!!
Here’s another situation your family should know about when you decide to let your son play Major Junior “A” hockey at the age of sixteen years old. There will be a good chance that your son will go through some sort of emotional breakdown after his Major Junior “A” hockey career is over and your son didn’t go on to the NHL. 
When any child leaves their family home at such an early age, there always seems to be consequences later on in that person’s life one way or another.  All parents who have older children who are now adults remember the growing pains  each family member endured during their child’s teenage years.  Sit back and remember how hard you were on your own parents were on you during your teenage years. Remember all those nights when you and your dad were butting heads and your mom always had to calm things down around the house. Then one day, when you were in your early twenties, you either went to school or you started working in the real world.
What I’m getting at here is you made it through your teenage years in your parents’ house. Your parents were watching your every move then, and when it was all said and done, you are now a well-adjusted adult with morals and values. Capable of dealing with everyday life, when your son is playing Major Junior “A” hockey he misses that hard love that parents provide during teenage years.
Your son will be living with strangers better known as land parents. Your son’s new hockey family won’t provide that hard love that your son needs during his teenage years. Here’s the reason why before these people were land parents of hockey players, they were just hockey fans who enjoyed watching Major Junior “A” hockey games. One day the hockey fans decided it would be fun to have a hockey player live with them on a daily basis. The last thing your son’s new Land Parents want to do is upset their new hockey player. The Land Parents will let your son come and go as he pleases. They will treat your son like he’s an adult during his teenage years.
As parents, I want you to hold yourselves responsible right now for your son’s future. Yes, your family can decide to play Major Junior “A” hockey and take a chance of trying to be one of those three hockey players who’ll play in the NHL at the age of eighteen years old. Or you can make sure your son takes the safest and smartest route to the NHL by playing University Hockey. While your son is playing University hockey, he’ll receive a University Degree for free… That way your son’s eggs aren’t all in one basket, it’s not all or nothing like it is for hockey players that choose the Major Junior “A” route to the NHL.
If your son plays MJA hockey and he doesn’t make enough money to retire after his hockey career is over and your son doesn’t have at least a Grade 12 education, guess where your son will be headed after his professional hockey career is over?  Who knows? This is where the mental breakdown occurs with hockey players. It will take a couple years for your son to get his life back on track.   
Remember your son is accustomed to working two hours a day in front of 20,000 people. After the game, he’ll sign some autographs before heading down to the team’s local bar in town. While he’s drinking beer and chasing women into the early hours of the morning, he’ll then sleep all day and get up to do it all over again.
As parents you now know what could happen to your boy if he plays MJA hockey. Yes, MJA hockey is the fastest route to the NHL. But there’s a safer way to the NHL and that route is University Hockey. Even after being a First Round Draft Choice, if I could do it all over again, without hesitation, I would choose University Hockey over MJA reroute to the NHL. No matter what I say about MJA hockey, I know there will be hockey families out there that will play MJA hockey instead of playing University hockey.   

Friday 9 December 2011

Hockey Agents


How the business side of professional hockey will affect your son’s everyday life on and off the ice. Read this manual very closely and follow it step by step during your son’s journey to the NHL.
Your family’s new #1 rule in your household moving forward is.
 “Never let the game of hockey use your son, always make sure your son uses the game of hockey.” 
Your family’s new #2 household rule is. “Never trust anyone’s advice in professional hockey that could, and will, make money off your son’s talent during his professional hockey career.” Yes, this includes your son’s agent advice too. 
From this moment on, this hockey manual is the only booklet that your family can fully trust when it comes to getting the right hockey advice regarding your son’s career. Now that I’m retired from playing professional hockey after fifteen years and even after being a first round draft choice of the Boston Bruins. I can honestly say, while I was negotiating my first NHL contract. The business moves I made off the ice KILL Me on the ice.  Without a doubt, if your family doesn’t know how to protect your son from the business side of professional hockey. It WILL COST your son millions of dollars when his during his hockey career.
During your son’s journey to the National Hockey League, it’s easy for an inexperienced hockey family to get caught up in the spider webs of the business side of professional hockey. This manual will give your family the knowledge needed to protect your son from the B.S.O.P.H. Most importantly, the question and answers in this manual are in the order that the questions will present themselves during your son’s career to the National Hockey League.
The first question that your family may ask is: “As a hockey player, do I need a professional hockey agent? And if so, how do I acquire one?”
Before I answer this question, does your family remember one of your new hockey rules to live by?  When it comes to the B.S.O.P.H. unfortunately, that includes your son’s agent too. That’s a pretty big statement your family has just read. As a family, your next question should be: If we can’t trust our son’s agent, then who can we trust?  Good question, keep this in while your family is reading this chapter regarding professional hockey agents.
During your son’s journey to the NHL, Professional Agents will be the first businessmen in professional hockey that your family will run into after hockey games. This introduction usually takes place when your son is about fifteen years old. As you already know, agents don’t talk to every hockey player they see. Agents only talk to certain hockey players that they personally think will make it to the NHL.
When an agent thinks he could make money from your son’s hockey talent, he might try and get your son to sign one of his own representation contracts. Don’t sign one of those representation contracts between a hockey player and an agent. A simple handshake will do just fine. If your family’s handshake isn’t good enough for that agent then say good –bye to that agent.
Believe me, your family’s handshake will be good enough for the next hundred agents that are waiting in line to represent your son, especially  when these agents are asking for four percent of your son’s NHL Contract. I would like to show your family the amount of money it will cost your son to get an agent to represent him during his NHL contract negotiations at four percent.
Example,
Let’s say your son signs a million-dollar NHL Contract.
Four percent of $1 million dollars is $40,000.00 dollars.
Now let’s say, your son signs a contract for $10 million dollars.
Four percent of $10, million dollars is $400,000.00 dollars!!!!
Can you imagine writing a cheque to your son’s agent for $400,000.00 dollars? That’s a lot of money you just gave that agent. Something else your family should know before you give this agent 4 percent of your son’s NHL Contract is that the NHL bargaining agreement between the players and the owners reads as follows:
When it comes to NHL draft picks there is a new salary cap in place during a player’s first NHL contract. This means a draft pick can only make so much money during his first couple of years in the NHL.  Remember all those promises of money your agent made to your family when he first met your son? With the NHL salary cap in place, negotiations between a player’s agent and NHL management are pretty much predetermined already.
Now can you imagine your son writing a cheque to his agent for $400,000.00 dollars for making a few phone calls to your son’s NHL General Manager? It’s absolutely absurd!  Tell your new agent that he’ll be getting paid a flat rate for your son’s first NHL Contract. The amount of money that I would like to see your son pay his agent for negotiating the first NHL contract would be $1000.00 dollars…..  Your son’s agent is still over paid for making a ten minute phone call.
Now after your son has paid his agent his fee of $1000.00 dollars take the other $399,000.00 dollars that I just saved your son and put that remaining money into your son’s own bank account. The fact of the matter is, for as long as I can remember, agents have taken advantage of young hockey families because they don’t know the B.S.O.P.H. Agents have made a ton of money off hockey player’s NHL contracts. From this point on , I would like to see that hockey players and their families get the agents standard fee of four percent instead of the agent.
Now you know my personal feelings regarding the standard agent fees of four percent.  Now let’s talk about how your family goes about  getting representation for your son. If your son wants an agent, all you have to do is pick up the phone and start talking with potential agents regarding representation. But before you do that, I want your family to keep a few things in mind when interviewing potential agents. For starters, does your family know what qualifications an agent needs before he can legally represent a professional hockey player?  Absolutely now qualifications, that’s right, anyone and everyone can be an NHL agent.  
Hockey agents are normal people just like you and l. Keeping this information in mind, don’t be shy or intimidated when interviewing a potential hockey agent.  Make sure your family finds the agent in the hockey business to represent your son.  Don’t ever think you owe your current agent anything except the truth.
If a year down the road, your family finds a hockey agent that you think would do a better job representing your son then your current agent, all your family has to do is call up your son’s current agent and say farewell to him. And just like that your son has a new agent. Professional hockey is all about making money in a short period of time.
In previous paragraph, I told your family to make sure you find the best hockey agent in the business. Here’s why, don’t think that NHL General Managers like giving out millions of dollars to unproven NHL draft picks. A general Manager’s main objective is to save his NHL Owner as much money as he possibly can. Especially when it comes to signing unproven NHL draft picks.  As negotiation talks begin, NHL General Managers come out of their corners punching and kicking, trying to get naïve hockey players and their families to sign NHL contracts at bargain basement prices.
Here’s your family’s thing household hockey rule: You shouldn’t sign the first or second contract offer from your NHL General Manager. Usually by the third offer you’re getting close to the organization’s final dollar amount. Here’s my advice to an unsigned draft pick going into contract negotiations for the first time with a NHL General Manager. Research how much the draft picks ahead of you signed for, then have a predetermined dollar amount. This will give you a good guideline to go by. NHL GM’s love scaring unsigned draft picks, so your family should be prepared for an emotional, roller-coaster ride.
NHL GM’s will turn up the heat during negotiation time. Your family must stay focused to protect your predetermined dollar amount.  And remember, it’s just business, it’s not personal. After your son has signed his new NHL contract, the General Manager will have nothing but good things to say about your son. If your agent ever warns your family before contract negotiations even starts, by saying.  “It’s going to be tough getting big money out of your son’s NHL General Manager, be very critical!!!”
Turn around and fire the agent immediately!!!! Why would you want an agent like this representing your son, especially during the most important negotiations of your son’s lifetime…. Remember, your family is dealing with a professional businessman and there’s no room for errors during your son’s NHL contract negotiations.
The bottom line here is if your agent can’t do his job off the ice, get some on who can before it’s too late.  You want your agent going into contract negotiations with the attitude that failure isn’t an option.  Let your agent know that you won’t settle for anything less than the best.  Believe me; your agent will get the message quickly. It’s critical to your son’s career that he has the best hockey agent in professional hockey, especially when it comes time to negotiate your son’s NHL contract.

Getting to the National Hockey League

My hockey blog and manual will be about the how to's of picking the best Professional Hockey Agents in the hockey business.  Plus making sure your son's agent is right for him. 

Should my son play Major Junior "A" Hockey or should he play University Hockey? Inside this hockey blog and manual, I’ll show your family the pros and cons of each route to the National Hockey League.

Also inside this hockey blog and manual is the best Major Junior "A" contract in the hockey business. One for both parents and son....

Picking the right land parent for your son when he plays Major Junior A hockey.

NHL Contracts, everything your family needs to know about NHL contracts is also inside this hockey manual. If your son signs the right NHL contract he’ll be a multi – millionaire for the rest of his life. If he signs the wrong NHL contract, he’ll be buried in the NHL team’s minor league system. This hockey blog and manual will show your family in detail how to protect your son from the business side of professional hockey during your son’s journey to the National Hockey League.

Tuesday 6 December 2011

Shayne Stevenson NHLer at 18.

As a young boy growing up in Canada, l can still remember watching Hockey Night in Canada every Saturday night with my family.  Like most other children that played hockey around the world my dream was to play in the National Hockey League one day.  At the tender age of nineteen, my dream became a reality I played my first game in the NHL.  I remember saying to myself as I was walking onto the ice that night in Boston Bruins famous black and gold road uniforms.  I had to be the luckiest kid in the world right now!!!  My first NHL exhibition game was against the Montreal Canadians and my first NHL league game was against the Minnesota North Stars.

My hockey background went as follows,
First round draft pick of the London Knights,  6th overall  in the Ontario Hockey League midget draft.
First round draft pick of the Boston Bruins, 17th overall in the National Hockey League draft.
Ninth Picked Forward in the world in the 1993 Expansion Draft to the  Tampa Bay Lightning organization. 

As you can see for yourself, that I was drafted in the first round of every possible hockey draft on Planet Earth…. Not bad for a kid who grew up in a small town of Aurora, Ontario at the time with a population of 10,000 people playing single “A” hockey.  Even after being a first-round draft choice and playing in the NHL. I can honestly say, l still have to work today…. 

As a young hockey family, ask yourself this question:  How could a first round draft choice of the NHL not be able to retire after his playing days are over???  The truth is in Professional Hockey this happens all the time.  I can only say one thing looking back now on my professional hockey career. If only l knew the business side of professional hockey like l know it now, l would be worth $20 million dollars more today. I want you as a parent and player to always keep this in mind at all times when reading my hockey manual. About how to protect your son from the business side of professional hockey.  During your son’s journey towards a career as a professional hockey player young hockey families will be faced with life changing hockey decisions that will affect your son’s life, for the rest of his life… If not directed properly his hockey journey towards one day of playing in the NHL will soon be over.... This is why, I put together this blog, I’m going to show young hockey families how to protect their son from hitting every pot hole in the road along the way... .

My hockey manual was written after I retired from playing professional hockey.... I figured this was the best way I could give back to the hockey community around the world.. This hockey manual I put together is worth millions of dollars to your son.  I have laid out the safest route to the National Hockey League for your son to take.  I’m going to show your family in this blog and my hockey manual how to miss all the pot holes that I hit in my career.  In most importantly… “Never let the game of hockey use your son… Your son always uses the game of hockey” 
( Stay Tune… More valuable hockey information to come in the near future on how to protect your son from the business side of hockey.... My hockey manual will be available to your family to invest in in the near future, just copy righting the book at this moment in time...)