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

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