Typically I do not pay too much attention to any junior hockey league draft beyond the first through third rounds. traditionally the Major Junior Bantam Draft rounds one through three are where you see the best players taken. The USHL draft is often similar to Major Junior with the exception of this years draft being expanded beyond previous years.
I was asked to provide an opinion of the NAHL draft based upon this website receiving hundreds of emails seeking explanation on some of the results. Usually I would not have paid attention to the NAHL draft because in past years, draft picks have been cut just as often as non drafted players.
Because the emails received were largely filled with complaints about pre draft camps and actual players drafted, I am taking the approach that drafted players will report to the drafting team and/or play for that team. TJHN does not have access too, or information on every player that attended a pre draft camp, and we can not figure out how many pre draft camp participants were actually drafted.
Players and parents need to remember that only 215 players in the entire world were drafted in the NAHL out of millions of available players. To not be drafted puts you in the majority of players, and not the minority. It is also important to understand that drafted players can only play for or try out for the team that drafts them, limiting their opportunity.
To many people complaining about the USHL and NAHL draft results, it seems the complaints are much the same as each other. Saying “my son played with ##### and he is better” or “##### doesnt even have near the points my son had”, or statements along those lines it sounds like bad attitude.
Of course many players get over looked in these drafts. Of course some players get taken that should not get taken. Of course Coaches think they are making the right choices and many do not. It has always been and will always be this way.
What I can figure out is simple math. What we can see from that math is where drafted players are coming from. If that math helps you determine where to play in the future, or how the teams scout, then that is up to the reader to decide.
Perhaps you are making the choice of playing in the wrong place for scouting purposes? Perhaps your decisions on where to play are being influenced more on what you think and less on what actually happens? Perhaps you need to stop repeating what you have been doing year after year expecting different results? Breaking with what you typically do will almost always cause you to have different results.
Because the NAHL draft results have some listings of prior teams I was not aware of, these are the basic numbers I came up with.
Drafted Players by percentage level:
38% From Midget Hockey
19% From Prep or High School
13% From the USHL
10% From other Tier II leagues
10% From teams and leagues not clearly described, or Europe
7% From Various Tier III leagues other than NA3HL
3% From NA3HL
Many of the emails I have read were complaints about NAHL teams drafting USHL players. I would agree that this should never happen. Drafting players at higher levels is sending a message that a team cares more about taking chances on players than it cares about picking players they can develop. It sends a message that the team is more concerned with winning now than it is about building a development model.
28 USHL players drafted into the NAHL, four of them in the first round, and the first two overall picks were USHL players. It is no wonder why players paying to attend pre draft camps are expressing displeasure.
If the NAHL wants to draft USHL players, the NAHL should follow what the USHL does. Have two drafts. A futures or Phase one, and a Phase two where they can pick older players. If the NAHL really wants to serve the paying customer they should put a rule in place not allowing any USHL players to be drafted, or do yet a third draft after all USHL camps and cuts are completed.
In Canada, the Major Junior draft is very competitive. The difference is that every player selected or in consideration for being selected is contacted first. You do not see teams spending first round picks on players that may or may not play in the league. You do not see players selected in the early rounds if they have told the teams of their desire to play in the USHL or NCAA. You may see them taken in the later rounds as back up plans, but picks are too valuable to spend on “maybe’s”.
