For many of you who follow my writing, you know I have coach at every level of Junior Hockey. I have not coach at the NCAA though. To be sure I am now to old to experience that.
In my experience though, numbers always tell a story about player, teams, and development. Number alone do not tell complete story, but they can for sure help in making determination on many thing.
The NCAA is a great level of play. I have been to many game as a spectator in the last few year, and it is second to none. For decades, it play second fiddle to Major Junior, but no more. Don’t believe me? How about these number:
305 NHL players played NCAA hockey. That is 31% of the players in the NHL.
In the last 7 years, 35.5% of the players making their NHL debut played NCAA hockey. In the previous 7 years 23.6%. That is a 12% increase.
58% of all Undrafted NHL players come from NCAA hockey.
5 of the top 10 NHL goal scorers played NCAA hockey.
9 of the top 26 NHL point scorers played NCAA hockey.
4 of the top 7 NHL rookie goal scorers played NCAA hockey.
4 of the top 7 goals against average leaders played NCAA hockey.
Perhaps most impressive is that 85% of all NCAA men hockey player graduate with a degree.
So why are these number changing to show the NCAA is becoming the one of the best routes to the NHL? All you have to do is ask the NHL scout and general managers, and you will get the very simple answer.
“NCAA hockey allows us to draft a player, or watch an undrafted player mature for a few extra years before signing them to a contract. A major junior draft pick we only have so much time to sign him before he ages out. The extra time to develop skill, physical and mental maturity is a great advantage. Players do not develop at the same rate, so an undrafted player at 18 may end up being better than the second round pick by the time he is 22.” According to one NHL GM.
“As a scout, I want to watch a player develop over time. We all know who the top players are, and that’s the easy part. Its the guys that you surround those top players with that will win you championships. Watching players over a longer period of time, lets you get to know a player and his rate of development. The NCAA allows that to happen, and the quality of players gets better every year.” NHL Scout
To be sure, Major Junior is still a fantastic place to develop talent. No one is saying that it is not as good as NCAA. What they are saying is that the extra time the NCAA allows, is definitely allowing for the player who is not the young super star to develop into the NHL player.
While not everyone is NCAA type player, and some will always prefer the Major Junior, the number do not lie. But you can draw your own conclusion.
Coach
