USPHL Sees Nearly 50 Alumni Compete At NHL Development Camps, More Than Half From NCDC

By Joshua Boyd / USPHLNCDC.com 

A full survey of NHL teams’ Development Camp rosters showed that 47 former United States Premier Hockey League players competed at the camps, held to introduce prospects to the teams that have newly drafted them and re-evaluate past draft picks as well as newly invited free agents.

Despite a league history of just 10 years, the still young USPHL has been growing its profile as a feeder for National Hockey League teams, with 49 players having been drafted out of the USPHL since its 2013-14 inaugural season. No less than 14 players that skated in the NCDC have been drafted from among that number, including a North American Tier II record of three drafted directly from the NCDC in the 2021 Entry Draft. 

Some additional points of interest about the list:

• The Florida Panthers and Washington Capitals each had four USPHL alumni at their Development Camps, while the reigning Stanley Cup Champion Vegas Golden Knights and the Vancouver Canucks were just behind with three alumni. 
• Out of the 47 former USPHL players listed, 24 are NHL Entry Draft selections by their teams, including the most recent being former Rockets Hockey Club 16U player Nicholas VanTassell, selected by the Ottawa Senators in Round 7 of the 2023 Draft. 
• Six of the 47 are players who signed contracts as free agents with their NHL organizations, a list topped by former Boston Junior Bruins goaltender and Dineen Cup Champion Yaniv Perets. This is the same Yaniv Perets who helped Quinnipiac University to their first NCAA Division I National Championship this past spring and was a two-time Hobey Baker Finalist. He signed with the Carolina Hurricanes shortly after the NCAA championship game. 
• Eighteen of the 47 players were Development Camp Invites, or players that the NHL teams might potentially sign as a free agent in the future. This group includes nine former NCDC players, among these being past Dineen Cup Champions Justin Pearson (Islanders Hockey Club, 2018), Luke Rowe and Mike Brown (Boston Junior Bruins (2019) and Liam McLinskey (Jersey HItmen, 2021). 
• Two recent USPHL Premier players earned Development Camp roster spots. Former Chicago Cougar Mats Lindgren (2020-21) was a 2022 Draft Pick of the Buffalo Sabres. Lindgren also volunteered to be mic’d up during the Sabres’ Camp. Additionally, former Elmira Jr. Enforcer Jack Rogers (2020-21), currently with St. Cloud State University, earned an invite to the Washington Capitals Development Camp.