The NHL-CHL agreement

[NWTHabsFan]

This is an interesting article that shines the light on the long-standing agreement between the NHL and CHL. That agreement prevents players who are drafted from the three CHL leagues to play in the AHL before their 20 year-old season. The main premise was to keep young stars playing in the CHL and attracting fans rather than having them bolt to the AHL to start their pro career shortly after being drafted. The article makes references to the development approach in Sweden and Finland, and how the kids there get exposure to pro hockey sooner and it appears to help their adjustment to making the NHL.

There is one point that is not addressed in the article, and one that I have always thought is a very positive attribute of supporting player development in those major European hockey nations. They have a vertical system. Pro teams in say Russia, Sweden and Finland have affiliated (or fully owned) junior teams. It is quite common to see upwards and downwards movement of teenagers during the season. They may start in the J20 league, and end up getting promoted to the pros if they are playing well. And conversely, they can be sent back to juniors if that is better for their development. For example, Norlinder started the season in J20, moved up to the men's league, and then was sent down for the J20 playoffs and was named MVP of those playoffs. All those countries also have second men's leagues as well, and you will sometimes see players being loaned to Division 2 teams if they are not quite ready for promotion to the main men's league. For example, there was much debate at the start of the KHL season if Romanov would be playing in the KHL, loaned to the VHL (second league) or sent back to the MHL (junior league). In the end, he earned and stuck a position with the eventual KHL Gagarin Cup winners.

I know there was the overly-long Lefebvre period where most of us were quite happy to see European drafted players stay with their home clubs as development was better at home than on a floundering AHL team with no proven player development capabilities. Now, the AHL is a decent option for EU drafted players, although there is still a very compelling case to allow them to continue to develop in the well-established and competitive vertical systems in place in Sweden, Russia or Finland. For our CHL drafted kids, it is CHL or NHL only.

Personally, I just don't see the NHL-CHL agreement going away anytime soon. That relationship just seems too cosy. The drafting rule I really wonder about is the requirement for NHL teams to sign CHL drafted kids within two years of the draft. All other players (Europeans, Junior B, NCAA guys) all get four years (and five years for kids who stay in junior B in their D+1 season and then play 4 years in the NCAA) get more time to develop before the NHL team has to commit to their contract. Is 2 years too short or should that stay the same?

[seventeen]

I agree with that premise to an extent. We have discussed numerous circumstances where a prospect may have been better off in the AHL than juniour, but that was never an option. I"m reluctant to give all the blame to the CHL agreement, though. I suspect that training techniques, coaching and other factors (distances from home) play a role in the improved development of Euro players compared to CHL players. The US, for example, has their NTDP where the best kids are funneled and likely exposed to better coaching and better competition. Whatever the reason, Canada is falling behind and one can see that just in draft quantity and quality. It would be interesting to see the stats for the number of Canadian kids making the NHL compared to others as a percentage of overall players enrolled in minor hockey. My guess is that Canada would be in the bottom 25%.

The article didn't address how those pro teams in Europe come to 'own' the player's rights. In Canada, they're drafted at 18, of course. How is it done in Sweden or Finland or Russia? Is it like the old days in Canada when children were signed to a contract at 13 and 14 years of age?

[blny]

I don't see the arrangement ending either.

The CHL is so professionally run, with many teams averaging more fans per game than some AHL clubs. I think that exposure to playing in front of large, noisy, crowds is underrated.

Perhaps there could be an exception rule. The CHL has one for 15 year old kids. Maybe the two leagues could agree to have NHL clubs allow one player (at a time) move from their CHL club to the AHL affiliate. Might be a decent compromise.

[Cranky]

I don't know how ANY of these agreements can hold up in courts if they become too encompassing.

To clarify something....an NHL team does not OWN a players playing rights, the team owns who is allowed to play for them. So nobody owns Billy-Bob, just own the right to use his services. Billy-Bob can choose to play for or any other league.

It skirts labour laws and given that a player has other options to earn his living, meaning, play in other leagues, it's pretty hard to fight "restricting my ability to earn a living" in court. In this case "develop ones abilities".

Hockey is not beyond the labour laws....particularly if they get in front of an activist judge.