Times change, morals evolve… there are just crazy people who don’t change their minds. The world of hockey is no exception to these principles, which are at least as old as the world.
The powerful American NCAA, which governs university sports in our neighbors to the South, is preparing to tear down the border between Canada and the United States.
From now on, Canadian junior players would have the right to join an American university program, which is until now impossible for them as soon as they have spent more than 48 hours or played a match in one of the three major junior leagues in the country.
The main motive of the Americans in this regulation was the consideration that the Canadian juniors were perceived as professionals since they pocket $600 monthly expense allowance.
The NCAA strictly prohibited any sponsorship allocations or partnerships for its athletes until recently. From now on, American college students can monetize their services to universities and cash in on succulent advertising contracts.
The most striking example is that of quarterback Caleb Williams who made more than $20 million to play at the University of Southern California (USC) last season.
This relaxation of the regulations is what allows the NCAA to open its doors wide to Canadian hockey players.
I find this motion to be absolutely dangerous. I am under the impression that once again, our Canadian hockey is submitting to the wishes of American hockey and that we are licking their boots without asking for anything in return.
Some see good in what is coming… I would like them to explain to me how Canadian junior hockey can benefit from this disaster.
A quality Canadian player who will be courted by the Americans will go running given the scholarship that will come with his passage south, and he is very likely to go there at 17 or 18 years old and not at 19 or 20 years after his junior internship here in Canada as some would like us to believe.
However, they say that compensation is possible. In this sense, a young American of 17 or 18 years old could easily come and play one or two seasons in Canada and then return to the university ranks of his country.
Will Canada find fairness in the level of play lost and regained? I doubt it. If a 17-year-old Sidney Crosby leaves for the Michigan Wolverines, there is little chance that the one who gets cut somewhere and decides to come play in Canada will be equal to or better than him.
What’s more, the Americans who come to our junior teams in Canada will occupy lockers that young players from back home would have occupied.
Unless our junior leagues take a hard line on their regulations on foreign players, which may be the case initially, but honestly it won’t hold water.
And I’m not even talking about money yet… how will our junior clubs, which are struggling to survive by paying a modest CAN$600 per month to their players, be able to compete with the major American programs which will not hesitate to paying between $100,000 and $250,000 US to young sensations like Connor Bedard and others? And all this, to play far fewer matches and never during the week?
And how will the National League manage the deadly regulation that forces its teams to sign a drafted Canadian junior under contract within two years compared to four years for an American college student?
Honestly, what is happening seems like a real disaster to me! A catastrophe which in the medium term could mean the death of the Canadian junior leagues or at the very least their in-depth overhaul.
Without saying that we could have easily avoided all of this, I think that resistance to the creation of a real Quebec university league could have partially mitigated the effects of this revolution in the making. A true college league and a highly funded national development program. Elements possible without the protectionism and outrageous obscurantism of the dinosaurs of Hockey Canada.
I’m sorry, but personally, I have lost my illusions and my confidence in the development of young Canadian and Quebec hockey players!!
