NCAA teams are already hard at work spying on players from the three circuits of the Canadian Hockey League (CHL) in order to prepare for the new regulations which will allow players who played in the CHL to make the jump to the American college level.
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“We started watching a little just to prepare,” said former head coach of the Laval Rocket and now pilot of the Clarkson University Golden Knights, Jean-François Houle. We wanted to be ready and recruit the players we want, whether in Quebec or Ontario.”
Houle assures, however, that they are paying more attention to older players, which confirms what many stakeholders in the hockey world believe that the biggest threat to the CHL will be that it will lose more players aged 19 or 20. .
“We look at 20-year-old players. We want players who can help us from the start.”
Nobody will lose
Jean-François Houle, who managed in the QMJHL from 2010 to 2014, believes that the new rules which will be voted on in the NCAA on November 7 will not create any losers.
“I see that in a positive light, for us it would be a good thing and for the Canadian League too. I think the CHL and the NCAA can work together and help each other.
“For a young player, he has the opportunity to be a major junior player and it’s excellent, I worked there and I loved it. It’s a good place to develop as a young player. If he’s not ready for college, he can continue his development for two or three years and then have the opportunity to get a scholarship and a college degree.”
-With the collaboration of Dave Lévesque
