Rolling the Dice

As Paul pointed out last night, Hockey Canada President Bob Nicholson has suggested changing the age at which teenage hockey players are draft eligible from 18 to 19.  He cites a statistic indicating only 12% of Canadians play in the NHL before age 20.  He also uses the draft class of 2003 to support his argument, claiming the 2005 NHL lockout forced many current NHL stars to spend another year in junior hockey, which supposedly benefited their development.

I?m not so sure it?s fair to draw a correlation between the amount of time a player spends in junior with his performance as a professional.  Some players spend five years in junior hockey, and have incredible overage seasons, but obviously that doesn?t guarantee them success at the NHL level.  With that said, I understand why 18-year-olds are being rushed into the league faster than ever before, and I can also see why Hockey Canada and the Canadian Hockey League is dismayed by the situation.

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Jason Arnott David Clarkson Patrick Davis Tyler Eckford Mark Fraser Andy Greene