Tuesday, July 03, 2012

Is another college prospect being poached by an OHL team?

I wonder if college hockey teams will reconsider taking blue chip athletes from the USNDT it appears that another players from the Under 18 team is considering de-committing from his college commitment and going to the OHL. It appears that this college recruits might have some financial incentive to join said OHL team.
Matt Slovin, Michigan Daily --- An Ontario Hockey League source told The Michigan Daily on Thursday that Jacob Trouba may not be as set on coming to Ann Arbor in the fall as he has stated publicly. The source, speaking on condition of anonymity, placed the chances that Trouba, the ninth pick by Winnipeg in this year's NHL Entry Draft, honors his commitment to Michigan at “50/50.”

Trouba's OHL rights belong to the Kitchener Rangers who drafted him in the third round of the OHL's 2010 draft.

Regardless of where Trouba ends up, Kitchener or Michigan, the source says the defenseman will spend two years before progressing to the NHL, where he will be an “elite player.”

Monday night, a different OHL source informed the Daily that Kitchener has presented the Trouba family with a “huge offer” that remains on the table. The source added that he “believes it will happen.”

In place of an education package, the source said Trouba could be compensated to about $200,000.

Prior to last week's NHL Draft, the original source said the odds were stacked heavily in Kitchener's favor. But Trouba's promise that he will be playing for Michigan this season makes it a coin flip.
Based on this Daily Michigan article there is no way that the Michigan Wolverines can match the Kitchener Rangers generous offer – if they did Michigan would end up on NCAA sanctions.

According to The Wolverine, this is would be the 22nd player that the Michigan Wolverines have lost since 2000. This past week the Wolverines lost defenseman Connor Carrick to the Plymouth Whalers. According to Carrick, “it wasn’t about the money.” Yeah, I am sure all of us believe him after reading that the Kitchener Rangers have offered Jacob Trouba $200,000.00 one has to wonder what kind of money he was offered as well.

Since the Matt Slovin article came out Kitchener Rangers president Craig Campbell posted on his twitter page that the Trouba article is, "Utterly false."

Just for the record – OHL teams paying money under the table to incoming recruits is also not legal.
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