Early Exits

This is an interesting conundrum that the NCAA and the NHL are going to have to work out eventually before it comes to a head. I personally think that some NHL GM's don't respect the college game. Every off season there is a stream of players leaving their college teams early for the professional and or the major junior ranks. Fans of the WCHA have come to expect players leaving during the offseason; none of us expect them to start leaving early during the season to sign professional contracts. To me it is a character issue when a player quits/leaves his team during the season to sign a professional contract or leave for Major Juniors.

The Kyle Okposo situation was down right silly; we ended up having an artillery dual in the media between a college coach and a general manager over why a kid was signed during the middle of the season. I agree with the Denver Post writer, he makes some great points. There should be a rule once a player plays a game with his college team, the professional team that owns his rights should have to wait till after his college season is over before he can be signed to a professional contract. It should be the same with free agent players as well…

NHL must discourage early exits
By Terry Frei
The Denver Post

Imagine that a star Colorado tailback has a falling-out with the coaching staff at midseason, mysteriously is left home from a trip to Iowa State (causing some to speculate that he actually is being rewarded), leaves campus, explores his options and ultimately signs a contract with the Green Bay Packers the next week.

The apocalypse would be upon us.

Something similar is happening in college hockey.

The NHL should implement a rule that once an NCAA player appears in one game in a season, he can't be signed until his team's season is over.

It would remove the temptation for college players to bail the first time they have a grievance with their coach or a fight with their campus girlfriend, or for NHL teams to be the equivalent of obnoxious rink parents who pry their kids out of a program if they're not getting enough ice time or star treatment.

The need for such a rule will be evident tonight, when the Minnesota Gophers and University of Denver Pioneers open a two-game series at Magness Arena.

The Gophers lost winger Kyle Okposo at midseason, when he signed with the New York Islanders. The Isles tried to rationalize it with general manager Garth Snow's sophomoric whining that respected UM coach Don Lucia was impeding Okposo's development.

DU sophomore forward Brock Trotter, the Pioneers' leading scorer, signed Thursday with the Montreal Canadiens (ironically, owned by Vail resident George Gillett Jr.), and was assigned to the Habs' minor-league affiliate, the Hamilton Bulldogs.

The Trotter Saga isn't a Dick Francis-written equine mystery, but still is a mystery nonetheless.

The difference between hockey and football is that the NHL's draft age is roughly 18 — and teams retain players' rights. NHL organizations generally wait as all but the absolute elite prospects play major junior in the Canadian Hockey League, college hockey in the U.S., or in Europe. But the NHL's patience is diminishing.

Okposo was the seventh choice in the 2006 NHL draft. Trotter, 21, hasn't been drafted. This almost certainly wasn't a case of the Canadiens coaxing Trotter off campus. He seemed to advertise his availability to NHL organizations and junior teams after he didn't make the trip with the team to a series at Minnesota State last weekend, and Montreal stepped up with a free- agent offer.

DU coach George Gwozdecky has refused to say why Trotter was left behind last weekend, and Thursday night, he still wouldn't say whether Trotter had been kicked off the team. It seems safe to assume he was at least suspended.

Yet even if Trotter had no opportunity to return to the DU roster this season, the NHL must avoid being allowed to even further popularize the perception among college players — drafted or undrafted — that one of their options if they run into or cause trouble during an NCAA season is to sign a pro contract immediately.

Coaches accept collegians leaving early, usually only grousing when they feel that NHL teams encourage drafted players to leave programs to play major junior instead, or sign them when they're physically not ready for pro hockey.

But the NHL's post-lockout collective bargaining agreement lowered the threshold age for free agency and in other ways added to the pressures for NHL teams to sign their draft choices sooner — even if it means sending them to the minors.

"It's certainly a concern that one or more of the elements of the CBA may be working to facilitate the earlier signing of college players, and to the extent that's happening, it's obviously not consistent with the intent of the parties," NHL deputy commissioner Bill Daly told me recently. "We are committed to working with the colleges and with the Players' Association to monitor signings and trends, and to try to address these issues in a positive way, if at all possible."

For the good of all, the NHL can't allow itself to even subtly encourage players, whether drafted or undrafted, to leave college programs in the middle of a season — or to make them think they could end up rewarded for being suspended or kicked off teams. The NHL can't help plant the thought that you don't have to run home to Mommy and Daddy in the middle of a college season . . . because one of the options is to see if an NHL team will hand you a lollipop and immediately sign you.

Players to leave/dismissed from their college team (recent list)
1.) Brock Trotter DU
2.) Kevin Quick Michigan
3.) Brett Motherwell B.C.
4.) Kyle Okposo UMN
5.) Chris Wilson UNO
6.) Tony Grieco UND