He Said What? Comparing the CHL and the NCAA

Recently, I wrote Comparing BU’s Jack Eichel to Other College Hockey Greats for the Hockey Writers and apparently one of my comments in a post caught the eye of a CHL fan.

Since McDavid plays in the OHL and Eichel plays in college, it’s almost impossible to compare the two players’ stats. First, Eichel is playing against older players in college hockey. Second, McDavid is racking up points against younger players in the OHL. This is not a slam on either league. Both college and Major Juniors are good routes for development and both players are great talents.

However, we can compare their WJHC numbers. In his first five games for team Canada, McDavid scored (2g-5a—7pts). On the flip side, in five games Eichel scored (1g-3a—4pts). For the sake of comparison, Dylan Larkin who scored (5g-2a—7pts) was the top player on team USA.

Comparing Eichel to the other first round draft choices on the USA WJC team, Alex Tuch scored (1g-1a—2pts), Sonny Milano (2g-2a—4pts).

One of the questions that I wanted to explore was how does Eichel compare to other college hockey greats? Since Eichel has only played 16 games, I am not sure how much of a comparison we can make. In my opinion, the only statistic that we can use to compare him to the others college hockey greats is points per game. (read the rest of the post)

Nevertheless, college hockey players are playing against older, stronger players in college hockey. The players in the CHL are playing against younger players, there's statistics to back this up.

I found this article and it does a good job of explaining it. Most college hockey fans know this as well. The person in question, didn't

“The game is more intense,” Gadowsky said. “I think that makes it more difficult to put up a lot of points. The rosters in college dictate that every player that’s on the ice, is going to be at a very high level.”

The disparity in size and ability between a 16 and 20-year-old is much different than that of a 21 and 25-year-old, he said.

Though there is no fighting in college hockey as there is in major junior hockey, older college-aged players will be more equally developed in strength and stature than their younger counterparts in the CHL. (Matt Nestor, the Daily Collegian) 

 The fact remains, the CHL and the NCAA are both great routes for development. There's no debating this. The CHL is a great route to the NHL if you're a high draft pick. If you're a late bloomer, the NCAA route is probably better.