BUFFALO—Call ’em growing pains.
If you’d tuned into the NHL Network on Thursday night to see the USA Hockey All-American Prospects Game, you might have wondered if they’d given out the wrong starting time.
Nope. That’s just how many people were there.
Now in its fourth year, it’s going to take some time for this game to catch up to the event it’s trying to mimic, the CHL Top Prospects Game, which has become a highlight on the major junior calendar every year and usually a well-attended, hotly competitive game.
Then again, the CHL showcase has had its ups and downs, too.
At the First Niagara Center, it was mostly family and friends, such a small crowd they could only charge a lean $5 for to leave your car in the arena parking ramp.
Now, had the highly touted Auston Matthews been involved in the game as Jack Eichel was last year, perhaps there might have been a way to whip up more interest. But Matthews is playing for Marc Crawford’s Zurich side in the Swiss Elite League, and even though the rest of what appears to be another very strong crop of American players was on hand, it wasn’t enough to attract a bigger crowd.
Jeremy Roenick coached one team while former Buffalo Sabres centre Derek Plante coached the other. Roenick’s son, Brett, played youth hockey with Matthews in the Phoenix area, and the former NHL star said he thinks Matthews did the right thing bypassing the CHL and NCAA to go to Switzerland. “I was surprised, but he’s developing so fast, he’s got to take a step up,” said Roenick. “It was time for him to do something different.”
The other challenge is the timing. None of the players involved have actually started their seasons, making it a pre-season showcase with players in pre-season form. Still, it’s a chance to get a peek at the best Americans playing in the CHL, USHL and NCAA, and as such is a tool to begin getting a bead on the most promising prospects. “Scouts love comparisons,” said Plante, whose team won 6–4. “They’ll see these players a ton more before the draft, but first impressions often stick with you.”
These are very good times for USA Hockey, with quality players coming from every state in the nation now, it seems. Three of the top eight picks in last June’s NHL Draft (Eichel, Zack Werenski, Noah Hanifin) were Americans and four more (Kyle Connor, Colin White, Brock Boeser and Jack Roslovic) were taken before the first round was over.
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For the 2016 draft, the Arizona-reared Matthews is likely to battle Sarnia defenceman Jakob Chychrun for the No. 1 overall pick. Chychrun, the son of former NHL defenceman Jeff Chychrun, is from Boca Raton, Fla. and holds dual citizenship. After growing up playing for the Florida Jr. Panthers, he was denied a chance to play in the USHL as a 15-year-old and went north to play in the GTHL for the Toronto Jr. Canadiens. Now, after skating for Canada in the world under-17 tournament, he seems committed to play in the Hockey Canada system, although he could still switch and play for the United States.
So if Matthews and Chychrun (just back from a six-month rehab stint after shoulder surgery) go 1–2, you could argue it would be the first time two Americans have gone with the first two picks in the NHL Draft. Hockey Canada, of course, might see it a bit differently.
After that, Matthew Tkachuk of the OHL London Knights—son of Keith—seems likely to go in the top 10, and possibly teammate Max Jones, too. Boston University commit Kiefer Bellows (son of Brian), Logan Brown of the Windsor Spitfires, U.S. National Team Development Program defenceman Chad Krys, Sault Ste. Marie winger Tim Gettinger, big blueliner J.D. Greenway and USHL Fargo Force winger Riley Tufte are other first-round possibilities.
The best player in Thursday’s game, meanwhile, might have been University of Wisconsin centre Luke Kunin who formed a nice tandem with Tkachuk. So it could again be a big year for U.S. hockey at the NHL draft. “It’s another chance for me to show I can hold my own with the best,” said Erie Otters winger Alex Debrincat, a 5-foot-7 revelation last season in the OHL.
But on Thursday night, in a nearly empty building featuring a non-physical style of hockey similar to the NHL all-star game, the spirit of the game didn’t match the promise of the group. “These are the best players in our country,” said Krys, a speedy, puck moving defender. “When you get exposure like this, you can take a lot out of it.”
Roenick remarked how different the American development chain is now from the days when he came up, drafted eighth overall as a Massachussets high school junior by the Chicago Blackhawks in 1988. “Back then it was almost unheard of for a U.S. high school player to go in the first round,” he said. “To get noticed, you almost had to go north and play major junior in Canada.
“But just as 1980 inspired us, when we got good and became a world power, our generation definitely helped create this new mentality for USA hockey.”