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THE USHL DRAFT
(AS OF FEB 15, 2008)

USHL Draft and Player Procurement Procedures Explanation

The procurement of players for USHL teams follows a cycle that emphasizes drafting players at an age when players are physically and mentally mature enough to play a regular shift in the USHL. Junior hockey is a business, and the last thing the USHL wants to see is a high school junior (grade 11) being away from home, away from his parent’s supervision, in a new high school and all the while not playing a regular shift.

Here is how the USHL player cycle works for the 2007-08 and 2008-09 seasons.

1) At the beginning of the 2007-08 season, each USHL team can have 23 players on their active roster. These are the actual players on the team, playing the games.

2) October 3, 2007 marked the first of two drafts that the USHL holds each year. This draft is called the “Futures Draft” and is named so because the players selected in this draft are not expected to play in the USHL during the 2007-08 season.  This is because they are too young to make an impact for the current season. The 2007 Futures Draft restricted teams to selecting players who were in the 1990 and 1991 birth years (16 and 17 year-old players). Each team drafted until their affiliate player list reached 12 players.  These are the players who they will keep on a protected list through the 2007-08 season. These players continue to develop at a lower level of hockey during 2007-08, whether that be midget, high school, prep school or a lower level of junior hockey, with the hopes that they will enter the USHL in 2008-09, a more complete player and with another year of high school under their belts.

3) Once the Futures Draft is completed each team will have a 35-man protected list which is comprised of their 23 active players and 12 future players and this structure is kept in place through the 2007-08 season.

4) The second and main USHL draft will be held May 14, 2008. In preparation for this draft teams will make adjustments to their 35-man (23+12) protective lists.

1. a)      Teams will delete players who have aged out past 20-years-old.
2. b)      Teams will delete players who are advancing to the NCAA.
3. c)      Teams will delete players on the futures list who have not developed

Typically teams will have 9 returning players, as 14 on average will be graduating onto NCAA Division I hockey.  This is an average, not a guarantee.  Some teams will protect more players and some will protect less.

Once teams have pared down their protective lists they will draft enough players to get their protective list to 30. For example, if a team protected 14 players from their 35 man list they will draft 16 players in the main draft.

The 2008 draft will primarily be a draft of 1990 and 1991 players because it is 17 and 18 year-old players who will be able to make an impact and play a regular shift in the USHL during the 2008-09 season. 1992 and 1993 birth year players are able to be chosen, but few are as they typically will not be ready to play a regular shift during the 2008-09 season. For example there are only 9 1991 birth year players in the USHL in the 2007-08 season.

5) Teams will have their training camps/tryouts in June and July. Teams will typically have 60-80 players at their training camps. 30 of the players at the camp are returning players or drafted players that the team has protected. The remaining 30-50 players are invited by the team.

By July 1st, 2008 teams must be down to a 25-man protected list from all the players that were at their training camps in June. On average the 25-man list consists of 9 returning players, - 5 players from the October 2007 Futures Draft, 6 players from the 2008 May main USHL draft and 5 invited walk-ons from the training camp in June.  Again, this is just an average and teams can have a different distribution of where the players on their protective lists come from.

Because the USHL is a relatively small league with only 13 teams, and each team only drafts a small number of players relative to other leagues, there are plenty of undrafted players who make the USHL every year.

*Note that players who are not protected by a team may attend several USHL training camps.

6) Teams take their 25-man roster to the USHL’s Fall Classic at the end of September 2008. The Classic, formerly known as the Buc Bowl, is a pre-season event where all the USHL teams gather in one USHL location to play in front of over 100 NHL scouts and all 59 NCAA schools.

7) Right after the Fall Classic and just prior to October 1, 2008, each team will reduce their roster to 23. These 23 players are the team’s active rosters for the 2008-09 season.

8) On October 7, 2008 the cycle is completed when each USHL team will participate in the Futures Draft and draft until their affiliate lists consist of 12 players who are 1991 or 1992 birth year players. Teams will then be back to their 35-man protective list of 23 active players and 12 future players.

Notes:

-Unlike the WHL, OHL and QMJHL players typically spend a 1 or 2 years maximum in the USHL before going onto NCAA Division 1 hockey. In Canadian Major Junior hockey players usually leave home during their grade 11 junior year and spend 4-5 years away from home playing in the junior. In the USHL, players spend their grade 11 junior year and sometimes their grade 12 senior year at home securing their high school education before advancing to junior and then college hockey.

-Each USHL team can have two imports on their team. This is mandated not by the USHL but by USA Hockey. An import is any non American or player whose family does not reside in America. A team could actually get three imports on their roster if one of their imports comes back for a second year in which case he can be grandfathered and the team can add two additional imports.