College Hockey May Suffer from New CBA
Andy Baggot has an interesting piece in today’s Wisconsin State Journal about college hockey teams being put in a tough position because of the new CBA:
When the NHL lockout ended last month, it was thought college hockey would be one of the big beneficiaries. The new CBA featured a major reduction in entry-level salaries, which spawned the belief talents like Eaves would be more inclined to stay in school all four years.
Except the new CBA also mandates if a college player doesn’t sign with his NHL club by Aug. 15 of his graduation year, he becomes an unrestricted free agent. Previously, a NHL team had signing rights until a year after graduation.
Rather than have their hands forced three or four years down the road, NHL general managers have stated they will be more intent on signing college underclassmen now. Eight schools have already been affected, including Colorado College and Michigan, which have lost two underclassmen apiece.
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