WCHA optimistic over ending early departures

WCHA Commissioner Bruce McLeod is optimistic about the NHL's willingness to work with college hockey to address the concern about the growing number of players who sign professional contracts before their eligibility has expired.

McLeod believed a positive step was taken last month at the American Hockey Coaches Association convention in Naples, Fla., when NHL Deputy Commissioner Bill Daly and NHLPA Executive Director Paul Kelly met with the group.

"We came up with a number of ideas that need to be put on the table with [NHL Commissioner] Gary Bettman and the NHLPA," McLeod said. "We have some different ideas but not a consensus. We hope later in the summer to get everybody in the same room and discuss this."

McLeod said there is a meeting scheduled in late June in New York, but the target for resolving this is in early August, when a meeting will be held in Detroit.

McLeod and his colleagues aren't necessarily upset about NHL clubs that sign players and keep them on the roster. What is a concern is when players are sent to the minor leagues. "The number of signings have more than doubled since the NHL lockout ended" in 2005 and a new collective bargaining agreement was put in place, McLeod said. "But the number of those signings with players going right to the NHL hasn't changed at all. That's the issue for us."

College hockey officials would like to see deterrents, such as what the International Ice Hockey Federation and Canadian major junior leagues have in place. Those leagues are compensated if a player does not stick in the NHL, and there are restrictions as to when players can and can't sign.

Some of the ideas being floated to help the college game include NHL teams losing a draft choice if a player is signed but then demoted or some type of monetary reimbursement that could go to an organization such as USA Hockey. "Right now, we're easy pickings for the NHL," McLeod said.

Kelly said in an e-mail: "While we continue to have an ongoing dialogue with the college coaches and the NHL, we have made it clear that the NHLPA will not agree to any change that will have a detrimental effect on a college player's rights under the CBA."