The CHL/NTDP Game Was A Disaster, Just Like It Was Set Up To Be.

Even amid the threat of looming change, giving good players the right settings isn't the priority.

We’re fully through two games between the 2007-born NTDP squad and a CHL All-Star team. The bout featured some incredible talents and future NHL superstars - like Michael Misa, Porter Martone, and Matthew Schaefer - and their performance in the pair of games cemented that status. The only issue; they all played on the same side. On the other side was the lowest-scoring class the NTDP has iced in over a decade. It features no breakaway superstars - with the argument of top player an even fight between guys like Jack Murtagh, Cole McKinney, and Conrad Fondrk. But it’s just as reasonable to argue that none of the above are this year’s American hero - maybe it’s Will Moore, or Richard Gallant, or it could even be Drew Schock. On a confused lineup, it’s hard to tell. And the CHL/NTDP matchup did absolutely nothing to fix that.

The event felt rushed together from the beginning, with early marketing reading “CHL v.s. USA Prospects” and NHL Central Scouting Director Dan Marr saying he was excited to see “the CHL and USA Hockey players to showcase their skills and attributes.” It painted a picture of this being Canada versus America - best draft talent from both.

But that’s not what we got. USA Hockey wasn’t at all represented - instead, this became purely the NTDP’s event. There was no inclusion of America’s actual top prospects. James Hagens, Shane Vansaghi, Cullen Potter, Ryker Lee… they were all barred from entry. Instead, the NTDP treated this like a college circuit, recalling two USHL players (Ben Kevan and Matthew Lansing) but otherwise icing the 2007 NTDP in full. Unfortunately, the 2007 NTDP is performing at an all-time low.

Let’s pull together scoring data from the last 13 NTDP squads - the 1996 squad to the 2008 squad. Doing that shows us a grim picture of this class’ production -

It’s clear how out of place the ‘07s look. they’re an all-time low - averaging just 3.34 goals per-game across two seasons, a full 0.1 behind any other class. can see very clearly how out of place the ‘07s look. Not only that, but the ‘07s are also the only squad to score less in their U18 year than they did in U17s - save for the ‘03s, who averaged 5.12 and 5.06 in their respective seasons. That’s what’ll happen when your top scorer - Potter - opts to buy out early and head to college. That debacle is worth its own rant (I’ll stick up for the NTDP that time) but it also goes to show exactly why this matchup needed to be more inclusive.

The CHL is not one team. It is not one league. It is a grouping of the three most represented leagues in the NHL. It is a juniors organization so prolific that the NCAA negged on their ‘professional play’ rule to include them - and we know how stubborn the Association can be. And while these leagues were pulling together their absolute best players, building a lineup that could be entirely featured in this year’s first round - the NTDP was doing little more than scheduling flights, with the plan to ice their lowest-scoring squad ever.

That doesn’t sound like a fun matchup, nor a particularly fair one. And the results on the ice showed exactly that. The CHL rightfully dominated, taking game one 5-1 and game two 3-2. It was a fantastic showing for the Canadian side. Schaefer looked perfect as always, Lakovic showed his energy at the top stage (kid’s a stud), Desnoyers and Carter Bear were solid. They all showed why they have bids for the top 10.

If the goal of this weekend was to showcase Canada’s best talents against a blank canvas, then woo-boy was this a success. That’s exactly what happened. The NTDP couldn’t keep up. There was the occasional bright spot, but no American was making the ‘standout’ list out of good faith. Charlie Trethewey, Jack Murtagh, and Cole McKinney were the only ones to come close. For all the positives, plenty of players faced just as many negatives. Patrick Quinlan got absolutely lit up. Joey Slavick didn’t even see the ice, because for some reason - the goalies weren’t swapped halfway through either game for some reason (because, y’know - these games are serious). The only silver lining was how well Harrison Boettinger stood up to the Canada barrage in game two. But even then, Boettinger isn’t even draft eligible - and the point of this matchup, the oomph behind the advertising, and the determining factor for Canada’s lineup was that these kids are 2025 draft eligible. America’s best player didn’t even fit that category.

Absolute worst of all, the game got chippy fast. Not able to match pace while facing a team of future-NHL stars, the NTDP resorted towards throwing hits with their hands and elbows UP. There was an insane 39 penalties across the two games, split 22-to-17 America-to-Canada. Of those penalties, 18 were checking penalties, including a check to the head courtesy of Maceo Phillips (-to his credit, hard to hit anything else when you’re 6’6”).

The last thing this game needed were any injuries. Both sides left unscathed, but the clear mismatch of talent and painting of this as a rivalry matchup encouraged the chippy game we got. That’s completely unnecessary for such a meaningless and half-baked game.

But it’s what we got. And now, USA Hockey gets to leave the weekend looking worse than they ever have before. Look at what the muckrackers are saying. Frank Seravalli is trying to waive the white flag for all of USA Hockey because of just how blatant and incredible the imbalance in talent was. Now we’ve got a tidal wave of momentum behind (very valid) cries for “Schaefer first-overall!!” while the true title holder James Hagens twiddles his thumbs in Boston, denied an easy chance to kick the monkey off of his back in front of an electric crowd. And that sucks - because the NTDP does not represent all of USA Hockey.

Let’s be clear. These two games failed miserably when it comes to properly showcasing American talent in the 2025 NHL Draft. Yes it’s a down year, yes the NTDP is weak, yes they lost their top scorer this summer - but none of that is why this looked so bad.

This failed because it was not a considerate representation of the draft-year talent in America. It was that for Canada. But the actions and decisions by the American side ensured that it was specifically an NTDP event; meant to show off NTDP talent. And the fact that the NTDP made that concerted effort with their lowest-scoring class in over a decade, and against a historically great Canadian class, shows the extent of blind pride that had to go into it. Hell, the fact that Blake Fiddler, the captain of the Hlinka Team, played two games AGAINST a Team USA shows the oversight!

Listen, do I think that a fully-beefed Team USA is beating the CHL lineup we got? No. You can build an adequate top-10 of just the forwards on that Canada lineup, and I wouldn’t argue it. The 2007s are better in Canada. The point is not that the lack of consideration behind this matchup disadvantaged us of an on-ice product. It did, but more importantly - it simply disrespected the “showcase” setting it was advertised as. Superior draft-year talent was left at home… or simply just on the bench, with no ice time.

We are in unprecedented times for hockey in North America. Major changes for the CHL, USHL, the NTDP, and USA Hockey as a whole are yet to come - and the rumors that I am hearing suggest it could bring a new way of thinking about juniors entirely.

American hockey has produced some amazing players, at an amazing rate, and at all levels over the last 10 years alone. But our momentum started slowing a while ago. And rather than finding ways to band together, or actually make this about the kids, in a moment of looming change - we are continuing to see the evidence of survivorism, hierarchy, or arrogance seeping through the grates.

The 2007 NTDP soldiers are troopers. They’ll get to look back on this day and very likely say they took on multiple future NHL legends. But they also got their butts’ kicked. I hope that pisses some of these kids off - because there’s so much potential in this class. Jack Murtagh is already a bruting force on the ice; McKinney is a fantastically technical thinker and hard-worker; Fondrk is sharp in all three zones; Belle/O’Neill/Phillips could all be great pros on size alone; and there’s plenty to say about Kvasnicka’s motor. These are good players. They’re good people. They’re good families. And a lot of these kids are set for long pro careers.

But this event sucked the last of the wind away from USA Hockey’s ship. It’s bleak. Seravalli’s report outlines that well. It didn’t have to be this way, and it will continue to be this way if we continue to act like the NTDP stands for all of USA Hockey. I have countless people tell me, “well the NTDP is a USA Hockey all-star team” and that simply isn’t true anymore. It’s foolish to think. Maybe in 2019 - but not anymore. It may be where the money is, where the NHL connections are, where all the roads lead to in Midwest hockey - but to run the parade only down one street is to lose the heart behind small markets (and the people who make them up) that are central to what USA Hockey is. Those markets are special. They’re true hockey. And they are going to need support in these new waters. I hope - or with this rant, plead - that this blundered showcase finally paints clear the need to finally do things together - or at least cuts through this toxic cloud of petty competition over community.