LETS ICE THE TAMPERING Tha game must eliminate the practice of tampering.

Now that we have your attention, let’s just go ahead and say it; coaches that try to poach players from other rosters lack respect for the game. There’s no other way around that fact, either the coach is one of the good guys or simply on his way out of the game.

As I see it, we are talking about three different types of offenses here so let’s go through them.

FROM A LOWER TIER-

Team from a higher tier recruits player from lower tier without going through the lower tier team’s coaching staff. Coaches that try to do this are essentially biting off the hand that feeds them. The higher level team should offer some type of trade or arrangement to the lower tier team.

In the case of tier III, the player has already compensated the team for the developmental costs, so the team deserves nothing but the handshake while benefiting from being listed as the previous team.

FROM TIER II –

The tier I team should be compensating the tier II team that has endured the developmental expense. “Should” is the key word here.

FROM A HIGHER TIER-

I’m not going to try to pull the wool over your eyes here, this section is all about the non-sanctioned leagues infatuation with itself. Let’s face it, the North American Hockey League (or Canadian Junior Hockey League) is going to have a difficult time trying to poach players from the United States Hockey League or even the Major Juniors.

The problem here is the continued pattern of abuse and misinformation that gets passed to prospects in regards to some of the non-sanctioned leagues. Those coaches continue to try to tell prospects that their league is superior to the NAHL (and CJHL) but the facts tell a completely different story. On the ice, where all arguments of this nature should be settled, the non-sanctioned leagues want nothing to do with having to face the NAHL in championship level competition. And that’s exactly why they stay out of USA Hockey.

Some non-sanctioned programs are running 100+ players within the club’s structure, yet has to poach players to remain competitive.

LATERAL POACHING-

Now I’m going to show my hand; this style of poaching has become a serious problem that needs to be addressed.

We are not seeing too much movement between the USHL and Major Juniors so the problem is not at this level.

We do see a lot of back-and-forth movement between the NAHL and CJHL leagues in Canada but USA Hockey and Hockey Canada have a really good handle on the process. The British Columbia Hockey League’s move away from Hockey Canada has complicated issues a bit. But those coaches are at a level where the in-season movement is minimal at best.

The big issue is at the pay-to-play level. From the league championships until the prospect signs and makes a payment for the following season, I encourage prospects to seek their absolute best opportunity. That could be at a higher level or even a different team at the same level. As far as I’m concerned, this is open season.

What really gets my attention is the lateral poaching that occurs after the player has agreed to play for a team and during the season. I continue to hear about direct team-to-player contact from all three sides of the Hockey Canada / USA Hockey / Non-sanctioned line.

This is 2024 and it is high-time that every team in the system learns to have respect for the others. Poachers should be called out publicly and embarrassed into submission.

But that’s just my opinion.