LETS ICE THE TAMPERING The 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.

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 if this is being done during the season.

It's clear that the United States Hockey League feels they are equal to the teams within the Canadian Hockey League, but they have stepped over the line when it comes to the demand of ridiculous transfer fees this season. I find the USHL's position to be ironic considering how they have treated the North American Hockey League and even Canadian Junior Hockey League over the years.

What about the off-season? The courtesy of a phone call would be nice, but it appears some teams feel it's beneath them to contact a coach from any lower level league. Especially if that team is from a league on the opposite side of the sanctioned/non-sanctioned line than they are standing on.

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 player's previous team.

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 leagues. A lot of that misinformation comes from media sources.

Some coaches continue to try to tell prospects that their league is superior to others but the facts tell a completely different story. 

The exception is the British Columbia Hockey League. While the BCHL has taken hits with the loss of top operators to the Western Hockey League, the BCHL still stands ahead of the NAHL in the eyes of NCAA Division I coaches. There are ZERO player fees within the BCHL, this includes the fact that the teams are responsible for out-of-town player billeting.

On the ice, where all arguments of this nature should be settled, I would love to see some type of championship level competition that brings the leagues together. 

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

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

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 2025 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.