The Great Junior Hockey Migration Is Coming Hundreds of players are about to discover that nothing is guaranteed.

There is a dirty little secret about junior hockey training camps that families often do not understand until it is too late. The roster you think you have today may not be the roster you have tomorrow.

Across the Canadian Hockey League, United States Hockey League, British Columbia Hockey League and North American Hockey League, teams are bringing enormous numbers of players into training camp. It is not necessarily because coaches want to create chaos. It is because they have no choice.

Coaches do not know exactly who is going to show up.

A drafted player may report. A tendered player may arrive. A veteran may return. A player who was expected to move on may decide to come back. A player who verbally committed somewhere else may suddenly become available. Until the players are physically in camp and competing for jobs, coaches are making decisions based on assumptions.

So they bring more players.

A lot more players.

Then the cuts begin.

That is when the real migration starts.

As of today, we expect more than 500 players to find themselves looking for another opportunity as higher level junior camps finalize their rosters. That number represents a massive influx of talent into an already crowded junior hockey marketplace.

And here is where things get particularly interesting.

Players currently sitting in Canadian Junior Hockey League and North American Hockey League camps should not get too comfortable. The player sitting beside them today may not be there a month from now, and the player replacing him could arrive directly from a CHL, USHL or BCHL camp.

These are not players who suddenly became bad hockey players.

They simply did not make a higher level roster.

That distinction matters.

A veteran CHL player released from camp can become an immediate target for an NAHL organization. A USHL player who misses the final cut can instantly become one of the most attractive players available to another league. The same applies to players released from BCHL camps.

The trickle-down effect is real, and it is about to become a flood.

We expect roughly 20 percent of the players participating in the NAHL Showcase in Blaine to be playing for a different team less than a month after leaving Minnesota.

Think about that for a moment.

One out of every five players at one of the most important events on the NAHL calendar could be wearing a different jersey before the month is over.

That should tell families something about the current junior hockey landscape. Making a roster is important, but making a roster in August or September does not necessarily mean the battle is over.

It also explains why some NCDC coaches are losing their collective minds over what is coming.

NAHL teams understand that their available player pool becomes much smaller once the season gets underway. When higher level camps begin releasing players, those organizations will have an opportunity to add players with experience, pedigree and, in many cases, significant upside.

Some NCDC coaches would like to see players released from their camps remain within USA Hockey and stay available for potential callbacks rather than immediately jumping to another opportunity.

That may be a nice idea for the coach.

It is not necessarily a nice idea for the player.

Players and families have to make decisions based on what is best for the player, not what makes another organization's roster management easier. Once a player is released, he has every right to explore his options.

This is exactly why families need to stop thinking about junior hockey as a straight line.

Plan A is the team you want.

Plan B is the team you can live with.

Plan C is the opportunity that keeps the season, development and future moving forward if Plans A and B disappear.

Those plans should exist before the first puck is dropped.

This is also where having an experienced advisor can make a tremendous difference. The junior hockey landscape is complicated, and not every organization operates the same way. Understanding which teams are legitimate fits, which opportunities make sense developmentally, what questions need to be asked and which situations should raise red flags can prevent a player from making a decision that damages his entire season.

There are plenty of good people running good junior hockey organizations.

There are also operators who will say whatever they need to say to fill a roster.

Families need to know the difference.

A player who is released from a higher level camp is going to be vulnerable. He is disappointed. His family is disappointed. Suddenly somebody calls and says, "We have a spot for you."

That phone call can sound pretty good.

Sometimes it is.

Sometimes it is the beginning of a disaster.

The objective should never be simply finding a jersey. The objective should be finding the right situation for the player.

That means understanding the coach, the organization, the roster, the billet situation, the cost, the player's projected role, the development opportunity and what happens if things do not work out. Families need to understand what they are getting into before they commit, not after the player is already across the country.

The next few weeks are going to expose just how fluid junior hockey has become.

The CHL, USHL and BCHL will finalize rosters. Players will be released. Those players will begin calling agents, advisors, coaches and teams. NAHL organizations will look for upgrades. CJHL teams will have new options. NCDC teams will fight to retain players. Pay-to-play organizations will continue waiting for the higher level dominoes to fall.

And the dominoes are going to fall.

For some players, that will be bad news.

For others, it will be the best thing that ever happened to their hockey careers.

The difference will often come down to preparation.

Do not wait until Plan A collapses to start thinking about Plan B.

Do not wait until Plan B disappears to start looking for Plan C.

The families who understand the landscape, ask the right questions and have legitimate options ready will be positioned to take advantage of the chaos.

Everyone else will be chasing the leftovers.

The great junior hockey migration is coming.

And for hundreds of players, it is about to become very real.