As hockey's development model changes, the USHL is betting on its identity

At first glance, Glen Hefferan seemingly has one of the most difficult jobs right now in junior hockey. 

As the president and commissioner of the United States Hockey League, he’s been tasked with helping the league figure out a new junior hockey landscape, one that notably changed this season when Canadian Hockey League players became eligible for NCAA competition after NCAA rule changes.  

NCAA eligibility used to be the USHL’s best pitch against the CHL when it came to landing top talent. Macklin Celebrini, for example, chose to play with the Chicago Steel for a season so he could go the NCAA route at Boston University. 

But after an NCAA season where players like Porter Martone and Gavin McKenna jumped from the CHL to the NCAA, with pretty success, CHL teams seemingly have stolen any edge the USHL might have had before in that regard. 

Not according to Hefferan, who discussed that topic and several others around the state of the USHL on Wednesday afternoon as a guest on Algorithmically Incorrect Hockey.  

“I think it’s becoming more and more evident that we know our role in the ecosystem and we want nothing more than to see our players advance to the highest levels of the game,” Hefferan said. “I don’t care if BU takes credit for a USHL kid that played a year and a half in our league and left in the middle of the season … if they announce Tynan Lawrence from BU (at the draft), we are gonna celebrate that.”

For the USHL, according to Hefferan, the system may have changed, but the league’s commitment to development hasn’t. The USHL puts more emphasis on practice and off-ice work than other leagues; it’s a 62-game regular season compared to a 68-game slate in the neighbouring Ontario Hockey League, and even if the playoff teams play more of a college-like schedule, with most games on Fridays and Saturdays. 

“That’s what they are going to experience in college hockey,” Hefferan said. 

While some CHL teams are more open about their new pathway to the NCAA, Hefferan says, on the whole, the USHL is the best one-to-one path to college hockey and isn’t afraid of what that means for players potentially leaving the league during their 18 or 19-year-old seasons. 

“One of the great things about the USHL is you don’t have to hide your college commitment,” Hefferan said. “When you are committed, we make a big deal about it. We wave the flag, teams wave the flag. If you are having to hide your college commitment from your team, you are playing for the wrong team.”

While there’s some competition off the ice between the USHL and CHL, something that the NHL has recently become more involved in, its support of both establishments, Hefferan would also like to see some of that competition between the leagues on the ice in the not-too-distant future. 

“We did try to organize something last year in the offseason, and there was a bit of a hiccup, and it didn’t get done,” Heffernan said. “I’ve actually raised that question to the OHL and CHL leadership about if there would be an opportunity to have a preseason set of games. I’ve had numerous scouts say, ‘If you pull that off, you’ll have the biggest scouted game in the entire season.’”

Hefferan has also floated ideas before of a Memorial Cup-type competition, perhaps a North American championship, with the CHL and USHL, and hasn’t been shy about whether the USHL would be able to compete. 

At the end of the day, Hefferan is pretty confident when it comes to the USHL’s path and future, something certainly emboldened by recent NHL support, and going forward, he looks at the current state as a challenge rather than a crisis.