The Sheet with Jeff Marek - On The Sheet: Dan MacKenzie (CHL President)

Episode Date: November 21, 2024

"On The Sheet" will be a series of long-form interviews that we'll be conducting throughout the season with a variety of guests from the hockey world.Our first guest is Dan MacKenzie, President of the Canadian Hockey League. MacKenzie has been around sports his entire life and before joining the CHL in 2019, he spent 20 years at NBA Canada working in several roles including vice-president and managing director.Jeff and Dan sit down to discuss the NCAA ruling (2:00), transferring scholarships (5:50), European players in the CHL (8:30), Memorial Cup (9:20), USHL teams entering the CHL (11:00), conversations with the BCHL and USHL (12:25), USHL teams competing for the Memorial Cup (13:50), CHL owners meeting (14:30), the CHL brand (17:00), Prospect Challenge in London and Oshawa (20:40), and the impact the NCAA ruling will have on U Sports (26:30).Get tickets to the Prospect Challenge here: https://chl.ca/prospectschallenge/Daily FaceoffX: https://x.com/DailyFaceoffInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/dailyfaceoff/Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/dailyfaceoff/TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@dailyfaceoff?lang=enWebsite: https://www.dailyfaceoff.com/The SheetX: https://x.com/thesheethockeyInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/thesheethockey/TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@thesheethockeyDaily Faceoff Merch:https://nationgear.ca/collections/daily-faceoff Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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Find your push. Find your power. Peloton. Visit Peloton at one you need, whenever you need it. Find your push. Find your power. Peloton. Visit Peloton at onepeloton.ca. Welcome to On The Sheet. Now, this is a series of long-form interviews we're going to do more of throughout the season with a variety of guests from the hockey world. Quick reminder, The Sheet debuts December 2nd across all daily face-off channels. With that, enjoy our first interview with the president of the CHL, Dan McKenzie. May you live in interesting times.

And Dan McKenzie, the president of the Canadian Hockey League, is certainly living in interesting times. And Dan McKenzie, the president of the Canadian Hockey League, is certainly living in interesting times. Let's face it, these may be the most interesting times in the history of the entire CHL. With the recent NCAA ruling about eligibility of CHL hockey players for Division I

hockey, I think you're like me, we have a lot of questions. Dan McKenzie himself has a lot of questions about how this is all going to sort itself out by next season and beyond. And while all of this is happening, there's a lot of balls in the air right now. We don't know how or where all of them are going to land. The CHL is staging a pretty cool event the November 26th and 27th in London and Oshawa next week. It is the CHL USA Prospect Challenge where on the ice,

you'll see probably half of the first round of the next NHL draft. Before you hear from Dan in a couple of seconds, I want to thank Carl Pratt and the Beaches Brewing Co. for hosting us

at this wonderful place. So let's have it. This is Dan McKenzie, the president of the CHL on the sheet. Dan, good to see you again. A busy time, a really busy time for you. I want to get to the CHL USA Prospect Challenge in a couple of moments here. But the big story, as NCAA has changed their regulations or how they view CHL players, the ripple effects are being felt everywhere. Everybody has questions at every level, players, managers, operators, parents, fans.

It seems as if there's a sort of big fog over all of it. And no one really knows how it's going to end up when the fog lifts. Let me start this way. Is the fog starting to lift? Are we starting now to see what this is going to end up looking like with all these different relationships? I think the fog is starting to, but I think the reality is it's going to take some more time. to, but I think the reality is it's going to take some more time. The interesting element to this is that, again, I've been asked by various people about the CHL-NCAA negotiation around this, and I have to stop with the folks and say, listen, there

was no negotiation. This was an NCAA rule that the NCAA changed. And although there was lots of signals that this was coming, until the text of the resolution was read and you really understood what you were talking about, it was hard to make exact decisions on what to do. So I think what you're seeing now is people are beginning to make decisions based on the reality of what was in there. But there's still a lot of unknown questions. And so we're in the process of determining how we go forward on a variety of topics. But in some cases, we just still need more information.

And so I'd say that if this was a hockey game, we're probably still halfway through the first period. Historically, there's always been a recruiting war, for lack of a better term, between the two sides. How would you describe the nature of recruiting right now or the conversations around trying to sell the CHL program versus sell the Division One program, given that we all understand where this thing is headed next August? Is it a temporary ceasefire? Is it a pause in hostilities? I know I'm drawing a lot of aggressive analogies here, but how would you describe what's happening with recruiting between the two? You're talking about it from a hockey league perspective. Let's take that to the side for a

second, CHL, NCAA, whatever, and just think about the player. And I think you look at the, from the player's perspective, we think overall it's good for the players and it's good for their families. So, and you've got kids who are playing elite hockey. At 15 years old, to have to make a decision as monumental as playing in the best development league in the world or foregoing that because you have an opportunity to maintain your eligibility, we think that not to have to make that decision anymore is good for players. And we think at the end of the day it's going to be good for the game. So we'll start with that. All we can really focus on our side is making sure that we're

doing what we do in terms of providing the best experiences for our players. And that includes on ice development, making sure we've got the best facilities and the best coaching staffs and the best training and schedule and opportunities to get better as a player, to prepare you as a hockey player for playing pro. And we think that we do that better than anybody else. And then on the flip side, as a student, we need to make sure that we're doing the best by our players in the classroom, making sure they have the right academic opportunities,

that if you come into the CHL as a B student, you're not going to leave as a D student. You're going to be B or better, those kinds of things. And I think that's an area where, for us, we're spending a lot of focus with our academic advisors on this new world because we never really before had to worry about, you know, what are the eligibility requirements

to get into the NCAA, to get into NCAA schools? What's the differential between various schools, et cetera, et cetera? And we're going to have to. So we're really in learning mode, I'd say, on that side of it to make sure that by next season, we can be in a situation where we can really add value to our players on the academic side, because that's an area that we haven't, and NCAA specific, we haven't really been focused on.

Sticking with the hockey player, the decision to play in the CHL, the decision to play NCAA, we all sort of see where the, how this, this pyramid is, is, is shaping up here. And I agree with you. I think this is what, this is wonderful for players, more options for players, better development overall. One of the things that I do wonder about, and a lot of people have wondered about is the 19 year old hockey player and the 19 yearyear-old hockey player. And the 19-year-old hockey player wanting and knowing how important 19-year-old high-end height 19-year-old players are to the CHL. The idea of trying to keep them in CHL programs and not squiring them to the NCAA earlier than perhaps some operators would like. When it comes to keeping 19-year-olds in the league, is everything on the table? And I want

to couch it this way. There was one first round draft pick that I know of who had that decision to make. And one of the things that he asked is, if I go to the CHL and not the NCAA can I transfer my academic scholarship to a family member I don't know what's on the table for keeping people in CHL but are you finding that a lot of your thinking now has to be differently creative than it was before absolutely i mean this change um is well you might know the actual like it's 43 years 44 years that the rule got put in ago it was in the in the 80s in the 80s used to happen i was i was in the kitchen yesterday and i was looking at their wall and and they have all their graduates and and there was you know there was us commits and then they just stopped in like the early 80s.

So if you're talking about, yeah, 20-something years, this kind of a rule is monumental change. And so to think that we're going to operate the same way we've been operating for the last 20 years in a world where you've got that kind of change is just ludicrous. So absolutely, we have to get creative. And we have to think about what the right pathway is for our players. And again, no one really knows exactly what's going to happen in terms of how player movement is all going to work. But we think that we're pretty well positioned to be a really, really high-end league regardless. And so we're going to be a great place for the 19-year-old player to develop and to get ready for, again, whether it be pro hockey or NCAA or U Sports or Europe. So we don't think that's going to change.

So we're really focused on that right now. But I think when you look forward, and let's project out five years, I think it would be safe to say that our commitments that we're going to make to our players are going to be very different than the way they're set up right now. I think that's just going to be the reality. You mentioned European players. Do you think at the end of all this, the CHL ends up getting more European players? Well, I think if you look at the historical commits

for European players to the NCAA over the years, it's really been rising in the last probably 15 years. And so I think the answer is yes. And I know that may have some implications on us in terms of, because right now we have a limit on the number of European players can be on CHL rosters. So we may have to look at that.

I was going to say, would you lax that? We might. I think that would be one of the, when you talk about the fog lifting and what changes we're going to make, I think that might be on the table. We'll see. But I do. I think there's going to be opportunities with European players. And I also think there's going to be opportunities with some families,

probably on the other side of the border, who never would have thought of playing in the CHL before because of the strength of NCAA hockey and the lure of that. And that might have a bit of an effect as well. One of the things that I thought of when the vote happened and things changed was the Memorial Cup. and thinking, okay, any successful market, I mean, there's a number of boxes you have to check, whether it's facility, whether it's accommodation, financial, and also quality of team.

Given that some players could go early, do you think that will be, and I'm thinking obviously of Medicine Hat, do you think that poses a risk for the CHL when deciding on a Memorial Cup host city? Potentially. I mean, it's a part of it. You sort of laid out that we have four quadrants that the Memorial Cup site selection committee focuses on. So business operations, hockey operations, community and theme, and then facilities and infrastructure.

But the hockey operations piece is a big piece. and then facilities and infrastructure. But the hockey operations piece is a big piece. As of today, it's pretty hard to project out 18 months out in terms of what a group of teenagers are going to be like as a team. That's where we're at right now. And we use the NHL. Colin Campbell and Dan Maher and Central Scouting spend a lot of time with us on that selection committee

evaluating each of the teams that's bidding. And they'll tell you it's very hard to do even today let alone you know with the with the real changes so I think what becomes more important in those scenarios then or in a future state would I think would be the quality of the GM quality the owner quality of the coach in terms of their ability to build teams that are going to be able to be competitive year in year out and so I think that becomes maybe a little bit more important but it could have an impact for sure. I reported not too long ago that two teams from the USHL had approached the Ontario League about joining or maybe what the process was or how it could work first of all am I missing any teams and second of, I know there's 60 in the CHL.

Could it, would it, should it get bigger? I think it's probably a little premature right now to determine what's going to happen in terms of teams going forward. It's been reported that our leagues are, two of our leagues have started talking about expansion. On the specific OHL matter you're talking about, that would really be a question for Brian. Of course.

Because those kinds of things happen at the league level versus the CHL level. But all I would say is it's a very interesting time. I've only been in this world for five years. And the amount of change that's gone on in five years has been unbelievable. And I think that when you look at, you know, having a rule change like the rule that, you know, the rule change with the NCAA eligibility, the ripple effects of that could be pretty wide ranging. And it could affect a variety of different aspects to the development pathway.

And what the future of the junior hockey infrastructure looks like is definitely going to change. And I think right now, I don't think we're shutting down any opportunities. I think we do need to learn a little bit more about the effects before we get too deep into how many teams are there going to be and where are they going to be and that kind of thing. How often would you, if at all, have conversations with the USHL, the BCHL as well?

These are two leagues that are seeing just the beginning of some attrition from their leagues into the CHL. We'll see what happens next season. But how much of an open dialogue is there between the leagues, if at all? At the league level? So I would say probably more with our US counterparts.

I think the BCHL, given their sort of the reality of where they sit right now in the system, there hasn't been a lot of formal dialogue. But I think on the USHL front, we have through, it's actually been through the NHL. The NHL organizes every year, they have a conference where they bring in all the various leagues in the system. And it's been through that process that I've had a chance to, myself and my colleagues at the leagues have had a chance to meet with folks like Pat Kelleher at USA Hockey and Glenn Heffern at USHL. And again, I'd say we have good relationships in terms of just working relationships.

There hasn't been any sort of broader discussions on any matters of the kinds of areas you're talking about, but the relationships are good. I think we're all trying to figure out what the implications of the rule change are, and all of our leagues are meeting pretty regularly on what those implications would be and how we're going to change to be able to meet the needs of tomorrow's player. One of the things I think that a lot of people have, have wondered about when one day down the road, could there, should there the USHL competing for the Memorial cup? Way too premature. I think, honestly, to talk about that, I think even, I mean, our leagues are structured so differently.

And so I think that kind of talk is just, is just very premature at this point. So I wouldn't want to, I wouldn't want to even speculate or get quoted as, hey, the CHL is talking about this. There's been no discussion on that. We're really happy with the way the Memorial Cup works right now. Four teams, host city, three league champions. Are there changes we can make to the Memorial Cup down the line

to make it better? We're always looking to make our events better, absolutely. But there's been no discussion on our end about bringing another league into the mix. You mentioned you've been in your role for five years. Since then, we've seen three new commissioners. And for the first time in recent memory, all 60 teams got together. How was that discussion?

I mean, overarching all of it. I mean, texting with people and talking to people. The whispers were all about the reality of CHL players in NCAA. But what was that like? And why do you think it took so long for it to finally come together? First of all, it was great. I mean, to get everyone in a room was really great. And one of the things, one of the objectives, honestly, the meeting, Jeff, was to just get people to meet each other. We had owners, some owners, members of the CHL, who they've owned their team for 25 years and had never met another 25-year owner from another league. And we sort of set it up in such a way that there were sort of two sessions, one at night on the Wednesday, one on Thursday in the morning. And we rotated the seating so everybody got a chance to sit through the two sessions, different people.

And we set up some things where people had to talk to each other. So I think just purely the idea of having owners sit down and talk to each other and share stories. And there's a lot of demand after to make sure that we shared the contact information of everyone who was there so they could stay in touch. I think that was really important. But we spent a lot of time on some of the issues of the day, as you and I have been chatting about. But we also, we wanted to share some data on various aspects of our business to make sure that everyone was up to speed. We wanted people to understand and feel that they were part of something bigger than maybe than their individual league and that they are members of a 60 team organization and not just

an 18, 22 or 20 team organization. Talked a lot about really the role of the CHL and what that could look like going forward. We talked a lot about the CHL brand and where does the CHL brand fit in connection with the leagues. We talked about things like standards. You know, should we have some national standards in certain areas? We talked about vision and values and should we have a common set of vision and values across all three leagues. So really fundamental, basic sort of building block types of things. And so we've got a bit of a to-do

list going, you know, coming out of that in terms of before we get together again, how are we going to action against some of those things? We're not there yet. We've got to do, got to do a lot of work. But I think, you know, the idea that we can work together as 60 in a bit more of a coordinated fashion seemed to be a common theme that people were really receptive to. Summer runs or playoff season meditations, whatever your vibe, Peloton has thousands of classes built to push you. We know how life goes. New father, new routines, new locations. What matters is that you have something there to adapt with you, whether you need a challenge or rest. And Peloton has everything you need, whenever you need it. Find your push.

Find your power. Peloton. Visit Peloton at onepeloton.ca. This is an exciting time for the CHL. As you mentioned, it's a changing time. And you mentioned brand a second ago and the CHL brand. And what does that mean now with three new commissioners involved? And this is not a slight on Ron or Dave or Gilles from previous, but there's a weight of history that they carried with them in their position. Do you find that now you're in a

position, you have a strong sports marketing background as we all know to do things with the CHL brand that perhaps you weren't able to do before yeah I think um first of all you know you mentioned Ron Dave and Shill and they they you know their legendary careers you know have done phenomenal job for junior hockey in this country and in the U.S. so kudos to that group I think that one of the things that we're dealing with with our group is that we have a – everyone's new. So I'm actually the most tenured one, which is scary, amongst the group in terms of being in junior hockey. But everyone comes from a business background. And I also think that the reality is none of us are going to have the kinds of careers that Dave, Ron, and Jill had in terms of tenure. I don't think anyone thinks that we're going to be in these jobs for 20 years.

And so I think there's a bit of an impetus to movement and action in the areas that make sense. And, you know, it's not just about the people, you know, who are in the commissioner's roles or myself. We have 60 constituents we have to work with. So I think that there is opportunity, I think, and I think there's going to be a window for us to do some things. But I think we have I think there's going to be a window for us to do some things. But I think we have the right people in place. Dan, Brian, and Mario have been excellent to work with so far. And I think we just have to identify, okay, what are the things we're going to focus on in terms of the CHL aspect of my role and their jobs?

Because they've got day jobs as commissioners of their leagues. And let's just go get it done. So I think that's going to be what our next steps are going to look like there in uh in talking with the the 60 different ownership groups 60 different operators was there sort of one theme of questioning concern uh through all and like was there was there one thread that sort of runs through because listen 60 teams is hard like this is cats and laser pointers i get it you know valdor is different than Calgary, is different than Barrie, is different than Vancouver, is different than Charlottetown. All have their unique challenges and different things that they want to do. But is there one sort of common thread of interest through all of them? Yeah, I think the reality, Jeff, is that the common thread, honestly, is the desire to offer great experiences to these players

and their families like you know hockey and school everyone does it differently I mean not everyone's in everyone the way that that experience gets delivered is different across all 60 but there's a common I'd say belief in the fact that you know developing players and and making sure we do right by our players and their families is the most important thing. Given the timing of the meeting, which was October 16th, 17th, I think it was, a couple weeks before the NCAA, the NCAA issue was on everyone's mind in the breakouts. There was a lot of talk from everybody. And that was really, I'd say, probably the dominant theme.

And then, again, like I said at the beginning, I think the other theme was just, again, just an interest in getting to know each other. Again, this was really early days. I mean, the group of folks we had in that room had never been in a room together before. So I think that was just having the dynamic of people sitting beside each other and having side conversations on issues that were important to each of their franchises one-on-one was a really invaluable piece that we heard a lot of in the feedback that we got after the meetings. Let me get to the prospect challenge,

because I think this is a really cool idea. I mentioned not too long ago on TwitterX that on the hockey calendar, like capital H hockey, pick all the leagues, this is one of the coolest events. I looked at this one selfishly and said, oh yeah, this is something you can sink your teeth into. You know, for the longest time we said, you know, of layer of the rivalry between Canada and the USA. And then again, on top of all of this is the NCAA ruling about CHL players. Like in a lot of ways, like this Rubik's Cube is sort of all coming together at the right time for it.

Yeah. So the genesis of it was, you know, once we got through COVID and some of the craziness that was marked by the beginning, my first few years, we started to look at our national events. So right now we have the Canada-Russia series got parked for obvious reasons. And so we started to think about, OK, what does our national event portfolio look like going forward? And so there's I'd say there's two pieces to it. I think we think the Memorial Cup, as I said earlier, is the right event to be doing the way it's operated now for now. There's a prospects game. And then there was the, and then we used to have Canada-Russia.

So we're still down an event. So we're still in the process of, you know, figuring out what that third national, we'd like to have a third national event at some point. We're still working on that. So we don't have anything to report there. If you'd like to break some news, like go ahead. Microphone's right in front of you. I'd love to be able to break some news, but we don't have any yet. But we're working on it.

But on the prospects piece, one of the realities of that age group, and you would know better than most, is the best draft eligible prospects from the CHL and the US never traditionally have played each other. So at the World Championships, Canada doesn't send its best team because we still have players who are playing in the playoffs in the CHL. And then the U.S. sends their best to the Worlds. But in the summer for Herlinka Gretzky, that group is turned over and they're on to the next group. So you never have sort of the best on best playing each other. And so our thought was, what if we modified the prospects game

in such a way that we had the best players in the U.S. playing the best players in the CHL? And so we approached USA Hockey about it, and they had an interest in exploring something. So we did a three plus one. So we're going to rotate the games amongst the three Canadian leagues, and then it's OHL this year, Dub next year, and then the Q after that. And then the U.S. will have're going to rotate the games amongst the three Canadian leagues. And then it's OHL this year, Dub next year,

and then the queue after that. And then the U.S. will have an opportunity to host if they choose in year four. And we'll, we'll see how it goes from, from the perspective of talent on the ice. We think that the skill level is going to be off the charts. I mean,

if you look at the draft projections, more than half of the first round is going to be on that ice when, when these two teams play each other. The Mises and the Martons and the, you know. You've got to throw Schaefer in there. He's like Bo Meester. You've got to throw Schaefer in there. Yeah, I was in Kitchener last night, Cam Reed.

Like, there's going to be some really good players on the ice. And so we think from a fan's perspective, seeing these best players compete is going to be great. But I think the added element that's really neat is there is going to be, I don't want to say unlike an All-Star game or a Prospects game, because it's an important night for those players, but a bit of a different, I'll say, edge to the game. And we've heard how important talking to our players

as well as hearing from players on both teams how there's going to be something on the line here. Players care about the systems they come through and where they're from. And so I think you're going to see a bit of that Canada-U.S. edge. I agree. And we think from a fan perspective, from a media perspective, and honestly from a scout perspective, the amount of interest that we've gotten.

And we talked to the NHL a little bit before we sort of put this game together. They had lots of interest in seeing these two teams play each other. And they really liked the idea of having it happen over two games versus just one. So the traditional prospects would be one game. And the fact that this is going to be a two-game series was something that they're really excited about. OK, I'm going to get way ahead of myself here. And you're going to say, well, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa.

The fog hasn't lifted yet. But could you see a day where, as part of the U.S. development program schedule, they play against CHL teams? It's way too early. You called it. You know, I don't know. Things have changed, right? And why not?

You know, I think you're projecting into a world where, again, we don't know what the infrastructure is going to look like. So I think it's way too early to say. For USA Hockey, having the opportunity to play in the Prospects Challenge against the top players in the CHL was a really good opportunity just from the ability of them to play high-level games. And so there's definitely a desire for that. But I think it's too early to say.

You know, we've had no discussions with anyone about something like that. That hasn't been a topic of discussion. You know, it's interesting early to say, you know, we've had no discussions with, with anyone about something like that. That hasn't been a topic of discussion. You know, it's interesting. You mentioned the scouts and that's where the, one of the first groups that I thought of when this idea of the prospects challenge CHL US, I would imagine that a lot of champagne bottles around Dan Mars office when all of a sudden, you know, him and his group can see all these players.

I mean, it's gotta be half the first round that you're going to see in London and Oshawa on the ice at the same time. This is new territory here. It is. I think the only thing that Dan's going to get a bit of grief over is the fact that it's the week of U.S. Thanksgiving. So guys are going to have to fly on U.S. Thanksgiving.

But outside of that, yes. I chatted with Dan a fair bit before we decided to move forward with this game. I think, again, as I said earlier, the two-game element to it, but just the expected compete level of the game and then the talent. Those three things combined, I think, is going to make this a scout's dream. I talk a lot about getting caught in the gears of history and when things change there's unforeseen events that no one saw coming and I want to get to that in a couple of seconds. I wonder about you sports through all of this I mentioned USHL and BCHL

previously and unfortunately anytime anything like this, and this is a seismic shift, the years of history, some get caught up. How sensitive are you to that? Sensitive to it? We've had multiple discussions with youth sports about, you know, and we've kind of kept each other in the loop. As I said earlier, there was this reporting that we were in negotiations with the NCAA, and I wanted to call Pierre and indicate to Pierre Arsenal, U Sports, no, that's not the case. This is an NCAA decision, and we'll adjust to it. From a U Sports perspective, U Sports has been an important destination for players in the CHL for years.

Personally, my personal belief is going to be that I think the U Sports is still going to be a really great option for a lot of players. I think especially for kids who maybe know that, you know, an NHL career is not going to be in their future. If you're, if you're from, you know, if you're from Canada and you're, you want to stay close to home, play high level hockey and, and, and, you know, get a jumpstart on your career by using your CHL scholarship, you know, I think sports is still going to be a really viable option. And so I think'll be some adjustment in terms of where the players go. And I think what will end up happening is I think under the CHL,

I think you're going to see some alignment. I think Junior A is going to become more aligned with the CHL going forward. I mean, the top-end Junior A player has been sort of keeping their options open for NCAA. I think with the change, that may change. And you might see a bit more of an alignment in the development system. And so if what ends up happening is there's going to be some players going to play in NCAA, I think that'll create opportunity. And I think it could create more opportunity for Canadian kids maybe who wouldn't have had an opportunity from the CJHL, as an example, example to take advantage of some of the opportunities at U sports okay last one for you um I'm not arrogant enough

I'm pretty arrogant but not arrogant enough to think that I understand everything here what is everybody missing through this story is there one thing like I've I've wondered about I keep reminding people like hold on a second here it's not just going to be a tap in some ones that go play at Wisconsin or NODAC or BU. Like there's still an education piece here as well. And that tends to get overlooked. But is there something out there that you say, hang on a second, everybody's missing this one part of this CHL NCAA story? It's hard to predict. I mean, these decisions are individual decisions by individual families, right? And so I think when you hear people say this one thing is going to

happen unilaterally across the board, so, you know, whatever it is, an impact on a league or a destination or all players are going to do this, it's just not true because each player has to make a decision in terms of what's best for their career and also the situation that they're in. I mean, if you have a player who is in a really good situation on their major junior team and they finished high school and there's discussions, you hear people say, oh, there's going to be an exodus.

It doesn't take into account that player who's got a really good coach playing a great role. The next year the team's going to be good. They're going to be a exodus. It doesn't take into account that player who's got a really good coach playing a great role. The next year, the team's going to be good. They're going to be a captain or an assistant captain. They're going to have a chance to win a league championship and go for the Memorial Cup. Those things matter. And so that's one thing.

I think there's a bunch of unknowns around. There's still a lot of uncertainty around NIL. As a Canadian, what can and can't you get? I think there's lots of sort of evolution there in terms of what the implications are. And I think, I think there's also still a lot of, especially for us, we have a big blind spot right now in terms of NCAA regulations and what, you know, and that range from a variety of areas in terms of what players can and can't do and what players can and can't get from their CHL teams.

So you're cramming for an exam. Yeah. And we're leaning on people who can help get the answers, and then we can try to make the best decisions we can. But as I said off the top, I think the most important thing is if we can continue to be the best place for 16-, 17-, 18-, 19-year-old junior hockey players to develop both on the ice and off the ice and in the classroom. If we can do that and continue to do that and improve across all aspects of those three things, I think that the chips are going to fall and I think we're

going to be in pretty good shape. Very much looking forward to London and Oshawa. Great timing, should be a great event. Looking forward to both games. Great. And if folks want to go, we got their tickets still available, chL.CH slash Prospects Challenge. Awesome. Look forward to it. Thanks for taking time, Dan. Thanks, Jeff. Can you give five seconds of silence, please?

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