TSN’s Rick Westhead reported last week that the NHLPA is considering a new regulation prohibiting any certified agent from contacting an under-16 player or player’s family. The NHLPA controls agents through a certification process, and only certified agents may represent NHL players.
The rule’s impetus lies with protecting young players from unreal expectations. According to TSN’s Craig Button, agents want to be hired, so they show these young players the upside without adequately explaining the potential downsides to professional hockey. An agent may hype up a potential signee without also focusing on a player’s faults. They provide the good without the bad, and that sets young players up with unreal expectations as to their professional future.
The downside to such a rule, however, is that young players benefit from advice pertaining to choosing between Canadian major junior hockey (OHL, WHL, QMJHL) and the NCAA. Players are drafted into the WHL as early as 14 years old, and joining any Canadian major junior team eliminates NCAA participation because the NCAA considers Canadian juniors a professional league.
Westhead quotes NHLPA spokesman Jonathan Weatherdon as stating that enforcing such a rule would be a onerous undertaking. It is difficult to police the actions of agents—especially when agents employ former players to act as liaisons to young players. These unofficial relationships make it difficult for a regulating body to determine whether an agent has directly violated any rules.
For now the new rule is merely a proposal with no imminent decision. The NHLPA would have to determine the rule’s scope, enforcement mechanisms, punishments, and enforcement strategies. If enacted, however, the rule would change the hockey representation landscape. Theoretically agents would have no contact with up-and-coming young players until their NHL potential is clear. It may prevent players from meddling agents hoping to latch on to the next star at a precarious age.