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OHL ‘tryout agreement’ is confusing — which might be the intention

Neate Sager

No wonder hockey parents believe their sons need agents at the age of 13.

Just when one thinks the neverending major junior vs. college hockey bun fight cannot get any more bizarre comes another source of controversy. Thanks to the National Collegiate Athletic Association in its infinite wisdom proscribing schools from recruiting players out of the Canadian Hockey League since it is professional — it's always important to remember how this started — youngsters come to that fork in the road at a very early age. They have to pick before they are mature to know what they will be able to do in hockey or what they are capable of educationally.

It's a battle for for who has access to the greater pool, winning hearts and minds and whatnot, but you know that already. So perhaps it's not surprising to read allegations of the Ontario Hockey League perhaps needlessly complicating a life decision.

Player adviser Jason Nadeau (@hockeyadvocate) posted on Tuesday in response to a question from a parent who was asked to sign a tryout agreement as a requirement to participate at a team's spring rookie camp. It does not appear to bind a player to an OHL team and it's not known whether it would void a player's NCAA eligibility.

Nadeau, noting as much, said that might not even be the intention.

I think there is no reason for them to have this form, other then to muddy the waters with the NCAA and to ‘confuse’ players/parents as to their obligations and rights. It’s bad enough that Players are routinely badgered into ‘promising’ to sign with a team IF they choose to draft them in advance. Now, they want a ‘legal’ guarantee.

I’d call it Bush League tactics, but this is a sophisticated play.

Essentially, they are confusing Parents & Players so that they make uninformed decisions. The overwhelming majority of whom will not have an Agent or Family Advisor assistance to help them understand all of the ramifications of their attending a Rookie Camp with regards to their NCAA rights. (Hockey Advocate)

Many players will go to a major junior club's rookie camp, then stay on the NCAA path. (Vancouver Giants rookie Alec Baer did so last season with the WHL's Vancouver Giants and went back to play for a high school hockey powerhouse with no repercussions, until taking a recruiting trip.

Going to rookie camp or showing up training camp doesn't amount to signing anything. Yet the run-on sentence of DiMannoian proportions that might leave that impression. Here's what Nadeau flagged:

“The Player agrees to present himself, when called upon to do so on terms to be mutually agreed upon, at the Club’s training camp for the purpose of demonstrating, to the best of his ability, his qualifications as a hockey player; and further agrees that if such qualifications, in the opinion of the Club, justify the Club in offering him a Hockey Canada Player Registration Certificate and OHL Standard Player’s Agreement to play on their OHL Hockey Club, he will sign such documents on terms to be mutually agreed upon which are in accordance with the rules, regulations and policies of the League.”

It is bizarre. Sorry to say it, but it doesn't pass the sniff test. Hockey parents would be excused if they thought a tryout agreement in some way connotes a commitment. It could also led to giving less consideration to what people in the CHL might call going the other way.

One can only imagine how this went over with advocates for the 'American path' of playing in the USHL, another development league or prep school and than going to school. That's without knowing the NCAA's interpretation.

Above all, the current schism that leads to players being shunted aside at age 20 or 21 when they could still develop — be grateful that occasionally a Canadian Interuniversity Sport grad such as the Washington Capitals' Joel Ward or Kevin Henderson makes it out of Canadian Interuniversity Sport — isn't right. Some day, this will all end and players will be put first. That will probably happen the same week the Toronto Maple Leafs have to schedule a championship parade to avoid conflict with the Toronto Raptors hosting the NBA Finals.

Neate Sager is a writer for Yahoo! Canada Sports. Follow him on Twitter @neatebuzzthenet. Please address any questions, comments or concerns to btnblog@yahoo.ca.