NHL and NHLPA express concerns over potential NCAA five-year eligibility limit

RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — The NHL and NHL Players’ Association are against the potential change by the NCAA that would give athletes five years of eligibility from their high school graduation or 19th birthday, whichever comes first.

“We’re not in favor of the change, and we’ve made the NCAA aware of it," NHL Deputy Commissioner Bill Daly said Tuesday prior to Game 1 of the Stanley Cup Final. “We and a number of other hockey organizations throughout North America — the three junior leagues in Canada, the USHL, USA Hockey, the college coaches association — all have raised concerns.”

Hockey is different than other high school-to-college sports like basketball, baseball and football because players are often older after first spending time at the junior level or at a prep school. Daly spoke last week to NCAA President Charlie Baker, who had some ideas that might solve the problem.

“He did stress that he doesn’t like sport-specific solutions and felt there may be a number of other sports, college sports, that would be able to make the same argument,” Daly said. "We’ll see where it goes.”

The sport is already dealing with a major change to the developmental landscape after the NCAA allowed players who played in the junior Canadian Hockey League to play college hockey. Adding the wrinkle of the so-called “five in five” rule would cause all sorts of complications.

“I hope that a one-size-fitting-all solution, which disadvantages some sports over others, isn’t the way they go because I think that would be unfair to us," Commissioner Gary Bettman said.

NHLPA assistant executive director Ron Hainsey, who played college hockey at UMass-Lowell before reaching the NHL, acknowledged the union was removed from the conversation but wants to make clear it also opposes the possibility.

“When that comes forward, it’s incumbent upon us to at least make an impression on how that will affect the entire hockey ecosystem,” Hainsey said. “We’ll continue to try to impress upon them how the whole system would be in shock.”

His boss, former Boston Mayor Marty Walsh, has a prior relationship with Baker, who was governor of Massachusetts. Walsh has not yet spoken to Baker but plans to have a conversation about the situation.

“We have concerns," Walsh said. "So, we’re going to continue to monitor that.”

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