Central Scouting

USHL Draft Process

The procurement of players for USHL teams follows a cycle that emphasizes drafting players at an age when players are physically and mentally mature enough to play a regular shift in the USHL. Junior hockey is a business, and the last thing the USHL wants to see is a high school junior (grade 11) being away from home, away from his parent's supervision, in a new high school and all the while not playing a regular shift. Here is how the USHL player cycle works for the 2009-10 season:

1. At the beginning of the 2009-10 season, each USHL team can have 23 players on their active roster. These are the actual players on the team, playing the games.
2. May 12, 2009 will mark the first of two drafts that the USHL holds each year. This draft is called the "Futures Draft" and is named so because the players selected in this draft are not expected to play in the USHL during the 2009-10 season. This is because they are too young to make an impact for the current season. The 2009 Futures Draft restricts teams to selecting players who were are 1993 birthdays. Each team will draft 5 players in this Futures Draft. These are the players who they will keep on a protected list through the 2009-10. These players continue to develop at a lower level of hockey during 2009-10, whether that be midget, high school, prep school or a lower level of junior hockey, with the hopes that they will enter the USHL in 2010-11, a more complete player and with another year of experience under their belts.
3. Teams will submit an Initial Protected List.

4. The second and main USHL draft will be held on May 13, 2009. This draft is open to players with birthdates ranging from 1989 to 1993. Teams will fill their roster to a total of 30 players on this date, in addition to the 12 they will have on their Affiliate List. The total number of players that a team will draft will vary depending on the number of returning players they have. Typically teams will have 9 returning players, as 14 on average will be graduating onto NCAA Division I hockey. This is an average, not a guarantee. Some teams will protect more players and some will protect less.

   The 2009 draft will primarily be a draft of 1991 and 1992 players because it is 17 and 18 year-old players who will be able to make an impact and play a regular shift in the USHL during the 2009-10 season. 1993 birth year players are able to be chosen, but few are as they typically will not be ready to play a regular shift during the 2009-10 season.

   Teams will have their training camps/tryouts in June and July. Teams will typically have 60-80 players at their training camps. 30 of the players at the camp are returning players or drafted players that the team has protected. The remaining 30-50 players are invited by the team.

   By July 1st, 2009 teams must be down to a 25-man protected list from all the players that were at their training camps in June. Because the USHL is a relatively small league with only 14 teams, and each team only drafts a small number of players relative to other leagues, there are plenty of undrafted players who make the USHL every year.

   *Note that players who are not protected by a team may attend several USHL training camps.

5. Teams take their 25-man roster to the USHL's Fall Classic at the end of September 2009. The Classic, formerly known as the Buc Bowl, is a pre-season event where all the USHL teams gather in one USHL location to play in front of over 100 NHL scouts and all 59 NCAA schools.
6. Right after the Fall Classic and just prior to October 1, 2009, each team will reduce their roster to 23. These 23 players are the team's active rosters for the 2009-10 season.