Any time news breaks that a player is no longer committed to a certain school, it becomes inevitable that media and fans will admonish the cutthroat nature of the business or bemoan a lack of loyalty.
Decommits in college hockey works both ways. There are examples of players decommitting from a school in order to find a better program. Sometimes players choose to decommit because another program is willing to take them in earlier or give them more scholarship money. Then, there are times when programs cut a player loose for not developing the way they had projected or for not adhering to academic standards.
Starting with the 1998 birth year, 53 New England players have decommitted or been decommitted. Between the ’98s and ’02s, the birth year with the most decommits is the ’00s with 19. There is a lot to be gleaned from a deeper dive into the decommits in this time period and what it means.
