Players have begun arriving at the Northtown Center in Amherst, N.Y. for the 2019 USA Hockey Select 17 Player Development Camp, the evaluation process used to select the roster for the U.S. Under-18 Men’s Select Team that will compete in the Hlinka-Gretzky Cup later this summer.
The Hlinka-Gretzky Cup is the first big event on the scouting calendar ahead of the 2020 NHL Draft that will be held next June in Montreal. While most countries send their top players, USA Hockey elects to field its team with players from outside the NTDP.
The USA Hockey Select 17 Player Development Camp is made up of many of the top 2002-born players in the country, sans those who are on the NTDP. In addition to USA Hockey personnel that will be selecting the roster, most NHL organizations will have scouts in attendance and a majority of college programs will be represented by head or assistant coaches.
The 2019 U.S. Under-18 Men’s Select Team roster will be fairly deep up front, but there could be serious issues on the blue line.
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