Projecting the 2020-21 USA Hockey NTDP U17 Roster

Several top '04 prospects who are eligible for the '20-21 USA Hockey NTDP U17 roster. (Dale MacMillan)

USA Hockey has already begun scouting the ‘04s who will make up the 2020-21 U.S. National Team Development Program (NTDP) team.

Typically, USA Hockey’s NTDP Assistant Director of Player Personnel, in this case Rod Braceful, keeps close tabs on the age group that is mostly bantam major players. One of the reasons USA Hockey does this is to be able to track whether players are trending in a positive or negative direction prior to next March when the final decision has to be made.

This upcoming weekend begins a busy few months as the ’04 class starts playing in showcases that are scouted heavily. The 2019 World Selects Invite in Philadelphia suburbs starts Saturday and continues until Wednesday In July, the top American ‘04s take part in the USA Hockey Select 15 Player Development Camp.

While the U.S. ’04 class isn’t expected to be as strong as the ’01 group, there are many good players in the age group. Twenty-nine American ’04s have already committed to playing college hockey, prior to new NCAA legislation going on the books Wednesday.