In the Ontario Hockey League the gap between a 16 year old and an 18 year old is massive, it is totally magnified from the obvious differences seen in day to day life. An 18 year old hockey player is so much more developed than a 16 year old hockey player. That does not mean that no 16 year old hockey player is better than an 18 year old, but a team of 18 year olds would likely beat a team of 16 year old hockey players 9 out of 10 times, as long as Sidney Crosby is not 16.
In the OHL, a team could concievably be annually competitive by trading their 16 year olds at Christmas to other teams to load up with 18 year old prospects. This would be done by targetting the teams building for the future and giving them another prospect to build around with time to play right now and learn on the fly, along with weakening their current team to get a better pick in the draft.
Many times in the OHL, I have seen marginal 18 year olds on other teams flourish with the opporunity to play in another city. This constant recruitment and turnover of 18 year olds would make your team annually competitive. Then, when the players hit 20, you can shop some of them to be overagers in another city. This will get back some picks that can become more 18 year olds.
Again, with the OHL and any other league, scouting is essential, identifying players in lower rounds is going to allow for more talent and more flexibility down the road.
The other piece to building that top notch team is getting disgruntled US college players to join midseason. These are older, stronger and likely bigger players that are totally motivated to make the NHL, so they are willing to sacrifice where necessary.
I am convinced that age is a huge issue in the OHL and teams that win, win with 18 year olds, not 16 year olds. A talented but raw 16 year old, that can turn into two solid 18 year olds is a good trade any day in my book!
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