USHL Player Development

USHL Draft Process

The following is the Draft process for USHL team's procurement of players for the 2010-11 season:

1. At the beginning of the 2010-11 season, each USHL team may have 23 players on their active roster. These are the actual players on the team who will play in the games.
2. May 18, 2010 will mark the first of two drafts that the USHL holds each year. This draft is called the "Futures Draft" because the players selected in this draft, while eligible, usually will not play in the USHL during the 2010-11 season. The 2010 Futures Draft restricts teams to selecting players who have a 1994 birth year. Each team will draft 5 players in the Futures Draft. These are the players each team may keep protected on an Affiliate List through the 2010-11 season while these players continue to develop at a lower level of hockey during the season.
3. Each year, each USHL team will submit an Initial Protected List of veteran players from the previous season, who will make up the back of the team.

4. The second and main USHL draft will be held on May 19, 2010. This draft is open to players with birthdates ranging from 1990 to 1995. Teams will fill their roster to a total of 30 players on this date, in addition to the 10 they 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 on the Initial Protected List. Typically teams will have 9 returning players, as 14 on average will be moving on to the NHL or NCAA Division I hockey. This is an average, and not a guarantee. Some teams will protect more players and some will protect less. 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, 2010 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 15 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.

5. Teams take their 25-man roster to the USHL's Fall Classic at the end of September 2010.  The Classic is a pre-season event where all of the USHL teams gather in one USHL location to play in front of over 100 NHL scouts and all NCAA Division I schools.

6. Right after the Fall Classic and prior to October 1, 2010, each team will reduce their roster to 23. These 23 players make up the team's active rosters for the 2010-11 season.