A history of NCAA Prospects not reporting to the NHL teams who drafted them

I can understand why some players choose to do this. The biggest and most recent ones were Issac Howard and Cutter Gauthier. Now, Issac Howard wanted an actual chance in the NHL and Tampa is a stacked team with guys like Brandon Hagel and Jake Guentzel which basically is obvious he won't be in the top-six. He was traded to Edmonton recently and left Michigan State to join the Oilers, which I can't blame him for considering he's thinking about his career.

As for Cutter Gauthier, he was taken fifth overall by Philadelphia. The only thing I get out of this kind of thing is players can be competitive to which they don't understand it's where they're taken. Some want to go first overall thinking it's competition and winning. But honestly, it doesn't matter where you end up in the NHL draft. But I think Cutter wanted to see how high he could go, and I also thought he was a good fit for the Flyers. I mean, in defense to Cutter he may have thought in the pre-draft interview he was going somewhere he may have felt was a good fit, and decided at some point he wasn't. The other thing is players do keep their mouths shut a lot of the time, so I don't want to be too ignorant, but I disagree with after winning gold how he didn't want to talk with the Flyers camp. Speaking of which, shortly after the Flyers traded him to the Anaheim Ducks for Jamie Drysdale.

Rutger McGroarty I think could've been a good fit with the Winnipeg Jets as they developed him well. I think Winnipeg could've made him a better player, but I think it's ridiculous to want a spot in the NHL right away. I mean sure he has a good resume, but he didn't want to start on the forth line. And interestingly enough they traded him for Brayden Yager who were both taken fourteenth overall a year apart respectfully. Rutger decided he wasn't going back to University of Michigan after all and immediately signed an entry-level contract with the Pittsburgh Penguins. Sounds like John Marino who didn't want to play for Edmonton and joined Pittsburgh. 

I could talk about Alexander Kerfoot and Will Butcher, but I see it as a trade that happened but never did as they both swapped teams that drafted them signing with them as free agents. 

Adam Fox was drafted 66th overall by the Calgary Flames committed to Harvard, but was later traded to Carolina with Dougie Hamilton and Michael Ferland for Noah Hanifin and Elias Lindholm. And for some reason, he only wanted to play with the New York Rangers, which was where he was ultimately traded to for two second-round picks. Now, I lose respect for players like this unless a reason isn't given. But given Adam Fox is from New York, I understand why. The thing about the New York Rangers is it's a team fit for players in the NCAA given the players who are away always want to play their best hockey, and they wear their best suits to this game because they're being showcased on the main stage, and if they come from the CHL it won't always work out like it could in another market like Vegas. The Rangers have a history of bringing in proven NHLers on big contracts which are typically some who developed in the CHL. And in this case, I think I also understand why some strictly want to play for the Rangers, but Adam Fox had likely became a Ranger who will get their number retired. The other one was Jimmy Vesey, originally drafted by Nashville before being traded to Buffalo, where he ended up signing with the Rangers. Vesey managed to stay in the NHL for a long time, but bounced around the league quite a bit and this is an example of not being too cocky because I believe Vesey felt he was going to put up sixty points a season. Kevin Hayes was another, who was drafted first-round by Chicago and think he should've stayed given they won a cup and maybe join the Rangers later who ended up trading him to the Winnipeg Jets. 

One that was interesting was the Florida Panthers drafted Zach Hyman in the fifth round who was later traded for Gregg McKegg who Toronto selected in the third round that same draft year along with a conditional pick. Hyman wanted to play home, and also with big name players. Eventually Toronto had a cap crunch, and Hyman went to sign with the Oilers where he later put up fifty goals. 

Justin Schultz was another one who took a gamble signing with the Oilers after they had a great young core in Taylor Hall, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, and Jordan Eberle. This signing gave Oilers hope and potential for greatness, and even playing half the year in the AHL with Oklahoma City due to the lockout where he won the Eddie Shore Award for defenseman of the year, and only played short of half the season. But the problem was, Edmonton wasn't the best at developing players which ultimately led him to getting chased out of town and getting traded for the third-round pick who never cracked the NHL. That team, was the Pittsburgh Penguins where he went onto not just win two cups, but get fifty-one points in seventy-eight games. After Schultz left Edmonton, it was clear as glass it was an Oilers problem, not a Schultz problem. 

Mike Reilly is another player that had a lot of talent with the University of Minnesota where lots of hockey greats played for, and he didn't like the fact he was playing for the Columbus Blue Jackets. Now, I think he should've given Columbus a chance given they could've used a guy like him, although I think they were super excited about picking Ryan Murray. He later decided he's sign with the Minnesota Wild before bouncing around the league and being a player some won't remember off the top of their heads unless it's trivia. 

For some it has worked, and for others it didn't. But personally I think teams need to talk with their players before moving forward. But at the end of the day you got drafted to the NHL which means you should give that team a chance who believed in you. But Issac Howard made this interesting because Tampa Bay is a team lots of players would kill to play for because of the nice weather and low-taxes, and chose Edmonton because he wanted a better chance knowing in Tampa he wouldn't. I think this is the right move, but Cutter Gauthier would've had a good shot with the Flyers as I believe he and Michkov could've been a dynamic duo, but for some given reason chose not to play for them.