2021 NHL Draft: Owen Power & Matty Beniers Returning To Michigan Would Continue A College Hockey Trend

The likely number one overall pick in the 2021 NHL Draft might return to college next season rather than turn pro. He's not alone. So could another potential top-three pick. 

Both Owen Power and Matty Beniers mentioned in the lead-up to Friday's first round that they are leaning to coming back to Michigan for their sophomore seasons. Besides being a major boost to the Wolverines, whose 2020-21 season ended without getting a chance to participate in the NCAA Tournament due to Covid protocols, the decisions would be the first in over a decade.

No top-three selection went on to play college hockey after being drafted since James van Riemsdyk (2nd overall in 2007) spent two seasons with New Hampshire. Two haven't occurred simultaneously since van Riemsdyk and Kyle Turris (3rd overall in 2007) were both in college for the 2007-08 season. The number one overall pick last played in the NCAA in 2006 when Erik Johnson suited up for Minnesota's blue line.

Add in Jonathan Toews' North Dakota tenure and the mid-late 2000s may be a sign of where things may be heading once again in 2021.

Of course, there is no guarantee Power, Beniers, or both, return to Ann Arbor. It is easy to say so before the draft. Doing it afterward is another thing. Teenagers making soft commitments to NCAA hockey programs is nothing new.

The mid-to-late 2000s featured soft commits regularly. In these cases, players looking to choose their CHL destination would verbally commit to a school in order to gain draft leverage. In effect, the hockey world would know they only wanted to go to one team, who would then "take a chance" with a later pick than the player would slot otherwise. 

It was not just major junior, however. Players drafted by NHL teams would also all of a sudden post-draft be persuaded to bail on NCAA commitments and go the CHL route. Between the late 2000s and early 2010s, the number of college-affiliated players drafted by an NHL team versus the number who stayed on campus usually ended up varying between June and September.

Still, Power and Beniers' leaning towards Michigan feels more like an endorsement of college hockey's developmental path than aimless posturing or a bluff to NHL teams. 

The trend of deciding on one extra year of college seasoning is picking up steam. Credit can't go to one player, as several stand out in recent years. 

Two of the three most recent Hobey Baker winners, Cole Caufield and Cale Makar, were sophomores who returned despite being NHL first-round picks. (Even the third, Scott Perunovich, came back to UMD when he could have easily signed with St. Louis after winning a national championship.) Makar (4th overall in 2017) became the first top-10 pick to stay two years after his draft selection since van Riemsdyk and looks to be outshining several top 2017 picks who turned pro after one.

Reigning Norris Trophy winner Adam Fox, who topped Makar for the honor, stayed three years at Harvard before winning in his second NHL season. Caufield, meanwhile, found another gear at Wisconsin and became the scoring threat he was at the USNTDP in NCAA (along with being a 200-foot threat on the ice) before seamlessly being a Stanley Cup playoff difference-maker for the Montreal Canadiens. 

Even on Michigan, top defenders have stayed a second season between Zach Werenski (8th overall) Quinn Hughes (6th overall), and Cam York (14th overall).

Power and Beniers each have several other reasons to return to Mel Pearson's team besides development and getting a quality education. The way last season ended. Not getting a chance to live a normal college year.  College sports opening up to Name, Image, and Likeness (NIL) rights - there is money in being a big fish in an NCAA hockey pond and far more exposure than even 5-10 years ago.

Taking away the last reason, which could be its own essay adding to the trend, the argument for further developing in college by staying an extra year remains compelling. Look at the results. Caufield was one of five collegians picked between 12 and 16 in the 2019 NHL Draft (Matt Boldy, Spencer Knight, York, Caufield, and Alex Newhook) who each stayed for their sophomore season in 2020-21. All five found both individual and team success.

While the talk from Power and Beniers may be just that - or might be posturing, or a soft commitment, or an exception that comes from playing in a season that was unlike any other - it rings true. Neither coming back would be a surprise. Neither coming back to Michigan before stepping into the NHL next March/April would seem like a step back. 

That it's a viable option goes a long way in showing where college hockey is perceived in the greater hockey zeitgeist. There aren't columns on why it would be a bad move or an exception based on a global pandemic. It seems different even compared to Hughes and Makar, both of whom returned for their sophomore seasons in 2019, making their decisions. 

And it seems very different than a decade ago when teenagers made soft NCAA commitments to go to the CHL and teams pushed that route over the college path. Those days are over. If not Power and Beniers, the trend is heading towards the next top pick staying the extra season in college.

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