What years

This same thread has been put on for the last decade on here....nothing is going to change. Lots of money being made.

Lots of money being made doesn't mean it's good for the kids or development. The same teams dominate in the EHF and the same teams are at the bottom.

Nothing is changing structurally within the EHF as far as I know but the EHF teams on the south shore are hurting (minus the '11 BJT team). Seems like EHF is a good choice if you're north of Boston.

I believe every organization in the FED is run as a for profit entity, doing what is "right for the kids" has never been and never will be part of their philosophy, same for E9/BHL and PHL. They do nothing more than create a product & services for parents to purchase. Some might have better skills, others might cost less and all will help your kid to develop to some degree but ultimately, they exists to make someone money.

Decades ago when rinks were state owned and run, you had a few "club" teams that every player aspired to rise to. You might have had to travel an hour to get to their rink, but if your kid was good enough, you made that sacrifice. It was also a pretty good indicator that your child was pretty decent at hockey.

The Commonwealth decides they don't want a Zamboni driver drawing a pension or the expense of up keep so they start leasing out the buildings to private entities to run. Since these rink management groups are looking to turn a profit, they expand hours and start creating new teams to fill those hours. Result is what feels like a 100 new club programs and longer seasons. But good news, all our kids can play club, regardless of actual ability.

If it was really about development, we'd go back to 10 or so teams spread across New England where the best of the best play. The rest of us would have our kids playing town hockey & many of the issues of town programs would cease to exist because the same coaches working at a club program would be volunteering for the town organization, the problem of ice time for many of the town org's would be solved because there aren't club teams to fill up ice contracts, etc.

The point of this word vomit is, it doesn't matter if anything is going on with the FED. A handful might decide to break off and maybe take a few BHL teams with them and start a new league where your kid is called Super Premier Elite. There will be no contraction, no limits on number of teams, etc. For proof I give you two examples, Mass Select League was the precursor to the PHL. They essentially went under and in a matter of weeks, the PHL formed to fill the void and now has twice as many teams as the Mass Select League had. Example two is very recent, New England Edge announce they are ceasing operations after the season but don't worry, a new org the Jr. Hawks are there to welcome you with open arms. The new organization will probably offer better skills, maybe even add in some off ice development but they are still going to draw from the same pool of players as the Cyclones, Wizards, Bulldogs, Monarchs, Stars, Islanders, Patriots, MMF, Shamrocks, and Warriors (and I probably forgot a few teams). When I was a kid in the 80's we had 8 to 10 teams across all of New England, now we have 10 teams within 30 minutes or so of my home in Acton.

TL;DR

Can we please stop with the theory that organizations care about development - they care about MONEY. Kids will develop on their own just by playing. Every program does the same drills - there is no secret sauce. If anyone cared about development they would be 10 elite teams in the state and that's it. Owners saw that they were turning away 100 families willing to spend a lot of money so they created not only an Elite team but a AAA team...then they saw they were turning away 85 families willing to pay big money so they formed a AA team....then they saw they were turning away 60 families willing to pay big money so they formed an A team.....it goes on and on. More customers more profits....there certainly aren't more hockey studs.

It becomes obvious when an org isn't up to snuff and people leave or don't consider joining.

Any updates on this? I'm hearing some teams will be losing elite auto bids but this likely won't be announced until after people tryout and accept contracts...

what teams would this be happening with?

anyone? No one has anything on this one?

BSB is losing some of their elite bids

sounds like there are changes coming

any updates on this? I saw it mentioned on the MA Youth hockey facebook page too.

Losing elite auto bids and players

apparently no one knows or nothing is happening