American Michael McCarron (Macomb, Michigan) was the one of four American’s prospects selected in the first round of the 2013 NHL Entry Draft.
Of those four American’s players selected in the first round, McCarron is the only one is that is slated to play US College Hockey. Or is he? Now, there seems to be some question whether he’s going honor his commitment to play for Western Michigan.
Almost immediately, after a being selected in the first round, one of the first questions asked of a NCAA hockey recruit, is whether that player will still honor his commitment to his NCAA team, or will he be headed north to play major juniors. Of course, Western fans want to know if McCarron will honor his commitment to Western Michigan University and play for the Broncos.
The next question is; what CHL team owns his rights? Here’s the catch, McCarron rights were acquired by the London Knights of the OHL in June of 2012 from the Belleville Bulls. It’s also not earth shattering news, that the London Knights are very successful at getting their recruits to play for them. Let’s give credit where credit is due, the London Knights are a very good OHL franchise and whenever a NCAA team has a recruit that is also drafted or acquired by the Knights, they have reason to be very worried.
The London Knights are run the former NHL player’s Dale and Mark Hunter and in the past they’ve been pretty successful getting top American hockey players to decommit from their college commitments, to go play junior hockey for the London Knights. Last season, the Knights had two former NCAA players and a former NCAA recruit on their roster (Dakota Mermis, Anthony Stolarz, Alex Broadhurst).
Now, here’s the catch, Western Michigan University is coached by former Los Angeles Kings and St. Louis Blues head coach Andy Murray and he’s convinced that Michael McCarron will be a Bronco next season. Last season, Western had Red Wings defenseman Danny DeKeyser on their team and he developed nicely under Coach Murray, so that “could” play in the Bronco’s favor.
“We firmly believe Mike will be there,” Murray said. “I believe if it’s Mike’s choice he’ll be here. He’s been here for our voluntary workouts. We really think in our environment he can improve his skills. We think with our types of practices and style he can improve.” [David Drew M.LIVE]
It will be interesting to see how this plays out and it shouldn’t take very take long to find out where McCarron is going to end up. The Montreal Canadiens just finish their prospects camp this past weekend. According to Dave Stubbs of the Montreal Gazette, McCarron expects to make his playing decision in 2013-14 in the next week.