Carels commitment solidifies new development path

The new development path for high-end talent solidified this week. Carson Carels, a left-shot defenseman from the WHL’s Prince George Cougars, announced he’d be joining North Dakota next year. Carels is a projected top-15 pick, with THN’s Ryan Kennedy ranking him sixth overall in January.

He’s a strong two-way player and an excellent skater who will be a stud on an already-stacked blueline with Keaton Verhoeff, E. J. Emery and Ethan MacKenzie.

But what Carels’ commitment to the Fighting Hawks illustrated wasn’t that North Dakota is going to be stacked next year (although the rest of the NCAA would be wise to watch out). What it showed is that Carels is only walking the path of last year’s CHL players, in the footsteps of Verhoeff, his soon-to-be-teammate. One to two years in the CHL, then into the NCAA for a year or two at Boston University, North Dakota, Michigan, Michigan State, etc.

What comes after that, no one knows. Verhoeff and Penn State’s Gavin McKenna were the first to pursue this path after the CHL-NCAA agreement, and neither has been drafted yet. McKenna is not expected to return to the Nittany Lions, but Verhoeff is predicted to return to North Dakota, partly because defenseman take longer to develop.