Yes - in fact, most NHL players have played "house hockey" at one point or another in their lives. The bigger questions are the player's age and skill level.
I think of house hockey as a level played at your earliest stages of learning the game. Those who excel in these highly-local leagues naturally branch out to play in more competitive travel leagues - often by being selected/asked by coaches to join the more advanced leagues. If you stand out in this next stage of competition, you'd typically join an elite midget team or play at a competitive high school. The better among these players go on to play Junior 'A', Major Junior in Canada, or Division 1 College hockey. By these latter stages - elite high school to Junior/College - it is typically pretty clear who may or may not have a shot at playing professionally at some point. The players who have separated themselves to that extent are also still teenagers.
The NHL draft allows players between 18-20 years old in North America and Europeans of all ages entering the league for the first time. Simply put, if you aren't one of the 210 best players in the world who meet these criteria, you won't be drafted - something which further diminishes your chances of making it to the NHL (you'd also be well aware of it if you were in this elite class of talent). To get noticed by NHL clubs to the extent necessary to be drafted, a player must have advanced well beyond house hockey by this time. NHL scouts spend their time at Major Junior games in Canada (QMJHL, OHL, WHL), and Division I College and elite Junior 'A' games in the U.S. (USHL, NAHL, EHL). Safe to say that NHL scouts are not attending house league hockey games.
Those who don't make it to the league via the draft - whether due to a lack of visibility with scouts or late-blooming/borderline talent - can sign with teams on PTOs (Professional Tryout Agreements) and as free agents, but even these players are often standouts at the Junior or College levels. There were only 74 undrafted players in the NHL last season with 100 pro games under their belts (thus establishing a meaningful presence in the league) - meaning only about 10% of active NHL players go undrafted.
Consider that NHL teams are allowed to have up to 50 players signed to contracts at a time (and that most teams opt not to use the full 50-contract maximum to give them the flexibility to make roster moves), and that each team carries an active roster of 23 players. In other words, being generous, we can say there are less than 1,500 NHL hockey players at any given time. Now consider that the IIHF (2014 data) puts the total number of registered ice hockey players globally at around 1.8MM (from 68 different countries; Canada accounts for a third). This is an increase of 8.47% over the preceding year, and growth of 22.25% over 5 years. This is a good thing - hockey is becoming more popular around the world! Unfortunately, this also means that you must be among the top 0.08% of players in the world to have a reasonable shot at playing in the NHL.
Given the limited number of positions available at the NHL level, and the young age at which most players must achieve a high level of success to be noticed by NHL scouts, it is safe to say that a player must advance well beyond house hockey to have a shot at making it to the NHL.
The good news is that hockey - regardless of the level at which it is being played - is rewarding, fun, and enormously valuable both on the ice and off. As a goaltender in the mid-2000s, I was given the opportunity to practice with a few NHL teams. By that time I had played in house leagues (as a young kid), travel leagues (10-13 years old), at an elite high school (14-16 years old), and at the Junior 'A' and Major Junior level (16-20 years old). I was a good player, but not among the top 0.08%. Once I realized this, I moved on to play decently-competitive hockey at a small University while getting a great education. I don't get out there too often any longer, but the camaraderie and lessons in teamwork and leadership that I experienced while playing the game for 20 years have translated into a fantastic business career. I have a few friends who are still playing in the NHL today, and many more who kept "the dream" alive by going to play in semi-pro leagues in Europe. If you love the game and work your ass off, hockey will give you more than you could have ever expected - whether you make it to the NHL or not.
Adam Noble
Written Nov 25
I think of house hockey as a level played at your earliest stages of learning the game. Those who excel in these highly-local leagues naturally branch out to play in more competitive travel leagues - often by being selected/asked by coaches to join the more advanced leagues. If you stand out in this next stage of competition, you'd typically join an elite midget team or play at a competitive high school. The better among these players go on to play Junior 'A', Major Junior in Canada, or Division 1 College hockey. By these latter stages - elite high school to Junior/College - it is typically pretty clear who may or may not have a shot at playing professionally at some point. The players who have separated themselves to that extent are also still teenagers.
The NHL draft allows players between 18-20 years old in North America and Europeans of all ages entering the league for the first time. Simply put, if you aren't one of the 210 best players in the world who meet these criteria, you won't be drafted - something which further diminishes your chances of making it to the NHL (you'd also be well aware of it if you were in this elite class of talent). To get noticed by NHL clubs to the extent necessary to be drafted, a player must have advanced well beyond house hockey by this time. NHL scouts spend their time at Major Junior games in Canada (QMJHL, OHL, WHL), and Division I College and elite Junior 'A' games in the U.S. (USHL, NAHL, EHL). Safe to say that NHL scouts are not attending house league hockey games.
Those who don't make it to the league via the draft - whether due to a lack of visibility with scouts or late-blooming/borderline talent - can sign with teams on PTOs (Professional Tryout Agreements) and as free agents, but even these players are often standouts at the Junior or College levels. There were only 74 undrafted players in the NHL last season with 100 pro games under their belts (thus establishing a meaningful presence in the league) - meaning only about 10% of active NHL players go undrafted.
Consider that NHL teams are allowed to have up to 50 players signed to contracts at a time (and that most teams opt not to use the full 50-contract maximum to give them the flexibility to make roster moves), and that each team carries an active roster of 23 players. In other words, being generous, we can say there are less than 1,500 NHL hockey players at any given time. Now consider that the IIHF (2014 data) puts the total number of registered ice hockey players globally at around 1.8MM (from 68 different countries; Canada accounts for a third). This is an increase of 8.47% over the preceding year, and growth of 22.25% over 5 years. This is a good thing - hockey is becoming more popular around the world! Unfortunately, this also means that you must be among the top 0.08% of players in the world to have a reasonable shot at playing in the NHL.
Given the limited number of positions available at the NHL level, and the young age at which most players must achieve a high level of success to be noticed by NHL scouts, it is safe to say that a player must advance well beyond house hockey to have a shot at making it to the NHL.
The good news is that hockey - regardless of the level at which it is being played - is rewarding, fun, and enormously valuable both on the ice and off. As a goaltender in the mid-2000s, I was given the opportunity to practice with a few NHL teams. By that time I had played in house leagues (as a young kid), travel leagues (10-13 years old), at an elite high school (14-16 years old), and at the Junior 'A' and Major Junior level (16-20 years old). I was a good player, but not among the top 0.08%. Once I realized this, I moved on to play decently-competitive hockey at a small University while getting a great education. I don't get out there too often any longer, but the camaraderie and lessons in teamwork and leadership that I experienced while playing the game for 20 years have translated into a fantastic business career. I have a few friends who are still playing in the NHL today, and many more who kept "the dream" alive by going to play in semi-pro leagues in Europe. If you love the game and work your ass off, hockey will give you more than you could have ever expected - whether you make it to the NHL or not.
Adam Noble
Written Nov 25
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