In many ways, the opening week of the high school hockey season has become the most important. Uncertainty abounds as to whether dozens of top players will return to their high school teams or leave early for a full season with junior or Midget programs.

There’s no disputing Kyle Rau’s "should-I-stay-or-should-I-go decision" before the 2010-2011 season led to a seismic shift of power. The night before the opening day of tryouts, Rau called coach Lee Smith and told his teammates by text that he’d be spending the season with the Sioux Falls Stampede of the United States Hockey League. 

Rau had a change of heart the next day, and he capped the season with one of the most famous goals in state tournament history, a head-first dive and poke of the puck off the goalpost and into the net in Eden Prairie’s 3-2 triple overtime victory against Duluth East for the state Class 2A championship.

There’s no telling how this season will conclude, but the first week was, again, dripping with drama. The Moorhead trio of Tyden Bergeson, Brandon Mickelson and Zac Zimmerman made the late decision to leave their junior teams and return for a shot at back-to-back titles for the defending state Class 2A champion Spuds. Cretin-Derham Hall’s trio of Max Anderson, Nate Chorlton and Maverick Timmons, in contrast, all departed for junior programs.

Edina lost four players to other programs, most notably Mason West, a first-round NHL draft pick and standout quarterback for the Hornets. The 6-foot-6 forward is expected to play the full season for the USHL’s Fargo Force. In all, 26 players, after playing at least one season of high school hockey, left their teams for other programs. 

Note: Data not available for all seasons since 1992-93.

Exodus of players has fluctuated 
Early departures, a phenomenon dating to the early 1990s as players seek more rapid ascension to higher levels, has mostly held steady at roughly 25 leaving for other opportunities for at least the last two decades. Last season there were 24. In 2023-24 the number dipped to 20. The number of early departures spiked to 42 in 2022-23. A similar exodus occurred before the 2013-14 season. In what was described as a record at the time, 41 players left their high school teams before their senior seasons.

Benilde-St. Margaret’s coach Ken Pauly was serving as president of the Minnesota Hockey Coaches Association during the 2013-14 migration, and he helped brainstorm and implement a “Nothing Compares” marketing campaign highlighting Minnesota players who stayed through their senior seasons and went on to reach hockey’s highest levels.

“I always felt like we were putting a band-aid on a major flesh wound,” Pauly said. “We were getting hammered (with early departures), and I think if anything it was at least a good morale boost. At a coaches association clinic there would be 8 or 10 huge posters of NHL players with their quotes. It was Matt Niskanen or Paul Martin, David Backes and T.J. Oshie … those are pretty prominent names.”

The number of early departures dropped to 23 the following season.

“I believe those stories resonated with the kids we had,” Pauly said about the marketing push. “But I can’t say that’s the reason those kids stayed.”

Hockey has 'normalized' leaving home early  
Boys’ hockey in Minnesota is the only high school sport in the nation forced to deal with such significant player departures to leagues that rely on ticket, merchandise and concession sales to stay in operation. Players in junior leagues aren’t paid. They typically live with host (i.e. billet) families and take online classes or attend local schools.

“Nobody is sitting around watching the NFL and saying, “ 'That guy played in high school as a senior?' ” said Mike Snee, Vice President of the Minnesota Wild’s Foundation & Community Relations. “Being an aspirational football, basketball or volleyball player and competing for your high school isn't questioned. But in hockey it is. 

Moving away from home at a young age, living with someone else's parents, attending school online and traveling significantly is something that has become culturally normalized in hockey."

Just as troubling for Minnesota high school coaches are their community players who never reach their programs. About one-third of the 34 Minnesota-born players on NHL Central Scouting's Preliminary Players to Watch list for the 2026 draft, released in late October, never played high school hockey in the state.

In the eyes of some NHL scouts, leaving early simply prolongs most players’ careers in junior hockey, adding an extra season or two before they reach college.

“I don’t believe kids need to leave,” said Fred Bandel, a former NHL scout for the Florida Panthers. “If a guy has outstanding skating skills, an outstanding compete level, that should show through no matter what sweater he is wearing or what league he is in.

“You can’t cheat the process,” said Bandel, who scouted for NHL teams for 25 years. “And to me the process is four years of high school, two years of juniors and then college. It’s a grind to play two years of juniors, and now you are looking at playing maybe three years if you leave early.” 

Minnesota a fertile recruiting ground
The proliferation of Tier I Midget AAA programs throughout the nation, and their eagerness to add Minnesota players to their rosters, has only added to the talent drain. Shattuck-St. Mary’s in Faribault, Northstar Christian Academy in Alexandria and the Sioux Falls Power in South Dakota all draw significant numbers of Minnesota players. Midget AAA programs in Detroit, Chicago, Omaha and even Long Island, New York, among dozens of others, all have had success attracting Minnesota players.

Several of those players, in an encouraging recent trend, are returning to Minnesota and suiting up for high school teams. Fourteen players from non-Minnesota State High School League programs have joined high school teams in the state this season, and many of them are making a big impact. 

Through Saturday's games, freshman RJ Thompson, by way of the Detroit-based Little Caesars 14U AAA Tier I Midget squad, is the top scorer for Eden Prairie with 14 points in six games. Rogers senior Cole Bumgarner, who played for the USHL’s Fargo Force last season, has five goals among his nine points. Junior Brennan Hines leads Winona with 11 points. He played for the Santa Clarita Flyers (16U AA) Midget program in California last season.

Add to those players the many standouts who declined opportunities to play elsewhere — Lakeville South’s Carter Ernst, Orono’s Jackson Knight and Rock Ridge’s Caz Carlson, to name three — and the numbers shake out as less daunting than in many seasons.

“We obviously are super excited right now about the players who came back,” said Andover coach Mark Manney, a past president of the MHCA. “I think almost every coach would call it a win. 

“With what the Moorhead kids did, and several others who came back, I think we all consider that a positive.”

“There’s no better place in the country to play ... "
Recent former players are among the most influential voices encouraging players to stay through their senior seasons. Moorhead’s Mason Kraft, unprompted, shared his thoughts on the topic in a media session after the Spuds won last season’s Class 2A championship. 

“If you ever have the option to stay or leave, I think you should always come back and play high school hockey,” he said. “Play one more year with your buddies. You never get this time back, ever. 

“There’s no better place in the country to play than Minnesota.”

Current MHCA president Ricky Saintey, head coach at Rosemount, said he’s excited about the group’s collective mindset on limiting early departures.

“We are starting to understand the importance of keeping the kids in their homes and their communities,” Saintey said. “I think there is a pretty big buy-in across the state with our coaches … we all want what is the best for the high school player. And nothing beats staying home and playing with your buddies.”

Players who departed for other programs after playing at least one season of high school hockey.

Current Minnesota high school players who were in non-Minnesota State High School League programs last season.