In theory, the roster limit of players 24+ being dropped to 19 and the 3 u23's being the only way to play 4 lines, it somewhat levels the playing field ever so slightly.
Teams like Dundee, Fife and Edinburgh have always used young guys to fill open spots due to their cheap prices and them playing in the same rink. Teams like Panthers, Devils, Belfast and Sheffield, historically, run 4 lines but with perhaps only ever 1 player under 20, if that. Now, the bottom lines of the supposed big 4 will be u23's, mostly unproven players who teams will look to develop to ensure there is replacements for our top, aging Brits.
It's a fair rule from where I'm sat, even though some Brits will be sacrificed to meet these additional requirements. Currently, when you think for a minute, before this season there haven't been any standout replacements to-be, for guys like David Clarke, Mark Richardson, Matthew Myers, Jonathan Philips, Colin Shields, Stephen Murphy, Russ Cowley.. to name a few. Obviously some of those still have a few years left in them, but some don't. Little has been done before this season to find and develop talent to fill those positions when they inevitably become available. Development takes time, and whilst some of our best Brits are still around, we need to get the youngsters up and playing alongside them sooner rather than later, they can be mentored and taught the ins and outs of the league, how to handle pressures, money, social media and personal life alongside hockey.
If this new rule hadn't been introduced, you could bet that teams would only look for replacements for the premier Brits once they've decided to hang the skates up. Which would be bad business. Teams need to be prepared.
In addition the rule, it means teams will have to work with their Junior teams and/or NIHL teams to enhance development. I can't comment for other teams as I don't follow them closely enough to know their development systems but Panthers have took a good step forward with their new kids and agreement set up with Okanagan and Swindon. It's much more like the Junior Systems within Europe now like that. Whilst I'm excited we've teamed up with Okanagan, it does feel like a bit of a blow to the Nottingham Juniors. Okanagan is a hockey academy/school, costs a lot of money and realistically, few will have the money to send their kids there and instead opt for the local team, as it should be. With Panthers choosing Okanagan over the Nottingham junior teams, I just hope it won't have a negative effect on the Nottingham junior system as I'm sure most other EIHL teams will use the junior teams that they share their building with.
It's going to work out well, something like this just needs to be given time to see results.