Following Ohio State’s loss to eventual national champion Quinnipiac a couple weeks ago, a number of Buckeyes have signed professional contracts. Unlike the NFL and NBA, which see players drafted after their college careers are over, many hockey players are drafted early on in their college careers.
Hockey players can be drafted as early as 18 years old, which is why you see players drafted and then go on to play college hockey while the teams that drafted them hold their rights. A team possesses the rights to any player they have drafted until 30 days after they leave school.