Seth Jones to NTDP (edited)

Published 12:30 pm Thursday, April 8, 2010

Everett prospect Seth Jones will play for the U.S. National Team Development Program next season. That means the defenseman from Dallas, who was the 11th-overall pick in last year’s bantam draft, will not be coming to Everett next season.

This is not a surprise, and Alan Caldwell (link at left) speculates that this means Jones has chosen the NCAA route. The Tips would disagree. My sense is the Tips never had a high expectation that Jones would play in Everett as a 16-year-old, and that they’ve more been targeting Jones for 2011-12. Players have jumped to the WHL after one year in the NTDP, with former Tips star Peter Mueller being among those.

This is a good move for Jones from a developmental standpoint, as he will be in a more rigorous environment than he would playing another year of midget in Dallas. I will say, however, that playing in the NTDP could influence Jones’ decision on his future. Most of those players will head to the NCAA and the program has closer ties with the NCAA than the CHL, so I’m sure he’ll receive some encouragement.

So, just as it has been since he was drafted, it’s wait and see on Jones.

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Jones was actually the 11th overall pick in last year’s bantam draft, not 12th overall as I originally wrote. The gaffe has been fixed.