Zero Degrees

IMAGINE IF UCLA center Kevin Love had come to Bruins' coach Ben Howland midway through this season and said, "Coach, it's been great, but I've got an offer to jump to the NBA, and I'm going to take it. Today." Preposterous? In basketball perhaps, but hockey plays by different rules. Sophomore Kyle Okposo, a star forward at Minnesota, made exactly that kind of sudden and (to his college team) disruptive leap when he signed with the Islanders in December.

Okposo is one of several college hockey players who have turned pro this season and whose absence impacts the NCAA Division I tournament that begins this weekend. Last month Denver's leading scorer, sophomore Brock Trotter, signed with the Canadiens, then went to play for its AHL team in Hamilton, Ont.; Niagara center Les Reaney, a junior, left for the Oilers' organization. Says Denver coach George Gwozdecky, "Now we have to play differently because we aren't as offensively potent as we were." Denver enters the 16-team tournament as a No. 2 seed, Niagara's a No. 4, and Minnesota's a No. 3.

NHL prospects are frequently drafted before attending school, and their rights are held by the pro team for years. Although the NHL, unlike the NBA, does not require prospects to wait a year after their scheduled high school graduation to turn pro, hockey players typically complete several college seasons, if not all four, before signing. But the NHL's 2005 collective bargaining agreement lowered entry-level salaries and signing bonuses, and for the newly salary-capped teams, getting prospects into their system earlier became a low-risk, potentially high-reward investment. After the 2002--03 season 10 underclassmen signed with NHL clubs. Last year that number tripled.

The Islanders have said they signed Okposo in midyear partly out of concern that he wasn't developing swiftly enough. It may be a precedent many will follow: Okposo made his NHL debut last week. In his next game, against the Devils, he scored the game-winner.