Mitten State hockey, from the NHL to the NTDP.

Mitten Hockey story card: USA Hockey National Team Development Program
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How the NTDP turns two U.S. teams into one development pipeline

The Plymouth-based NTDP runs two teams, three kinds of schedules, and one shared USHL record, and its real scoreboard is player development.

Shaun
4–6 minutes
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This week the USA Hockey National Team Development Program had its two teams on two continents. The Under-18 Team was in Kloten, Switzerland, for the U18 Five Nations Tournament against Sweden, Czechia, Finland, and Switzerland. The Under-17 Team was in Oakville, Ontario, for the World Under-17 Hockey Challenge, where it reached Saturday’s gold medal game against Czechia.

Neither trip counts in the USHL standings, and that is the first thing to understand about the program based in Plymouth. The NTDP is a junior team, a national team, and a draft-prep school at once. Its USHL record is the least useful number it produces.

What the NTDP is

USA Hockey established the program in 1996, according to NHL.com. It was based in Ann Arbor before moving to Plymouth in 2015. The Hockey News describes it as a two-year residency program for high-performance players, based at USA Hockey Arena.

The model is simple. Each spring the NTDP picks a new U17 team from a single birth year. The group plays together for two seasons, first as the U17s and then as the U18s. Last year’s U17 class, named in April 2025, had 23 players, all born in 2009: 13 forwards, eight defensemen, and two goaltenders, according to The Hockey News. Rod Braceful, then the NTDP’s director of player personnel, told the outlet, “We had a strong March evaluation camp.” That camp is where most of each class is chosen.

Two teams, one line in the standings

The USHL, the country’s only Tier I junior league, has 16 teams. Each plays a 62-game schedule in 2026-27, according to the league. The NTDP holds one of those 16 spots, listed as “USA Hockey NTDP” in the Eastern Conference. The U17s and the U18s share it.

In practice, both teams play USHL games, and their results go into one Team USA record. The NTDP’s own weekly notes from Nov. 2 show this. They list a combined Team USA USHL record of 4-7-0-0 in 11 games, and then separate overall records for each team: 5-9-0-0 for the U18s and 3-7-0-0 for the U17s. The overall records are larger because they include games that do not count in the USHL. The U17s, for example, hosted the Muskegon Lumberjacks in a USHL game Oct. 28.

The two schedules mix three kinds of games:

  • USHL games. These are the only games that count in the standings. The U18s opened this season at the USHL Fall Classic in Chicago against Tri-City and Sioux Falls.
  • College games. The U18s play NCAA teams as part of a college series. In October they went to New York to play Long Island University and Army West Point. The U17s also face select teams from the North American Hockey League and the Minnesota Elite League, according to The Hockey News.
  • International tournaments. The U17s play three international tournaments each season. The U18s go to events such as the Five Nations.

Why the standings mislead

Put those pieces together and the NTDP’s USHL record becomes hard to read. Its USHL games are split between two rosters, and one of them is the program’s younger age group. Both rosters step away from the league for international play, as they did this week. And the schedule makes the priority clear: development and international competition against the best players in each age group, with the USHL as one part of that plan.

The result is a team that often sits low in the USHL. The league’s 2026-27 preview listed the NTDP at 17-40-3-2 last season, out of the playoffs. That record says little about the program’s real goal.

The better measure is what happens to its players next. NHL.com wrote in 2025 that alumni include Auston Matthews, Jack Eichel, Quinn Hughes, Zach Werenski, and Charlie McAvoy. Former NTDP defenseman Noah Hanifin put it plainly to NHL.com: “it’s become like a factory.”

The current group follows that pattern. The USHL’s preview called North Dakota commit Nolan Fitzhenry a projected first-round pick in 2027 after he led last season’s U17 team with 21 goals.

The Michigan connection

The program is a Michigan story as much as a national one. Its home games are in Plymouth, and Michigan players turn up on its rosters. U18 goaltender Eli Winters, a Wisconsin commit, is from Muskegon. U18 defenseman Easton Johnson is committed to the University of Michigan.

How to follow it

The best way to watch the NTDP is player by player, not standings line by standings line. Watch how the U17s handle older USHL opponents as the winter goes on. Watch which U18s move up draft lists after events like the Five Nations. Watch where the program’s college commits land.

Both teams come home to Plymouth this month. The U18s host the Chicago Steel on Nov. 13 and 14, and the U17s host the Youngstown Phantoms on Nov. 21. For this week’s results, see our recaps of the U18 Five Nations opener and the U17 World Challenge semifinal.

Sources

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