Thoughts on NHL Draft Rights

Ok, I'm trying to figure this all out.

Andy Baggot has another article on Chris Hickey, which sheds some more light on NHL draft rights for NCAA players. From the Baggot article (the quote is from Hickey):

"By signing with UW, Hickey said his homestate team will retain his rights "all the way to the end of my college eligibility." "

The article also says the following:

"The CBA gives NHL teams a four-year window to tender a qualifying contract offer to draftees."

So which one is it? The four-year window for the Wild would be up after the 2009/2010 Badger Season, but according to Hickey's quote, the Wild would retain his rights all the way through if he plays four seasons w/ the Badgers which would be 2012.

This is all rather confusing, and I have searched the web, but haven't really found any hard evidence either way, the only thing I could find was from the following website:

"NCAA players are an exception: NHL teams retain the rights to a college player until 30 days after the player has left college."

Now this is under the heading "Re-entering the Draft" which a player can't do once they reach 20 years of age. This "30 days" issue has come up w/ Blake Wheeler of minnesota, because usually a team retains a players rights until August 15th.

If any readers have some more knowledge on this, please leave a comment below.

Based on things I've read, I'm led to believe that draft rights for NCAA players extend through their NCAA eligibility as long as they are entering school w/ in 2 years of their Draft year, otherwise they would become a free agent first since they would be considered like any other North American player. So looking at Chris Hickey, now that he is coming to Wisconsin next Fall, his draft rights w/ the Wild extend 6 years.

Edit: I just found the NHL CBA which is written by lawyers or something since it sounds stupid. Anyway, on Page 19 they explain the draft rights of college players. As I read it, as long as Chris Hickey is a student at UW as of June 1, 2008 the Minnesota Wild retain his 2006 NHL Draft rights until August 15th of 2012. This will likely apply for Chase Drake in 2010 and Travis Erstad at this time next year.