Canadian major junior hockey players could soon become eligible to play for U.S. colleges

For decades major junior players from the Canadian Hockey League (CHL) were not eligible to play south of the border in the NCAA, but according to recent reports that could be changing.

On a podcast hosted by Hockey Night in Canada commentator Elliotte Friedman he stated earlier this month that “We are headed toward a future of where CHL players are going to be able to play NCAA hockey. The question is when.”

Some believe it could become a reality within the next couple of years.

“I do feel that it’s something that’s going to happen. It’s not going to happen in the ‘24-‘25 season but I could see it having legs and certainly something that gets to a point for the ‘25-‘26 season. I could see this in place within the next 18 months for sure,” TSN analyst Craig Button said.

“I definitely think it’s going to happen from what I’ve been hearing from my NCAA sources is that they kind of think it’s probably a year or two years out,” said Wayne Kosior of TrailBlazer Hockey Advisors.

As a hockey advisor Kosior’s clients are players either headed to the junior ranks or currently playing junior hockey. His job is to help them navigate through that process and even help them decide which path may be best suited for their playing needs. Prior to this announcement he would help young men decide whether Junior A or CHL hockey was best based on whether they wanted to play NCAA, pro, and/or U Sports in the future. With this change on the forefront, it opens a multitude or doors for young athletes going forward in the hockey world.

“I think it’s actually going to create demand for folks in our business for sure,” Kosior said. “Hockey is extremely complex and it’s only going to get more complex should this rule get approved. We also see the five AJHL teams that moved over to the BCHL, that’s creating a lot of chaos and panic and the unknowns by the players and families. Us as advisors are benefitting from that because there’s a demand for our knowledge,” Kosior explained.

As it stands right now if a player suits up for even one CHL game they relinquish their NCAA eligibility. It has often played a role in who teams draft in the Ontario Hockey League (OHL), Quebec Maritimes Junior Hockey League (QMJHL), or Western Hockey League (WHL).

However the new NIL rules that are allowing NCAA student-athletes to earn money have forced the CHL and NCAA to rethink their policies. Players in the CHL receive a small portion of money every month which has deemed them “professionals” in the United States and as a result made them ineligible for the NCAA.

“There’s a lot of lawsuits going on in the United States and some lawsuits are kind of challenging the fact that college football and basketball players are getting somewhere in the round of $50,000 to $100,000 a year for their name, image, and likeness,” Kosior said. “Some people are just saying, ‘How is that possible that a college student can get paid that kind of money and be deemed eligible for the NCAA. Whereas say a WHL player gets $250 or $300 a month they’re deemed professionals as a result,’” Kosior said.

“The other part of this too is you have young players in both the United States and Canada that at the ages of 15 and 16 are asked to make big decisions about their future. Kids at 15 and 16 are not even thinking about education and I’m not saying that in a negative way. You just get dialed in for your dreams and your goals,” Button said. “So to be able to allow the maturation process to carry out in a normal fashion [instead we] quote ‘penalize’ these kids who say, ‘The CHL is right for me’. Well then they find out maybe it wasn’t right for them,” Button added.

Questions have also surfaced surrounding how the change could affect other leagues such as the Canadian Junior Hockey League (CJHL) or U Sports.

U Sports teams often feature players who have graduated from the CHL but do not directly head to the professional level.

“There’s going to be some unintended consequences. U Sports gets a lot of players from the CHL. The CHL has a really good education package that affords players that you can take that education package and use the money to go to school. U Sport has benefited from that. Will they lose players potentially to the NCAA? Absolutely they will. Maybe part of the program is that you have to go back to junior elite for a year before you go to the NCAA. Those are all things that could potentially become part of the parameters of this happening,” said Button.

“In my opinion, it’s just another phase in the evolution of hockey. There’s going to be certainly some impact short term, you know the pain of changing as it migrates over. I don’t think you’re going to see an impact [in U Sports] because the reality is there’s so many good hockey players coming out of the United States with the evolution of hockey. There are just thousands of elite players coming out there. They’re probably 70 per cent of the NCAA and I don’t see that changing a whole lot,” Kosior said.

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“I could only see a few elite players that would be coming from CHL teams and playing college. I don’t see this as a massive rush to go play NCAA hockey,” Kosior added.

Regina Pats head coach Brad Herauf said the change would create more academic opportunities for players.

“I think anytime that we can do that and you know there’s going to be money changing hands, contracts, all that stuff that’s way above my pay grade. But to me what’s the interesting part of the whole thing is instead of leagues competing against each other, working together, and I think that’s a real positive,” Herauf said.

Current Pats players Sam Oremba who is 18 and Ty Gibson, who is 20 and in his final year of major junior eligibility both agree a shift in eligibility would create change in the WHL.

“I think there’s definitely good and bad for both player and league. I haven’t really thought about it very much. I know there’s lots of guys that have always wanted to go to school after their hockey career so it’s another door that’s opening for all of us,” Oremba said.

“I don’t know too much about it because we were always kind of told through this league that was never an opportunity. I think it’d be different though, I think you’d see more guys coming to the CHL. I definitely could see it changing some things,” Gibson said.

Gibson also praised the current CHL scholarship program. He noted how expensive post-secondary education is and how much of a boost the scholarship fund has been for some he has played with that have taken advantage of the scholarship fund.

Currently, CHL players are provided with one year of post-secondary education per how many seasons they play in the WHL, OHL or QMJHL.

Before the two leagues can work together there are still a lot of details to iron out around the process which includes exactly when players would be eligible to move from CHL to NCAA.