SPORTS TALK: Potential rule changes for junior hockey

By Greg Buchanan

On Sportsnet’s Hockey Night in Canada broadcast, Elliotte Friedman leaked potential rule changes for junior hockey. If enacted, the rule changes would allow Canadian Hockey League (CHL) players to play in the NCAA after tenures in the Ontario Hockey League (OHL), Quebec Maritime Junior Hockey League (QMJHL), or Western Hockey League (WHL).

[NHL general managers] were told that the NCAA is actively considering removing all restrictions for CHL players to play after their CHL careers are done.

Friedman went on to explain that no timeline or agreement has been announced, but the NHL is preparing for it. “There’s no question that this is now on the NHL’s radar, and it could be a very big change, A big change, not just for the NHL, CHL, NCAA, but undoubtedly also for U SPORTS.

Previously, players who wish to play in the NCAA can have a CHL team cover expenses for them for up to 48 hours as a one-time allowance for a tryout. This is one of a few strict rules regarding NCAA eligibility, which consider players from the major junior leagues in Canada as pro players and thus ineligible to play amateur hockey at their colleges and universities.

U SPORTS, however, does not just allow CHL players to play after their time in the league but encourages it. The league covers a year of tuition for each season a player competes in the CHL —and according to the CHL, over 956 graduates were utilizing that funding during the 2019-20 season. The Canadian university ranks are dominated by CHL alumni, with over 80 percent of players at the recent U SPORTS Men’s Hockey Championship coming from the CHL.

So why now? The CHL-NCAA blockade has long been a point of debate among hockey fans, but for years, the NCAA would not budge. However, following the US Supreme Court ruling in 2021 that the NCAA was not allowed to limit any education-related payments to students, the association has seen widespread changes in the past few years.

This makes for great competition in U SPORTS, however. The players are older than their counterparts in the NCAA, more experienced, and generally play out their entire eligibilities with their Canadian universities, minus some players who are signed to ECHL contracts at the end of the season.