It’s official: The NCAA opens its doors to CHL players

Dose
Crédit:

Discussions had been going on for some time about allowing players who had played in the CHL to join the NCAA.

We knew the project was moving forward, but we didn’t know when it would be confirmed.

The news came today: the NCAA has officially approved the rule, which now allows any player who has ever played a game in the Canadian Hockey League to play in the American college circuit.

All in all, this is big news for junior hockey in North America.

Players who have signed an NHL contract won’t be able to go back to university to play… But what’s interesting is that NCAA players will now be able to attend NHL camps.

And that’s big news too.

This is an important development as it will allow NHL teams to properly evaluate their prospects.

All guys are going to be eligible to attend the camp, after all, so it’ll be easier to see where NCAA players are at in their respective development because they’ll have the opportunity to measure themselves against big league players.

Note that the effective date of the new rule is August 1, 2025. This means, therefore, that if the Habs select a player at the next draft and he is expected to play in the NCAA in 25-26, the principal interested party will be entitled to participate in the Habs’ practice camp next September.

If the rule had been approved last summer, a guy like Michael Hage could have been there at the habs’ last camp:

I really don’t hate it.

Now, it remains to be seen how all this will impact the caliber of each of Canada’s junior hockey leagues.

That said, I can’t wait to see how many kids decide to leave Canadian junior to join the NCAA, because we know how popular the university circuit has become in recent years…

Overtime

– What do you think?

– Great idea.

– Pooler alert: Marc-André Fleury will play tonight.

– Well done.

This content was created with the help of AI.