A few weeks ago the American Hockey Coaches Association got together in Florida for their annual meeting. On the agenda were discussions concerning potentially making Major Junior/CHL players eligible to play NCAA hockey.
Lets be clear on one very important fact. The CHL is not involved in any negotiations with NCAA hockey to make this potential rule change. The NCAA is considering this change based solely upon the body wanting to avoid more lawsuits that could potentially come from this rule. While some in the Canadian press are painting this as a negotiation between the CHL and NCAA, that is not the case.
While no official vote was taken, a straw poll was conducted, and a full two thirds majority of NCAA programs would vote against allowing Major Junior players to gain eligibility. The only programs that would be in favor of making this change are smaller schools who either lose their best players through the transfer portal, or cannot recruit competitively against bigger and stronger programs.
It is exactly as TJHN predicted. Why did the straw poll land this way? Simply because the vast majority of coaches do not believe that allowing Major Junior players to play NCAA hockey will make NCAA hockey better. Still, a committee was created to monitor these developments.
Be careful what you wish for. If in 2026, Major Junior players are made eligible to play NCAA hockey, after a new NHL/CHL development agreement is done, it wont just be Major Junior players that will be eligible.
If the change to allow now classified pro players to have eligibility, it will also open the door for all European, and Russian players who have played professionally in their own countries to be eligible to play.
Who would become the more attractive recruit? The Swedish eighteen year old who played a year of pro hockey, and was just drafted into the NHL, or the twenty year old CHL player who is not drafted, and figures out he wants to try the NCAA route?
The players who would benefit the most from this type of rule change are going to be NHL drafted players, not simply Major Junior players. It will be those NHL drafted players from outside of North America who could then come to NCAA hockey and get used to the smaller ice surface earlier, and potentially eliminate time spent in the AHL developing as is often the case.
Other items effecting this discussion such as admissions rules, and requirements have already been decided. No special exceptions would be made for any player who could potentially become NCAA eligible.
Meaning all GPA, and core class requirements will still be required for any player seeking admissions to play at an NCAA institution. Also meaning that any player would need to be enrolled full time before his 21st birthday. Players who earn GED’s, or do not have all the core class requirements met would be automatically disqualified from eligibility.
Players with a 2.5 GPA are not going to receive preferential treatment due to athletic ability over a player with a higher GPA.
Also of note, the CHL scholarship program would need a lot of time to prepare for any potential rule change. With some NCAA D-1 programs costing upward of $80,000 per year in USD, the CHL scholarship program would need a huge influx of cash in order to accomodate any players wishing to go this route.
The CHL of course could also make changes to their scholarship program requiring players to play a minimum number of years in the CHL in order to become fully vested in the program. Does anyone believe that the CHL will want to lose its best young prospects after a year or two without being able to recoup their investment into the player?
While a lot of Canadians are of the opinion that if this rule change is made that somehow CHL players will flood NCAA programs. Thats simply not the case, and that point was made clear by the straw poll done. Other than the NHL drafted players in the CHL, NCAA coaches see very little value in CHL players who did not commit to the NCAA path early in their careers.
The only way this proposed change would have a large impact on Major Junior players in the CHL is if there is a simultaneous mass expansion of NCAA D-1 hockey. This is actaully a possibility.
NCAA sports are a business. College educations in the United States are a business. If NCAA schools add hockey as a sport, they will be doing so to make a profit and receive the CHL scholarship money that these Major Junior players will be entitled to.
As a business, the NCAA is trying to avoid a lawsuit with this potential rule change, they are not considering it to make hockey better or to give CHL players anything. And as a business, the NCAA needs to protect itself from potential lawsuits, doing so, while keeping strict admissions standards is a smart decision. To frame the discussion as anything other than the NCAA considering a business decision is to misframe the discussion.
