TORONTO – The Ontario Hockey League (OHL) concluded its Annual General Meeting and Leadership Meetings over the past two weeks, with the League’s Board of Governors and member clubs addressing a range of items ahead of the opening of training camps for the 2026-27 season.
Amendments to Fighting Penalties
The Board of Governors approved amendments to the OHL Discipline Policy governing fighting penalties, effective for the 2026-27 season.
Under the amended policy:
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Previous parameters enforced a team-wide threshold of a maximum of 50 fights in a single season and a maximum sanction of $2,000 per fight for exceeding that threshold. The new parameters will see the team-wide threshold reduced to 35 per team, with a fine of $5,000 assessed for each fight beyond the team-wide threshold.
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A player may be assessed a maximum of three fighting majors between the start of the regular season and Dec. 31. That total resets on Jan. 1, with a maximum of three additional fighting majors permitted through the remainder of the regular season.
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A separate threshold of three fighting majors continues to apply throughout the OHL Playoffs.
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Any fighting major beyond the applicable limit results in supplemental discipline in accordance with the OHL Discipline Policy — a minimum two-game suspension for the player exceeding the threshold, unchanged from the standard currently in place.
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The League will also be strengthening its application of discipline with regards to instances of premeditated fights before the drop of the puck as well as players involved in the second fight within the same stoppage.
The framework these amendments operate within
The thresholds above sit within the OHL’s existing rules governing fighting conduct, which remain unchanged, and which distinguish between controlled participation and predatory behaviour.
Penalties for instigating, aggressor conduct, premeditated fights, bullying and a second fight in the same stoppage continue to apply, and are enforced independently of the thresholds set out above — as does the long-standing provision that a player who has been instigated upon does not have that fighting major counted toward his own total or his club’s. Each OHL member team also remains subject to an in-game threshold of three major penalties for fighting, with a sanction of $500 per fight beyond the threshold. Fighting in the OHL is not consequence-free: it is regulated, penalized, and subject to progressive discipline.
The League will continue to sanction dangerous play more severely than spontaneous fighting and will continue to monitor for premeditated fights and predatory conduct through officiating and supervisory reporting. That monitoring is also enhanced by Spiideo, the comprehensive in-venue video review system introduced across the League in 2025-26, which gives OHL Hockey Operations the footage required to assess fighting scenarios and apply consistent judgment.
Review
Throughout the 2026-27 season, the OHL will conduct a review of fighting occurrences, including numbers and distribution across players and teams. The findings will inform policy for future seasons.
2026-27 OHL Season – Key Hockey Operations Dates
August 24 – Earliest date teams can open training camp (Erie granted exemption to start August 22)
August 27 – Trade window for defected players (until September 15)
September 17 – OHL regular season commences
November 13 – Reduce overage protected players list players to a maximum of four
December 1 – CHL/USA Top Prospects Game (Chicoutimi, QC)
December 2 – CHL/USA Top Prospects Game (Quebec City, QC)
December 4 – Restricted trading period for World Junior players (to January 5)
December 20 – Restricted trading period begins (to December 26)
January 7 – Reduce overage protected players list to a maximum of three
January 7 – Final overage trade deadline (12:00pm)
January 8 – Final trading deadline (12:00pm)
January 15 – Final date to sign an overage player
January 20 – Connor McDavid OHL Top Prospects Game (Owen Sound)
February 10 – Final date to sign a player
March 21 – OHL regular season concludes
March 25 – OHL Playoffs commence
May 21 – 2027 Memorial Cup (Guelph, ON)
