College hockey in Europe is not a new development pathway. College hockey leagues in Europe have been in existance since 2001 in several countries.
Officially there are fourteen college hockey leagues in Europe and Scandinavia, spread across seventeen countries, with expansion for 2025 well underway.
In 2025, college hockey in Europe is expected to have eighty four teams with continued expansion planned for 2026 and beyond.
With this planned growth scross the continent, European college hockey is slated to become the top development path for professional hockey throughout Europe.
What has happened with NCAA hockey becoming the NHL’s most used development path will be replicated in Europe. Professional hoceky leagues in Europe, most with very restrictive import player limits, now see European college hockey as a way to develop talent, while assisting players in receiving citizenship in their country, bypassing import restrictions.
Sweden for example, has made the cost of having an American import player in its lower level professional leagues more than twice as expensive as it was in the 2022-2023 season. This has reduced the number of American players in Sweden pro leagues by more than ninety percent.
The number of Canadian players in Sweden has also been reduced due to new visa requirements for all of the lower level professional leagues.
Unfortunately this trend of more strict visa requirements will likely continue for the next few years. This makes the opportunity to play college hockey in Europe that much more important to the professional development ladder.
European College Hockey Placement Services has more than one hundred guaranteed roster spots to fill for the 2025-2026 college hockey season. When NCAA opportunities are not available, dont you owe it to yourself to look into college hockey in Europe?
Visit https://echps.com or email [email protected] for more information.
