NCAA Finalizes Rule Granting CHL Players Eligibility
Image Courtesy: Darren Calabrese/AP
After weeks of deliberation, the vote is official and Canadian major junior players will be eligible to play NCAA ice hockey
Written by james Blennau
The NCAA is approving new legislation to allow Canadian major junior players eligibility to play Division I ice hockey at any of its member institutions. The rule takes effect August 1, 2025, and will only apply to DI programs as of the current regulations. The rule also specifies that players will only be eligible “provided that they did not receive above actual and necessary expenses to compete in the CHL,” per College Hockey Inc (CHI), an NCAA recruiting and eligibility information source for prospects.
The idea has been in the back of fans’ minds ever since NIL rules came into place, wondering if they could influence precedent for even more groundbreaking rules, and here they are.
Player recruiting around the CHL, comprising of the Ontario, Western and Quebec Maritimes Junior hockey leagues can and will begin immediately. This means players recruited before the vote such as Braxton Whitehead can now fully commit to playing at their schools and are eligible to appear on rosters the day the rules fully take effect, August 1st.
CHL Leagues/Teams Map | Image Courtesy: billsportsmaps.com
Expenses that won’t put players’ eligibility in jeopardy if covered by their previous junior teams include meals, lodging, transportation, apparel, equipment, supplies, coaching, ice time, medical treatment and entry fees per CHI. Any expenses outside these or other necessities as seen by the NCAA would put a player’s eligibility at risk due to its similarity to a professional model, which the league saw as a reason to keep major junior players out of the league in previous years.
The NCAA in the outlined rules has a solid stance that compensation more than the expenses of the athletics, travel, and other necessities as enough to categorize the activities as professional. Jeopardizing expenses could include merchandise from the teams whose camps players attend. These players would either need to reimburse the teams the cost, mail the items back or donate them to charitable organizations. The rules apply not only to CHL camps but to NHL camps as well.
Additionally, these players are not allowed to reach any present or future agreement with an agent unless drafted by an NHL team before enrolling, and all existing contracts must be terminated before enrollment per CHI. This clause additionally aligns with the NCAA’s lack of NIL support for international students due to their visa status, and organization-wide rule changes would need to be made before agents could be allowed. While this could create complications for dual-citizenship players who don’t require a visa, as of this ruleset they will still need to terminate agent contracts unless previously drafted into the NHL specifically.
The rules have yet to take any effect on NCAA, US junior or Canadian junior hockey, but could go a variety of directions depending on how the current crop of players decide to play their developmental years.
