CHL president sees NCAA ruling on eligibility for CHL players as positive

Original Publication Date November 07, 2024 - 3:51 PM

President Dan MacKenzie believes the Canadian Hockey League and its players benefit from the NCAA's latest ruling that could create a big shift in hockey's development system.

The NCAA Division I Council on Thursday approved a rule allowing players with CHL experience to compete at U.S. colleges starting next season.

The decision, effective Aug. 1, lifts the NCAA’s long-standing ban on CHL players in its three major junior leagues — the Ontario Hockey League, Western Hockey League and Quebec Maritime Junior Hockey League.

They were previously ineligible because they received a stipend of up to $600 per month for living expenses, making them professionals according to the NCAA.

"For many years, you know, parents and players who were 15 years old had to make a decision on their academic careers at a really young age and were not allowed to play in the CHL, which is the best development league in the world, while they're waiting to go to college," MacKenzie said. "And so now that pathway is going to converge, and they're not going to have to worry about that."

"As you fast forward and you're in a world where, you know, we think the best players in the world 16, 17, 18, 19 year olds are going to want to play in the CHL," he added. "So we see the talent level of our league increasing and increasing pretty dramatically and being a real destination for players."

While acknowledging that "changes will be inevitable" and that it's a "huge shift," MacKenzie said players will have another avenue to develop.

"I think it's going to come down to when you get to the older age, the question is going to be 'am I developing here? Am I continuing to grow as a player, et cetera, et cetera,'" he said.

In their statements, the OHL and WHL both referred to it as a positive to create additional avenues for its players.

MacKenzie added that players will have more options for the scholarship programs in place in the CHL leagues.

"The way it works in the CHL is for every year that a player plays in the CHL, they get a year of scholarship covered by the team and so now those players will have more options on where they can apply that scholarship, whether it be in U Sports, stay in Canada, or whether it's NCAA," he said.

"So overall we think it's a really, really positive development. It's think it's going to be good for the CHL. "

MacKenzie says the CHL has advantages to its model over the NCAA. He pointed to the risks involving the transfer portal, whether it be losing a spot on the team — or one's scholarship — due to an incoming transfer, or moving to another school and not knowing what that means for a player's degree.

Thursday's ruling was one that MacKenzie said he saw coming over the past 10 months and that the CHL had been preparing for.

The NCAA’s ruling follows a class-action lawsuit filed Aug. 13 in U.S. district court in Buffalo, New York, challenging the ban of CHL players.

The lawsuit was filed on behalf of Riley Masterson of Fort Erie, Ont., who lost his college eligibility two years ago when, at 16, he appeared in two exhibition games for the OHL’s Windsor Spitfires. It lists 10 Division I hockey programs, which were selected to show they follow the NCAA’s bylaws in barring current or former CHL players.

While MacKenzie did say it's too early to tell what may come of the NCAA's ruling in the future, he believes the CHL is a "beneficiary."

"To begin the season, 390 CHL graduates are in the NHL, in last year's draft 88 CHL players were drafted. That's more than double the next league," he said. "There's no doubt that the CHL is the best league to play in from a talent perspective.

"I think we're going to be well positioned to have success in the future. We don't know all the implications that just came up, the news just came out today. But you know, I think we're in a pretty good spot to make sure we continue to be the No. 1 development league in the world."

— With files from The Associated Press.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 7, 2024.

Note to readers: This a corrected version. A previous version erroneously stated players lose NCAA eligibility once drafted by the NHL.