The NCAA has voted to make Canadian Hockey League players eligible to play college hockey, according to a statement.
The move marks the start of a potentially seismic shift in hockey’s development landscape, opening up new paths for players in the OHL, QMJHL and WHL, long the NHL’s three biggest development leagues. CHL players have until now been excluded from playing NCAA hockey.
“College hockey gets deeper and more Canadian,” said one Hockey East coach ahead of the decision.
The NCAA Division I Council passed the proposal in their November meeting on Thursday, though it will not be final until the meeting concludes later today. The proposal, initially tabled in October, follows a wave of litigation filed against the NCAA which claims that prohibiting players who played in one of the CHL’s three leagues (the OHL, QMJHL and WHL) from playing in the NCAA violated U.S. antitrust laws. Regina Pats forward Braxton Whitehead recently shirked the restrictions and verbally committed to play for Arizona State University in 2025-26.
The new legislation eliminates language that labeled major junior hockey as professional and thus its players ineligible to play men’s college ice hockey.
The move also standardizes the NCAA’s bylaws across sports, bringing ice hockey’s language about pre-enrollment activity in line with that of other sports such as golf and tennis. This new legislation moves to “permit involvement with professional teams and leagues (e.g., contracts, payments, tryouts, practice and competition) before initial full-time collegiate enrollment, provided not more than actual and necessary expenses for participation are received or guaranteed.”
The new legislation will take effect as of Aug. 1, 2025, opening up eligibility for CHL players for the 2025-26 college season.
The change will not impact CHL players exclusively, though, as the vote may also open up eligibility for some additional European players who have participated in a professional environment as well.
It will still likely be years before the long-term implications for college and junior hockey in North America are sorted out, too, with existing documents like the CHL-NHL Agreement and even the NHL’s collective bargaining agreement (which is set to expire on Sept. 15, 2026) now requiring reopening and renegotiating.
For both the NCAA and CHL, though, some items need more immediate answers. Several CHL and NCAA coaches and managers contacted by The Athletic, who were granted anonymity in order to speak freely about the looming decision, said as of now, they have been given no directive by their respective leagues as to what the next steps are.
“It’s going to be worked out on the fly,” one OHL general manager said in advance of the vote. “It’s fun to talk about over an ice-cold beer but now it’s here. It’s time for some action.”
Several CHL coaches and executives who spoke with The Athletic in recent weeks wondered about a potential transfer agreement between the CHL and NCAA.
Others said they would need clarity on whether education packages — a promise of one year of university or college tuition per year played in the CHL — will be honored for major junior players who now choose to go to NCAA schools instead of Canadian universities in USports — last season, the CHL’s three leagues contributed more than $7 million to their scholarship programs. QMJHL commissioner Mario Cecchini told The Athletic scholarship money is promised regardless of the post-graduate destination, but that there is an appetite to keep student-athletes in Canada.
Some in the CHL also pointed to the need for clarity on the differences in how long NHL teams retain the rights of CHL and NCAA players before they become free agents.
“The NHL will need to address the two-year signing period for CHL players and four years for NCAA players,” said one WHL general manager.
Around college hockey, there is also still much uncertainty about exactly how this shift in eligibility will be implemented.
“Will CHL teams let them out of their ‘contracts’?” asked one Big Ten coach in advance of the vote. “We have multiple USHL players who want to bolt for (the) CHL now if they can keep eligibility. We have also received a multitude of calls (from) CHL players looking to bolt for college next fall. I think it’s going to be super messy to start but will get ironed out.”
However, despite this uncertainty, NCAA teams have been preparing for this eventuality. In the opening weeks of the CHL season, numerous NCAA coaches were spotted at CHL games.
Multiple NCAA coaches told The Athletic they’ll also need additional clarification on which players are eligible to make the move, and whether those with professional contracts who haven’t yet played pro hockey will also now be eligible under the NCAA’s new rules.
One QMJHL executive said he expects that rules around signed players being ineligible to play in the NCAA won’t change and that they will continue to be unable to leave the CHL to play college hockey. This would potentially add a new wrinkle to NHL teams’ decisions on signing their top prospects immediately.
According to the NCAA’s eligibility center, “a prospect may sign a contract with a professional team, provided the contract is limited to actual and necessary expenses and does not promise or guarantee future payments. Further, if a prospect signs a multiyear contract, the contract must be terminated prior to initial full-time enrollment at any college or university.”
“NHL teams being able to slide entry-level deals in the CHL and not NCAA is something that needs to be looked at,” argued one Hockey East coach.
There is optimism, though, from coaches and executives in both junior and NCAA hockey, that the change will ultimately be a positive for both sides — and certainly for the players, who now have more options and new development paths to consider.
“Personally, I think that this is excellent for the players. I think the players need to have as many options as possible and I think that when we talk development and we preach development that this is now an extension and it needs to be embraced,” said one OHL general manager. “We’re pro education, we’re pro development and I think if done properly that this could become the best development path for everybody.”
This story will be updated.
(Photo: Erica Denhoff / Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
