Earlier today, Scott Wheeler of The Athletic indicated that the newly ratified Collective Bargaining Agreement may include language that would amend the current minimum age stipulation in any transfers from the CHL to the AHL. Although Wheeler wasn’t entirely correct, he wasn’t far off.
Frank Seravalli later clarified the initial report, stating that every NHL team can place at least one 19-year-old on their AHL affiliate, while maintaining the minimum age of 20, generally speaking. Seravalli added that 18-year-olds will remain ineligible for the second-highest league in North America.
Unfortunately, this new rule won’t change anything for a few years. Since the new CBA doesn’t begin until the 2026-27 campaign, this means that none of the players selected in the 2025 NHL Draft will be eligible for AHL competition, at least for this season.
Additional evening notes:
- According to Sportnet’s Elliotte Friedman, the league isn’t expected to return to a centralized draft in 2026. Still, Friedman warns that votes are pending, but all signs point to agreement on holding a decentralized draft again next summer. Given that no public surveys have been performed, generic online canvassing indicated that the NHL has some changes to make for next year’s production in the fans’ view.
- In another update from the new CBA, PuckPedia reports that there’s a change regarding a player’s signing rights once drafted. The team will own a player’s signing rights for four years if the player is 18 years old, and for three years if they’re 19 years old. It’s important to note that the changes won’t begin until after the 2027 NHL Draft, the first draft after the new CBA comes into effect.
From now on a player is only drafted if they decide to honor it.
Otherwise, NCAA for some NIL until UFA in the NHL.
If they do the draft next year like this one, I’m not watching. I’ll just read about it the next day. This year was like having a spike drilled into your head while watching the Kardashians.
So basically the league could care less what the fans want at the Draft.
As draft expert Shane Malloy said during this latest draft, the GM’s shouldn’t have a say in how the draft is done. This is an entertainment business and GM’s aren’t suited to making those types of decisions.
They had for years a unique event that both marketed & celebrated the prime point on the calendar where fans can embrace hope for their teams future. Anything that smacks of this year’s gross & pathetic circus needs to be punted far & away.