Season plans have been revealed for New York Islanders first-round prospect Kashawn Aitcheson. Amid rumors of signing his entry-level contract or moving to the NCAA, Aitcheson will instead be returning to the OHL’s Barrie Colts for his age-19 season, Stefen Rosner of The Hockey News reports in his newsletter. Rosner adds that New York will wait to sign Aitcheson until next summer.
Aitcheson led Barrie’s blue-line in scoring in each of the last two seasons. He joined the Colts’ full-time in the 2023-24 season, at age 17, after a 23-game trial run in the prior season. It didn’t take long for Aitcheson to display a special lean towards feisty, aggressive hockey. He finished his first full OHL season with a team-leading 126 penalty minutes in 64 games, to go along with his defense-leading 39 points. The performance was a great show of the unique and overwhelming presence that Aitcheson brought to the lineup. Even more exciting was how he managed to build on that strong start this past season.
Through 64 games this year, a focus on staying poised and in-position boosted Aitcheson to an impressive 26 goals and 59 points, along with a restrained 88 penalty minutes. His goal-total is the third-most any OHL defenseman has managed in their draft year since 2000 — behind only Zayne Parekh (33) and Ryan Murphy (26). Aitcheson ranks just ahead of Evan Bouchard (25), Aaron Ekblad (23), and Ryan Ellis (22). That’s impressive company for the Islanders prospect, especially given that Ekblad is the only one of the bunch to also record more than 80 penalty minutes. Aitcheson’s performance was enough to earn the 17th-overall selection in this year’s draft.
An 18-goal leap from one season to the next will be hard for any player to sustain, though. Rather than couple that task with the challenge of a league change, Aitcheson will return to familiarity to really carve in his rut as a scorer. That will come as great news for Colts fans, who can almost certainly expect a near point-per-game season out of Aitcheson’s encore display. He’ll be joined by the return of Utah Mammoth first-round pick Cole Beaudoin, who scored 22 goals and 51 points in 52 games last season.
Islanders fans will have a list of places to follow their 2025 first-round picks on the back of this news. First-overall pick Matthew Schaefer will compete for a role on the NHL lineup, or join Aitcheson in a return to the OHL, after recently signing his first pro contract. New York’s patience with signing Aitcheson seems to indicate the runway Schaefer will receive. Meanwhile, Victor Eklund will return to Sweden’s SHL for next season, after he supported Djugardens IF to a promotion from the HockeyAllsvenskan last year.
Why is the CHL (exceptions such as this aside) just losing players to the NCAA and giving up?
Money talks.
College hockey if far from a cash cow…why can’t the junior leagues out bid, or at least competitively bid against the NCAA?
I don’t know that money would talk in many of these situations. Some if not the majority of the players they are losing are too good for the CHL and the NCAA is a great next league to play since they are ineligible for the AHL. It could be bad for maybe some lesser developed players but for guys like McKenna and Martone among others have nothing left to prove in the CHL. It’s better for their development and the smarter guys are going to realize that over any offer the CHL makes.
The CHL can’t compete with NIL packages of NCAA, especially when it comes to BC, BU, North Dakota, ASU, Michigan, Michigan State and Penn State among others. College hockey has seen alot of NIL money thrown at prime CHL players that CHL teams don’t have.
In addition, the benefits of playing in the NCAA help develop the player even more. Less games means more time in the weight room to get stronger – another element the CHL doesn’t work on.
NIL doesn’t come from the colleges, it comes from donors/wealthy alums. Unless CHL teams can find a similar source of revenue, they will continue to be outbid for their players.