In November, we covered reports indicating that the NHL was seeking to come to an agreement with the CHL on allowing 19-year-old CHL players to play in the AHL under specific circumstances. At the time, it appeared the league was seeking a deal that would allow each club to select one player, who would have previously been ineligible to play in the AHL, to be loaned to that league. The Athletic’s Michael Russo and Pierre LeBrun reported today that NHL Deputy Commissioner Bill Daly had a meeting scheduled for today with the CHL’s President, alongside the three commissioners of the CHL’s leagues. Per Russo and LeBrun, “there will be some type of change” to the rule, and the negotiations are reportedly more about determining “the number of 19-year-olds that could be assigned” and “the criteria” of who would be allowed to be assigned.
Russo and LeBrun indicated that with the flow of CHL players to the NCAA, now that the NCAA’s rules permit CHLers to join the college ranks, NHL teams “want to maintain control of their drafted players.” Providing a player with the flexibility to turn pro might keep a player from playing college hockey, something that would accomplish that goal for teams. Recent history is littered with players who teams would likely have preferred to turn pro rather than return to the CHL, perhaps none more high-profile than 2022 No. 4 pick Shane Wright. The year after he was drafted, Wright got into eight NHL games, a handful of AHL games (on a conditioning loan), and was reassigned to the OHL after the World Juniors. It’s likely that Wright would have simply spent the year in the AHL had the rules been different, and with today’s reporting, it appears the next Wright might very well get the chance to do just that.
Other notes from around the NHL:
- The New York Rangers announced tonight that defenseman Urho Vaakanainen left the team’s contest against the New Jersey Devils after suffering an upper-body injury. The full extent of Vaakanainen’s injury is, of course, unclear at this time. The 27-year-old, who is under contract through next season at a $1.55MM AAV, has served as a seventh defenseman for the Rangers this season. He’s gotten into 32 games, scoring six points and averaging 14:08 time on ice per game.
- Vaakanainen isn’t the only Rangers player who left their game against the Devils with an injury: the team also announced that rookie center Noah Laba has been sidelined with a lower-body injury. Laba’s emergence has been one of the more positive storylines for the Rangers this season, as the 2022 fourth-round pick has been a developmental bright spot for a team whose track record in that area has come under scrutiny. The 22-year-old has 21 points in 64 games this season and has been operating as the team’s No. 3 center, averaging 13:33 time on ice per game including a secondary role on the penalty kill.