If Braxton Whitehead is successful in his bid to play NCAA hockey after this WHL season, it will create a rush of players doing the same. That's good for everybody, says Ken Campbell.
Braxton WhiteheadWHL player Braxton Whitehead, like Rylan Masterson before him, is spearheading changes in the CHL and NCAA landscape that will be enormous game changers.
Whitehead, who will enter his overage season with the Regina Pats, announced Friday he has received a verbal commitment from Arizona State University for the 2025-26 season. Masterson, meanwhile, is suing the NCAA and member teams for blocking CHL players from college hockey eligibility.
It might not be a stretch to suggest that a young, previously unknown man in Whitehead could turn out to be the Curt Flood of junior hockey.
For those of a younger vintage, Curt Flood was a baseball player who was really the first professional athlete to challenge the reserve clause that binded players to their employers and seek free agency. It changed the landscape forever.
If Whitehead is successful, he'd become the first major junior player in decades to go on to play NCAA hockey after major junior. It's a change in the landscape that is long, long overdue and will be a boon for both players and college and the CHL.
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