It was announced on Tuesday morning that some of the NHL’s new CBA changes will go into effect as soon as this coming season. One in particular hasn’t been confirmed, but would be a game-changer for the San Jose Sharks.

Per Puckpedia, negotiations with the Canadian Hockey League to allow one 19-year-old per NHL team to be loaned to the American Hockey League are expected to get underway in the near future.

Sam Dickinson’s development plan has been a difficult one to project, as he’s at the point where he has seemingly outgrown the Ontario Hockey League, but isn’t quite ready to make the jump to the NHL just yet. As a result, this rule change being implemented a year early could massively help the Sharks manage Dickinson’s development properly.

Dickinson will be among the players attending this month’s Golden State Rookie Faceoff in Southern California. It’s also expected that he’ll get a long look in training camp and in the preseason; however, him remaining on the NHL roster would mean the Sharks would have to make another roster move to make space, whether that be through a trade or placing a player on waivers.

Nothing is set in stone regarding this rule taking effect this coming season, as it took quite a while for the CHL to agree to this rule change to begin with. However, if it does come to fruition, it will be a game-changer in San Jose.