6 OHLers Among New Names Added To 2026 CHL USA Prospects Challenge Roster

As the 2026 edition of the CHL USA Prospects Challenge gets closer and closer, six more top draft-eligible OHLers have been added to the roster for this year's event, to be held in Chicoutimi and Québec City at the start of December.

Brantford's Vilmer Salen Forsberg, Saginaw's Levi Harper, London's Cooper McAslan, Niagara's Ryerson Edgar, Kingston's Aleks Kulemin and Guelph's Jaakko Wycisk are among nine new additions to the team announced Thursday.

They'll join Malik L'Italien of the QMJHL as well as Brock Cripps and Kayden Stroeder of the WHL as new additions to the roster. Dima Zhilkin, Alexis Joseph (QMJHL), Carter Meyer (QMJHL) and Brock England (WHL) were part of the initial four names named to the group back in September.

The remainder of the roster is expected to be announced in early November, with some OHLers in Johnny McLaughlin, Bogdan Yakushevsky, Timothy Kazda, Luca Santala and more hoping to see their names added as part of this roster.

All six of the new additions were given an 'A' grade by NHL Central Scouting this past week, signifying a first-round grade. While the previously-named Zhilkin is obviously the top OHL prospect this year, the rest of the players here all have legitimate cases to be drafted high.

Salen Forsberg, in particular, looks to become the rare goalie to go in the opening 32 picks, something that doesn't happen too often.

Otherwise, a number of these players won gold at the Hlinka-Gretzky Cup back in August, including Wycisk, McAslan, Edgar and Kulemin.

A strong showing at this event in front of what will be a very large number of NHL scouts could be a big boost to any of these players' draft stock, as will a continued strong season in the OHL.

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