The junior hockey world is ever changing with the NCAA's now allowing CHL players to play college hockey, and as the Grand Forks Herald is reporting, there will be another change to the process in play for 2025-26.
Last year, coaches and scouts for NCAA schools were able to obtain passes to scout at CHL games to see players they're targeting for commitments. However, this year the CHL will not be granting these passes to NCAA staffers, according to the report.
These coaches will still be allowed to attend games, provided they purchase an individual game ticket, and contact CHL managers to discuss their players, but will not be able to reap the benefits of full scouting access.
While the CHL has seen a hit in terms of top talent, the QMJHL has largely been able to keep a majority of its top talent so far, including all three of its first-round picks in the 2025 NHL draft in Caleb Desnoyers, Justin Carbonneau and Bill Zonnon returning to the league for 2025-26.
A large number of players who have left the league are players who had already aged out, or players signing pre-agreements with schools for when they become overagers, such as Simon-Pier Brunet or Remi Gelinas.
The larger hits to the CHL's top-end talent has been seen the most in the WHL, with elite talent such as Gavin McKenna, Keaton Verhoeff, Cole Reschny and Cayden Lindstrom making the jump down south. The OHL has taken some hits as well, with players such as Porter Martone, Jack Ivankovic and Malcolm Spence joining NCAA schools for the upcoming season.
All told, this is a move by the CHL to try and protect their product by limiting access to a competitor, and it's yet to be seen what (if any) the effects will come from it. This will make it harder for NCAA staffs to see their targets play in person and potentially even meet with them in person, both of which are better than doing so virtually.
But it won't stop schools from targeting CHL talent, and most of them have budgets that are more than big enough to fly out the players they think are worth it to add to the program. This is merely another attempt at a power play in the changing world of junior hockey.
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