Abbotsford/Vancouver (with files from armchairgmsnetwork on Instagram/HNIC) : Potentially big news within the CHL junior hockey landscape, according to Elliotte Friedman on Hockey Night in Canada’s Saturday Headlines segment.
Currently 19-year olds are NOT permitted to play in the American Hockey League until their junior club season is over or they must play up in the National Hockey League.
This discussed new ruling would allow NHL teams to give their prospects another full-season development path, with no limits on the amount of players a team would be able to send to the AHL, so long as they were selected in the first round of their NHL Entry Draft.
This would force OHL/QMJHL/WHL teams to make some very tough decisions based around losing their top 19-year-old NHL affiliated prospects.
Abbotsford Canucks (AHL) and the parent club, NHL Vancouver Canucks are watching this closely.
As are the WHL Vancouver Giants.
