NHL needs to amend their transfer agreement with the CHL

For many years, the NHL’s transfer agreement with the CHL has worked well. But it’s time for some changes.

The NHL has had a working agreement with the CHL for many years. It allows CHL players to be able to play for the teams that draft them. The current agreement was signed back in 2013. However, it expires on June 30, 2020, so a new agreement will have to be reached or the current one will have to be extended. Hopefully, it’s the former.

Under the current format, CHL players who are 18 or 19 years old, if drafted by their NHL team, must be returned to their junior team who has their rights. Players who are loaned to a Canadian junior team are an exception to this rule. Recent examples include Rasmus Sandin and Andre Burakovsky. Players who have played four junior seasons (min. 25 games per season) are exempt as well, though they’re quite rare.

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The current format doesn’t allow NHL teams to call up players from the CHL unless it’s an emergency or there are special circumstances. This pretty much limits teams to either keep their 19-year-old players in the NHL or send them to juniors, with no middle ground.

For the most part, the current format makes sense. Most players need at least one extra year of seasoning in the CHL before starting their professional careers. However, the current format puts a lot of CHL players in a bad position where they either have to return for a second post-draft junior season or be in the NHL. The current format works for most players, but not for all of them.

Why It Doesn’t Work For Everyone

Take Tom Wilson, for example. Back in 2013-14, the Washington Capitals were in a bit of a pickle with him. They didn’t want to send him back to the OHL because they felt he wouldn’t learn anything there. After all, Wilson was too big for juniors.

Now, the AHL would have been a perfect place for him. The AHL is a better developmental league and would have allowed Wilson to play against bigger opponents. However, the Capitals didn’t have that option. They elected to keep him in the NHL instead.

Another example of a player who has likely suffered because of the current agreement is Barrett Hayton of the Arizona Coyotes. He’s currently on the NHL roster, but has only played in 20 games. Hayton has only very recently been able to stick in their lineup. Part of this is due to an injury he suffered at the World Juniors, but from the start of the season through the end of November, Hayton only appeared in 14 of 27 games.

Because he’s only 19 years old and his junior rights are held by the Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds, the Coyotes couldn’t send him to the AHL. Hayton, like Wilson, probably would have benefitted from playing in the AHL. If the Coyotes needed him, they could have called him up. This option wouldn’t have been there had they sent Hayton back to the Greyhounds.

New York Islanders defenseman Noah Dobson is in a similar situation, though he has earned a more consistent spot in the Islanders lineup than Hayton thanks to injuries. However, it’s hard to argue Dobson wouldn’t have benefitted from more consistent playing time in the AHL.

In 2019, Dobson appeared in 11 of the Islanders 38 games. So far in 2020, he’s appeared in 22 of their 29 games. Again, sending him to the AHL wasn’t an option and the Islanders wouldn’t have been able to recall him if they sent him back to the Acadie-Bathurst Titan, who own his rights.

Looking forward to the 2020-21 season, players like Bowen Byram, Dylan Cozens, Peyton Krebs, and Connor McMichael could all be in a very similar situation unless something changes. They’re players who are probably too good for juniors but might not be ready for the NHL. It’s not good for the players, and it’s not good for the teams.

Making the jump from juniors to the NHL is quite difficult. If the AHL was an option for exceptional 19 year olds, it would benefit everyone. Most teams probably wouldn’t send their 19 year olds to the AHL. It would only be a few players a year.

How To Fix It

Fixing the transfer agreement won’t be too difficult because, as I said earlier, it works for most players. But the NHL’s job is to look at for the best interests of all of their teams and all of their players. Having players like Hayton and Dobson sitting in the press box as healthy scratches isn’t beneficial to anybody.

The NHL, whether it’s by extra funding or some other method, needs to make one of two things happen. First, they could work something out with the AHL, where teams could send their players to the AHL instead of the CHL. After all, the AHL is a far better developmental league than the CHL for certain players.

Secondly, the NHL could work something out with the CHL which would allow teams to recall their players from the CHL. A huge reason players like Hayton and Dobson couldn’t get playing time is because had their teams returned them to their junior team, they wouldn’t have been able to be recalled.

European players and NCAA players are both allowed to play in the AHL at the ages of 18 and 19. Why shouldn’t Canadian players be afforded the same opportunity? It makes very little sense. With the agreement expiring in a few months, the NHL should take an agreement that is already pretty good and make it great.