The junior hockey landscape continues to shift after a report Thursday outlined a provision in the recently-renewed CBA.
According to hockey insider Frank Seravalli, each NHL team will be permitted to place one 19-year-old CHL player in the AHL per season starting during the 2026-27 campaign. Previously, no teenagers drafted while on CHL teams were permitted to play in the AHL due to the NHL-CHL transfer agreement.
The complete wording of the soon-to-be-outdated agreement stipulates that prospects drafted from either the OHL, WHL, or QMJHL cannot be reassigned to the AHL or ECHL until they have either turned 20 years old or completed four seasons in the CHL. The agreement excludes players drafted while playing in a different junior league who later join the CHL. While the agreement was put in effect to protect the interests of the CHL, it has often prevented more elite players from moving to the pros, despite having already maximized their development in junior hockey.
The new provision would likely have benefited Capitals prospect Andrew Cristall had it been in effect during the 2024-25 season. Cristall was forced back to the WHL this past year despite being one of the final cuts from Washington’s training camp and already having a 40-goal, 111-point season with the Kelowna Rockets under his belt. He then destroyed the weaker competition, recording 173 points (69g, 104a) over 76 combined regular-season and playoff games.
The Capitals don’t currently have any prospects who could take advantage of the new provision during the 2026-27 campaign, as 2025 first-round pick Lynden Lakovic will already be eligible for AHL games that season. While Lakovic will be 19, he will have already played four WHL seasons with the Moose Jaw Warriors.
None of the Capitals’ other 2025 draft picks were selected from the CHL. Terik Parascak, the club’s 2024 first-round pick, will miss out on the new terms by a year, likely heading back to the WHL’s Prince George Cougars if he doesn’t make the Caps’ roster out of training camp in the fall.
Junior hockey is currently undergoing significant changes following the NCAA’s expansion of collegiate eligibility to CHL athletes. The consensus 2026 first overall draft selection, Gavin McKenna, will leave the WHL’s Medicine Hat Tigers to play at Penn State next season.
