NHL – CHL Player Transfer Agreement: A Deeper Dive
A deeper dive into what the agreement is, how it affects teams and players, and a few interesting examples of when it has or hasn't been enforced.
In my most recent post about Andrew Gibson signing his Entry Level Contract (ELC), I made reference to the NHL – CHL Player Transfer Agreement, otherwise referred to in this post as “the Agreement”. The Agreement requires NHL teams to assign their CHL drafted prospects who are 18 and 19-years-old and have signed their ELCs back to the CHL if they were cut from their NHL team. In this article I will go over what the Agreement means for players, why it’s been criticized, and a few interesting examples of where the Agreement was enforced or not.
What does this mean for players?
The first thing to consider sounds obvious, but it bears mentioning. The Agreement only applies to players who were drafted from the CHL. This does not apply to a player who was drafted out of Europe who signs their ELC and is cut from the NHL club.
For players drafted out of the CHL, have signed their ELCs, and were cut from the NHL clubs, they must be assigned back to the CHL by their NHL club unless one of the following criteria is met:
- The player turns 20 by December 31st of the current season; or
- The player has already accrued four seasons in the CHL
In almost every case, if the player has met the 2nd criterion, they will also have met the 1st.
This means that players who don’t fit the criteria above, which is an overwhelming majority of drafted and signed prospects, their only options for leagues to play in are the NHL or the CHL. They can’t be assigned to their NHL team’s AHL or ECHL affiliates, or any other league for that matter.
Although the Agreement applies to most CHL drafted prospects, it doesn’t really affect the prospects too much. Most players who are drafted out of the CHL could afford to play another one or two more seasons in the CHL to develop their skills, become leaders on their junior clubs, and take on larger roles and responsibilities in a league that won’t be too overwhelming. Typically, if a player is drafted out of the CHL say 20th overall in the NHL draft, the best option for them is to spend the next two seasons after they were drafted (referred to as their D+1 and D+2 seasons) in the CHL. This is where you often see the player take huge steps forward in production at the junior level. It also buys them time grow and develop physically and to improve any skill deficiencies like their skating or shot. Unfortunately, there are instances where players could be hindered due by the Agreement.
Criticisms of this agreement
There are various criticisms of the Agreement, but the largest criticism by far is how it forces NHL teams to put their prospects in unfortunate playing situations that could negatively affect their development. Every year there are a handful of prospects who are forced to play in the CHL when it appears they’ve outgrown the league, or, conversely, they are left to play in the NHL which might be too difficult for them at that moment in their development path. This puts the player and team in a precarious spot as you risk a player losing their confidence if they struggle mightily in the NHL. If the player is assigned to the CHL, they risk stagnated development or reinforcement of bad habits that they can get away with because the player is too good for junior hockey.
Many Red Wings fans will remember the debacle the club and Michael Rasmussen were in ahead of the 2018-19 season. The 19-year-old Rasmussen was 6’6” and over 200lbs and was coming off a WHL playoffs in his D+1 season where he scored 16 goals, 17 assists for 33 points in 14 games which equates to 2.36 points per game. Rasmussen was not ready for the NHL as he had to significantly improve his skating, play with better leverage, and play with more pace. Unfortunately, the WHL was not an ideal spot for him to do this as he could dominate that league as is with no changes to his game. The AHL would have been most beneficial to Rasmussen. Unfortunately, he was a victim of the Agreement. Rasmussen ended up played the entire 2018-19 season with the Red Wings and struggled mightily. Rasmussen still needed to work on his game the following season, so he started the 2019-20 season in the AHL before getting a call up to the NHL. Please note that by the time the 2019-20 season had rolled around, Rasmussen had already turned 20 and had aged out of the Agreement.
The NHL – CHL Player Transfer Agreement is harmless to most players, but it does impact a handful of players each season, which is why it’s widely criticized.
Examples of where the agreement affects current Red Wings prospects:
Currently there are three Red Wings prospects who are playing in the CHL who have signed their ELCs: Nate Danielson, Andrew Gibson, and Emmitt Finnie. See below for a breakdown of how this agreement applies to their situations:
Nate Danielson: Danielson signed his ELC not long after he was drafted this past summer at the age of 18. By December 31st of the 2023-24 season, he would be 19 and had previously played three seasons in the WHL. He would not meet either criterion for exemption from this agreement and was forced to play in the WHL for his D+1 season. The Agreement didn’t affect Danielson too much as there were aspects of his game you would want to see him work on at the junior level. For the 2024-25 season, Danielson will have satisfied both criteria and will be eligible to play in the AHL if he doesn’t make the Red Wings. By this time, Danielson would have played four seasons in the WHL and would be 20 by December 31, 2024.
Andrew Gibson: I covered Gibson in my previous article (link below), but he recently signed his ELC as a recently turned 19-year-old. He will still be under the Agreement for the 2024-25 season. This shouldn’t hinder his development at all as there’s tons of benefit to him playing his D+2 season in the OHL. Gibson is currently eligible to play for the Grand Rapids Griffins in the AHL at this moment since he has no OHL obligations for the remainder of this season as his OHL team was recently eliminated from the playoffs, but he’s a long shot to crack the Griffins lineup. Either way, next season Gibson will play in the OHL.
Emmitt Finnie: Finnie and Gibson are in nearly identical situations. They were both the same age when they were drafted and signed. Finnie did get to play in a few games for Grand Rapids down the stretch but it was only due to Finnie’s Kamloops team failing to make the WHL playoffs and Grand Rapids being very thin on forward with a few forwards called up with the Red Wings and a few injuries at forward. He’ll spend 2024-25 back in the WHL.
Some interesting cases in past:
This section is for the sickos who want to get all technical with the Agreement and look for outliers. Over the past few years there have been some interesting instances where 18 and 19-year-old prospects drafted from the CHL have played in the AHL. See below for specific case studies:
Joe Veleno: A 1st rounder in 2018, Veleno signed his ELC on May 1st, 2019, as a 19-year-old. He would be still be 19 by December 31st of his D+2 season in 2019-20, however, the Red Wings were able to have Veleno play in Grand Rapids that season. The reason was that despite being 19, Veleno had already played four seasons in the QMJHL. This is because Veleno was a CHL Exceptional Status player and was granted acceptance into the QMJHL as a 15-year-old. By the time his D+2 19-year-old season had rolled around, Veleno had already played four seasons of major junior hockey.
Donovan Sebrango: This case study is not limited to Sebrango as it’s the product of the COVID-19 pandemic, most notably for OHL players. The OHL did not play its 2020-21 season due to the pandemic, which left players in a tough situation for where to find playing time. Under the Agreement, Sebrango would have had only the NHL or OHL as options, but due to the OHL not playing their season, the CHL granted an exemption for drafted players to play for their NHL team’s AHL affiliates regardless of whether they’d signed their ELCs. The following year, the OHL started back up and technically Sebrango would have been forced to play for his OHL team, the Kitchener Rangers, as the Agreement would have still applied to him. Fortunately, the CHL allowed players who had played in the AHL during the COVID-19 season to remain in the AHL if they wanted. This is how Sebrango played in the AHL as an 18 and 19-year-old player.
Shane Wright: This is the most recent case study exception. For the 2023-24 season, Shane Wright did not make the Seattle Kraken to start. This was Wright’s D+2 and was a 19-year-old. One thing to note was that he was also an Exceptional Status player, much like Veleno, so by his D+2 season he would have played four seasons in the OHL, except he hadn’t. Wright had only played three seasons in the OHL as the OHL did not play during his D-1 season (the 2020-21 season referred to above in the Sebrango section). Since Wright had not yet been drafted in the OHL, he actually didn’t play at all that season. The CHL made an exception and allowed Wright to play in the AHL for the 2023-24 season as he would have played four junior seasons had it not been for the pandemic.
Filip Zadina: This example is one many people forget. Everyone remembers Filip Zadina, the former sixth overall pick in the 2018 draft, but few remember how he was allowed to play in the AHL in his D+1 season. There was a bit of controversy surrounding this pick as both the Red Wings and Zadina’s camps had expected he’d be eligible for the AHL as he had simply been loaned to the Halifax Mooseheads from Zadina’s Czech club the year prior and that he would not be subject to the Agreement. The Halifax Mooseheads seemed to believe they’d have Zadina for another year, which clouded things further. Ultimately, it was deemed that Zadina was not subject to the rules of the Agreement and was eligible to be assigned to the AHL.