The new CBA will bring numerous changes to the way the NHL currently operates. It will change salary structures, put an end to the playoffs' salary loophole, allow players more freedom about the way they dress, and the list goes on and on, but one crucial clause hasn’t received much coverage yet.
In Thursday’s edition of La Presse, Simon-Olivier Lorange reports that from the 2027 draft, teams will have four years to sign the 18-year-old players they draft. These days, they have four years to sign players who are plying their trade in the NCAA, but only two years for players who are competing in the CHL. If a team drafts an overeager player (a player who’s in his second year of eligibility and is 19), like the Montreal Canadiens have done a few times of late (like Florian Xhekaj, for instance), they’ll have three years to put pen to paper with them.
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Why could that mean more local players for the Canadiens? This will simply give the team more time to evaluate CHL draftees before deciding on those players. No matter how thorough a team is with their scouting, 18-year-old players are raw products. They have so much left to learn and so much more development to come. Projecting them in the future is a tall order, and having just two years to evaluate them isn’t much.
The two-year deadline on signing CHL products before losing their rights left very little room for late bloomers. While generational talents can be ready to jump right into the NHL action after being drafted, others need more time to come into their own. There’s no proof that this state of affairs prevented the Canadiens and other teams from drafting more CHLers, but there is no doubt this new development will make life a bit easier on teams.
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