{"id":274044,"date":"2025-11-09T21:33:09","date_gmt":"2025-11-09T21:33:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/274044\/"},"modified":"2025-11-09T21:33:09","modified_gmt":"2025-11-09T21:33:09","slug":"nhl-seeking-agreement-to-allow-19-year-olds-into-ahl","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/274044\/","title":{"rendered":"NHL Seeking Agreement To Allow 19-Year-Olds Into AHL"},"content":{"rendered":"

It appears a rumor from the preseason could soon come true. The NHL is seeking an agreement with the CHL that would allow teams to assign one 19-year-old to the AHL each season, per Sportsnet\u2019s Elliotte Friedman on the latest Saturday Headlines<\/a>. Friedman added that some general managers are seeking even more flexibility, and that negotiations will pull in voices from the NHLPA in addition to each league. A change to the format could be made as soon as next season.<\/p>\n

This would represent yet another major change in what Friedman dubbed \u201cthe Wild West of junior hockey in North America\u201d. NHL draft picks make up the majority of top-end players throughout the CHL. They help drive attendance and sales, and losing even a few could be enough to bring noticeable change. At the same time, deciding where to assign CHL prospects who appear to have outgrown their junior league can often be an all-or-nothing choice.<\/p>\n

The Calgary Flames are currently in a pickle with defense prospect Zayne Parekh<\/a>, who sustained a week-to-week injury<\/a> and could earn a brief AHL conditioning stint, but who could also benefit from prolonged AHL ice time after not yet finding his NHL footing. Parekh currently isn\u2019t eligible for the AHL, facing Calgary with the decision of whether a return to the OHL or a continued fight for NHL minutes will be better for the offensive defenseman coming off injury.<\/p>\n

The Nashville Predators faced a similar decision with reigning fifth-overall pick Brady Martin<\/a> earlier in the year. Martin showed flashes of dominant play through the firts three games of his NHL career. At his peak, he was playing alongisde Ryan O\u2019Reilly<\/a> and Filip Forsberg<\/a>, but the Predators opted to return him early after he scored only one assist. Martin has torn up the OHL since returning, netting 11 points in seven games with the Soo Greyhounds. It\u2019s still early in the season, but Martin is on pace to rival the 100-point mark this season, after posting 72 points in 57 games last year.<\/p>\n

In the case of both Parekh and Martin \u2013 and plenty of other NHL prospects, like Utah\u2019s Jake O\u2019Brien<\/a> and St. Louis\u2019 Justin Carbonneau<\/a> \u2013 the AHL would seem to offer a smooth ramp into the systems and physicality of professional hockey. In lieu of AHL eligibility, many teams have turned towards pushing their prospects towards the NCAA, where they face a jump in strength and play against players up to the age of 26. That bridge has led to the unprecedented decision to allow CHL players into the NCAA \u2013 which has built up a pressure that offering a path to the AHL could relieve.<\/p>\n

Finding a balance between player value in the CHL, NCAA, and AHL is the task the NHL and its general managers face. They will drive decision making throughout the process, while also having to keep each party satisfied with their cut. On the other side of those decisions is a junior hockey landscape likely completely different from what the hockey world has come to know. With clearer, more incremental steps to the top flight laid out, the NHL\u2019s relationship with its partner leagues could even become reminiscent of the MLB.<\/p>\n

More about the topic of 19-year-olds in the AHL should come in March, following the next big meeting between the NHL, NHLPA, and general managers.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"It appears a rumor from the preseason could soon come true. The NHL is seeking an agreement with…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":86350,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[556],"tags":[3063,64,63,159108,704,10232,575,29314,7820,25176,85],"class_list":["post-274044","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nhl","tag-ahl","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-chl","tag-ncaa","tag-newsstand","tag-nhl","tag-nhlpa","tag-players","tag-prospects","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/274044","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=274044"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/274044\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/86350"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=274044"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=274044"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=274044"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}