The NHL’s Board of Governors and the NHL Players’ Association ratified a four-year Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) on July 8, which will keep the peace through the 2029-30 season.
On page five of the NHL-NHLPA Memorandum of Understanding is a section titled “(American Hockey League) Loans for 19-Year-Old Players,” which says the league “will reopen its agreement” with the Canadian Hockey League (CHL) in hopes of eliminating the provision which requires 19-year-old NHL prospects to return to their CHL clubs.
“(The) NHL will seek to limit NHL Clubs to Loaning no more than one (1) 19-year-old Player per year to the AHL without the requirement of first offering such Player to his junior Club,” according to section 21 of the memorandum.
Related: Meet The New Blackhawks (Again): Sam Lafferty
That means, starting in 2026-27, NHL teams will likely be able to assign one 19-year-old CHL prospect to their AHL affiliate.
The CHL – the body which maintains the Ontario Hockey League (OHL), Quebec Maritimes Junior Hockey League (QMJHL) and the Western Hockey League (WHL) – has had an agreement with the NHL which forced 19-year-old prospects who did not make an NHL lineup to go back to one of the CHL’s three leagues, instead of being assigned to the American Hockey League (AHL), the NHL’s minor league affiliate.
This rule was unique to the CHL, as 19-year-old players who came from the U.S.-based United States Hockey League (USHL), the NCAA collegiate system or who were drafted out of Europe could immediately play in the AHL.
Which Current CHL Prospect Would Play in AHL?
The updated CHL-AHL rule could have a major impact on how NHL teams develop their young players, especially first-round picks and blue-chip prospects. For a team like the Chicago Blackhawks, currently in a rebuild with a cupboard full of young talent, the new wrinkle would allow them to assign an overachieving CHL player to the AHL’s Rockford IceHogs, where they’re not quite at the NHL level, but they’re playing against grown men with a professional pedigree.
Since the new CBA doesn’t go into effect until 2026-27, the 19-year-olds who will be AHL-eligible will come from the 2025 NHL Entry Draft. Ironically, all three of Chicago’s first-round picks from this June’s draft would have already been AHL-eligible at 19: Anton Frondell plays in Sweden, while Vaclav Nestrasil and Mason West both played in the USHL and have committed to playing in the NCAA in 2025-26.
Related: Expectations for Blackhawks’ Ryan Donato Go Beyond Goals and Assists
Nathan Behm, the team’s third-round pick out of the WHL’s Kamloops Blazers, would be the first CHL player who may be a candidate to make the jump to the AHL. Coming off a 31-goal, 66-point season in 2024-25, another dominant campaign for the 6-foot-2 winger could entice the Blackhawks to assign Behm to Rockford once he turns 19.
But let’s pretend the new rule came into effect this season, and the Blackhawks could choose one of their 19-year-old CHL prospects to play with the IceHogs in 2025-26: who would they choose?
Marek Vanacker, Brantford Bulldogs (OHL)
Marek Vanacker, the 27th overall pick in the 2024 NHL Entry Draft, scored 36 goals and 82 points in 2023-24 before injuring his shoulder in the playoffs that required offseason surgery, which caused him to miss training camp and the first chunk of the 2024-25 regular season. After returning to the lineup, Vanacker finished with 24 goals and 42 points in 45 games, including six goals and 11 points in 11 OHL playoff games.
Related: Blackhawks 2025-26 Season Schedule: 10 Games to Circle
While the numbers didn’t jump off the page like his Brantford Bulldogs teammate and fellow Blackhawks’ prospect Nick Lardis, who scored 71 goals and 117 points last season, Vanacker’s game lends itself to a pro style, with a physical element and strong one-on-one play. Since he doesn’t turn 20 until next April, he’ll be back in the OHL and likely dominate offensively, but everything about the London, Ont., native’s game screams “consistent professional,” and he seems like someone who would benefit by playing in the AHL right away.
Vanacker already has AHL experience, being called up by the IceHogs and practicing with the team through the Calder Cup Playoffs after the Bulldogs were eliminated last spring. There’s also a good chance he’ll represent Canada at the 2026 World Junior Championship, which will allow him to compete against the world’s best prospects in his age group.
AJ Spellacy, Windsor Spitfires (OHL)
Listed at 6-foot-3, 210 pounds, AJ Spellacy already has the makings of a varsity athlete, or a professional hockey player. Taken in the third round of the 2024 NHL Entry Draft, Spellacy finished with 18 goals and 37 points for the Windsor Spitfires in 2024-25, not much of a jump following his 21-goal, 38-point campaign the season before.
Spellacy was a three-star high school football recruit who could have played Division I, but decided to pursue hockey. A background like that makes coaches and talent evaluators salivate, because those raw tools can be molded into a productive NHL player: lightning speed, power, explosiveness and physicality. Most athletes, particularly hockey players, focus solely on one sport from a young age and neglect the skills that could be developed elsewhere. So, when an elite-level athlete who thrives in multiple fields comes along, scouts can be patient with a lack of production.
Related: Blackhawks Sign Stanislav Berezhnoy to 2-Year, Entry-Level Contract
If Spellacy, who was also called up to the IceHogs after the Spitfires were eliminated last spring, hadn’t signed his NHL entry-level deal last season, he would have been a prime candidate to play a year or two of college hockey to compete with more physically mature players. At the same time, if the AHL-CHL one-player exception came into effect this season, Spellacy would have been a good choice for the Blackhawks.
Which Player Could This Have Helped?
Kevin Korchinski would have benefitted from this rule change. The seventh overall pick in the 2022 NHL Entry Draft, who in 2022-23 was a WHL Defenseman of the Year finalist and led the Seattle Thunderbirds to a league Championship, was simply too good for the CHL system and would likely see his development stunted if he had to spend another year with the Thunderbirds.
Related: Blackhawks Sign Anton Frondell to Entry-Level Contract
He made the Blackhawks’ lineup in October 2023 and played 76 games, scoring five goals and 15 points while averaging 19:37 of ice time. But with a plus-minus of minus-39 and a 44.4 percent Corsi, there were stretches when it was clear that Korchinski was in over his head and wasn’t ready for the grind of a six-month NHL regular season.
Last season, Korchinski was eligible to play in the AHL and spent most of the campaign with the IceHogs, finishing with three goals and 24 assists in 56 regular-season games. He led all Rockford defenders in points and showed huge strides at both ends of the ice. He was also named an AHL All-Star.
Korchinski will likely start the 2025-26 season in Chicago, and while he may naturally evolve into a top-four NHL defender, it’s worth considering how his development might have changed had he been allowed to play in the AHL at 19.
Which player do you think would spend the year in the AHL? Which former Blackhawks prospect do you think would have benefited from playing in the AHL at 19? Let us know in the comments.
