As college athletes in the U.S. rake in millions of dollars from brand deals, the NCAA is opening its doors to a new crop of young talent: Canadian hockey players.
What happened: The NCAA has voted to change its eligibility rules and allow players from the Canadian Hockey League (CHL) — the primary player pool for the NHL draft — to play for schools south of the border.
- The shift could change how top junior players are paid and where they decide to take their talents.
- Within hours of the change being announced, Kitchener Rangers goalie Jackson Parsons committed to play in the NCAA with Clarkson University next fall.
Catch-up: CHL players earn at most a $600 monthly stipend, which according to the NCAA, makes them professionals. That technicality was enough for the NCAA to bar them from playing for U.S. schools.
- Now, with some college athletes making twice as much as an entire CHL team on average, the old rule penalizing players for getting grocery money from their teams has become a little outdated.
Why it matters: Nearly 40% of the players drafted into the NHL this year came directly from the CHL, but with the lure of a big payday from schools down south, the NCAA could quickly become a new pipeline for the sport’s future stars.—LA