Move comes following NCAA rule changes allowing CHL players
U SPORTS hockey is reducing eligibility requirements beginning next season that will allow players who have previously played professionally to join a university team without spending a year on the sidelines.
Each year of professional hockey played will reduce U SPORTS eligibility by one season — so a player who has played four seasons, for example, would have one remaining year of U SPORTS eligibility, and a player who has played one, will have four remaining years of eligibility. Any professional hockey played before August 15 during their age 22 season will not affect eligibility limits.
TSN hockey insider Darren Dreger initially reported the news on Twitter at 12:25 p.m. on Tuesday.
Previously, players who joined a professional team in the ECHL or AHL — the affiliated minor leagues of the NHL — had to sit out a full year before returning to U SPORTS if they lasted past Jan. 10 in their respective pro leagues. That Jan. 10 deadline will remain — “A player who plays outside of U SPORTS after January 10, either professionally or as an amateur, may not join a U SPORTS team in that season.”
Why the move?
Last April, I wrote about how U SPORTS hockey may have a problem — its name is the NCAA.
“On Sportsnet’s Hockey Night in Canada broadcast on March 23, Elliotte Friedman leaked potential rule changes for junior hockey. The rule changes, if enacted, would allow Canadian Hockey League (CHL) players to play in the NCAA after tenures in the Ontario Hockey League (OHL), Quebec Maritime Junior Hockey League (QMJHL) or Western Hockey League (WHL).”
The rule change was finalized and announced almost eight months later after a vote by the NCAA Division I council in November of 2024.
Gee-Gees head coach Patrick Grandmaître wasn’t surprised by the news. Grandmaître, who has been behind the Gees bench since the program’s return in 2016-17, says that discussions began at U SPORTS immediately following the NCAA’s proposed rule changes last spring.
Grandmaître says that the move helps U SPORTS “keep the level of play high and keep being a really good option for good players to keep playing at this level. There’s a lot of good institutions and good teams and good teams and programs here; it could end up being a really good option for those players that do end up going to play a year or two of pro.”
What were the former NCAA Rules?
Previously, players had been considered professionals by the formerly-amateur NCAA if they played in the CHL, where players receive a non-taxable monthly stipend of up to $600 dollars for living expenses.
The process to change all that started in 2021, when the NCAA allowed name, image, and likeness (NIL) contracts. Players were then allowed to profit from sponsorships, commercials, and likenesses in video games, among other things. No longer was the NCAA pretending that its athletes were amateurs.
Now, U SPORTS is fighting back. Previously, the ability to attract CHL graduates was its most inimitable business advantage, as it provided a place to play for former WHL, OHL, and QMJHL stars who had aged out of major junior but had not signed pro contracts after their major junior careers.
For example the Gee-Gees men’s hockey roster includes 19 players who had previously played major junior in Canada. When those players chose the University of Ottawa, the NCAA wasn’t an option. Now, it will be.
But in return, U SPORTS is expanding its recruit pool to young professionals who had already made the leap to the ECHL or AHL. Previously, those players had to sit out for a season if they wished to join a U SPORTS program. But not many did, understandably.
“It’s rare now [to sit out], because hockey players want to play,” said Grandmaître. The longtime Gee-Gees bench boss added that when he played at St. Francis Xavier University in the early 2000’s, there were two players on his team who sat out the mandatory year waiting to join the X-Men while practicing with the team and playing local senior hockey on the side.
“I don’t think it’s going to be that many [players returning to U SPORTS], but definitely more than it used to be,” added Grandmaître.
Grandmaître adds that the rule is huge not just for men’s university hockey in Canada, but for women’s as well, with the PWHL’s presence only set to grow in the coming years.
Mike Danton — NHL to U SPORTS
The most famous example of a former professional returning to join a U SPORTS team is Mike Danton, who didn’t bounce back from a minor league, but the NHL. Danton scored six goals over 35 games and two seasons with the SMU Huskies, five years after an 87-game NHL career — and a prison stint.
Danton was convicted of conspiracy to commit murder following a bizarre murder-for-hire plot that landed him in prison for seven and a half years, enough for his mandatory waiting period. He played for the Huskies while on parole.
What’s next for U SPORTS?
Grandmaître says that U SPORTS has a specific group appointed to focus on the betterment of its hockey program through “every angle,” and more changes could be coming down the line.
“This is one way … to allow coaches to keep recruiting top-level athletes,” said Grandmaître. “If we find another, it might evolve with time, there might be some other opportunities.”
Grandmaître says that this rule change could be changed “rather quick,” because its scope was only applicable to hockey. For example, U SPORTS basketball initially partnered with the Canadian Elite Basketball League (CEBL) in 2019 to allow a limited number of basketball players to play professionally during the summer.
Any rule changes to the broader U SPORTS spectrum would have to be made with basketball and its other sports, like football, soccer, and rugby in mind. “Those are really hard [regulations] to change because they have such an impact on every sport,” said Grandmaître.
“This was doable — in quite a few months — but it was doable because it was very specific to men’s hockey and women’s hockey.”
