FIVE MINUTE MAJOR CHL Offseason News and Notes

It’s a new week in the major junior offseason, but one that saw a major milestone for many players as the NHL Draft was last weekend in Los Angeles, California.

There was a total of 90 CHL players selected at this year’s NHL Draft in LA. According to the NHL, the CHL’s 90 selections surpassed all other junior leagues. This included Sweden-Jr. with 28, the USHL with 27, Russia-Jr. with 21, the NTDP which plays in the USHL with 13, and the NCAA with nine. Among the CHL Member Leagues, the Ontario Hockey League (OHL) led the way with 38 picks, followed by the Western Hockey League (WHL) with 33 and the Quebec Maritimes Junior Hockey League (QMJHL) with 19.

A total of 46 CHL clubs had at least one player selected in the 2025 NHL Draft. Leading the way were the Kitchener Rangers and Soo Greyhounds in the OHL who each with four players drafted. Close behind those two with three selections each were the Acadie-Bathurst Titan/Newfoundland Regiment in the QMJHL, Guelph Storm, Saginaw Spirit and London Knights and the Brampton Steelheads in the OHL as well as the Seattle Thunderbirds and Brandon Wheat Kings in the WHL.

In other CHL related news, the CHL’s Import Draft was set for Wednesday. Something to keep in mind ahead of next season with imports is that teams are now permitted to roster three import players.

Next season’s Memorial Cup host the Kelowna Rockets of the WHL were set to select first. The Rockets made a trade with the WHL’s Moose Jaw Warriors to obtain the first overall pick. It was the first time in franchise history the Rockets selected first overall in the CHL Import Draft. The OHL’s Brantford Bulldogs were set to select second the Victoriaville Tigres third. The third overall selection was Victoriaville’s highest CHL Import Draft selection in franchise history.

With the first selection, Kelowna took Tomas Poletin from Praha, Czech Republic while Brantford took Adam Benak from Plzen, Czech Republic. With the third overall selection, Victoriaville selected Egor Shilov from Tyumen, Russia. The full list of selections can be found on the CHL’s website.

In other news, during the meetings the NHL held with the CHL this year, it was reported the NHL told the CHL to hold off on any additional expansion teams until a firmer plan is in place. Obviously, the Penticton Vees are joining the WHL next season with a yet to be named Chilliwack, BC franchise set to return to the league for the 2026-27 season. There has also been a rumor of the QMJHL adding two US markets. However, there hasn’t been any news on the QMJHL front since the initial report of the league looking at those two markets. Not that it’d be a big deal, but one of those two markets in Portland, Maine, already has an ECHL franchise. They could probably relocate that team or shut them down to operate a major junior franchise since the rumor had the current ownership group as the possible QMJHL ownership group. As for Manchester, New Hampshire, there wasn’t any report of who the ownership group would be.