FIVE MINUTE MAJOR Now we are officially into the offseason

The offseason is underway for the major junior hockey world and with that comes news and speculation.

With the end of the season come awards and the finalists for the 2025 CHL awards were announced.

Saginaw Spirit center Michael Misa leads all nominees with three nods at the CHL awards. Misa became the first player in franchise history to lead the CHL in scoring with 62 goals and 72 assists for 134 points. Heading into Friday’s ceremony he was a finalist for the CHL’s Top Scorer, Scholastic Player of the Year and the David Branch Player of the Year. No CHL player has ever captured all three honors in a single season or even across an entire major junior career.

Jonathan Fauchon of the Rimouski Oceanic was also nominated for the David Branch Player of the Year award. He’s the only other finalist besides Misa to receive multiple nominations. Fauchon was the league’s only 100-point scorer in 2024-25, accomplishing the rare feat while splitting the season between two teams. He became just the 18th player in QMJHL history to tally 50+ points with two different teams in the same season. Fauchon tallied 50 with the Blainville-Boisbriand Armada and 53 following his midseason move to Rimouski.

The other finalist for the David Branch Player of the Year award in no surprising fashion given his incredible play this past season is the Medicine Hat Tigers’ Gavin McKenna. He finished out the WHL regular season with 32 goals and 68 assists for 100 points. During this time, he also had a 40-game point streak. He pushed the streak to 54 games during the postseason. This set a modern CHL record since 2000 for the longest single season point streak across the regular season, playoffs and Memorial Cup.

Should McKenna receive the award, he’d be the first player in Tigers franchise history to receive the prestigious honor and the third youngest in CHL history to do so, behind only John Tavares in 2007 and Sidney Crosby in 2004.

Players like these are just another reason to have bigger all-star games. While the CHL vs. USA Prospects Challenge is a good way to showcase the talent, the argument could made they deserve a bigger stage.

This could include all-star games between the three major junior leagues or games including the WHL vs. BCHL per say or a CHL vs. USHL game or something like that. A rotating event could be beneficial as well for multiple reasons. Those reasons include the ability to showcase CHL and possibly talent from other leagues in various North American markets.

Fans wouldn’t be the only ones that could benefit from something like this either as NHL scouts from around North America could travel to games close to where they’re based. It could also allow for General Managers in various leagues to scout talent for trades too.

Whether something like that happens is yet to be seen, but with the agreement between the CHL and NCAA, colleges could benefit from it by having the ability to scout CHL players.