It’s a new week in major junior hockey and with that come the new CHL top 10 rankings and other news.
After a trade that saw forward and Washington Capitals prospect Andrew Cristall sent from the Kelowna Rockets to the Spokane Chiefs, he was awarded the WHL Player of the Week honors.
It’s the second time this season Cristall has received the award. He also received the WHL Player of the Month honor in November.
In his first weekend as a Chief, he posted a seven-point game with a hat trick and four assists. When he left the Rockets, he sat second in all-time scoring in franchise history.
The Burnaby, B.C. native has put up 347 career points with 138 goals and 209 assists for 347 points in 221 regular season games.
He was selected by the Washington Capitals 40th overall in the second round of the 2023 NHL Entry Draft and signed his entry-level contract later that summer.
On the puck stopping side of things, Jayden Kraus of the Victoria Royals picked up the WHL’s Goaltender of the Week honors. He went 3-0-0-0 on the week with a 1.76 goals-against average and a .932 save percentage. Kraus has won six straight games dating back to New Year’s Day, allowing two or fewer goals in five of those games, and has the most wins of any WHL goaltender in 2025.
The Kamloops Blazers’ Tommy Lafreniere picked up the WHL’s Rookie of the Week honors with a six point performance in two games with two goals and four assists.
It was a wild CHL trade deadline with multiple blockbusters across the board, notably in the WHL and OHL as NHL prospects traded hands. The Blazers, Prince George Cougars, Wenatchee Wild and Portland Winterhawks made some late trades in the couple days leading up to the deadline. The Winterhawks especially came in late with a minor trade at the deadline with the Saskatoon Blades.
It was a deadline that saw teams building for the future and a couple loading up to hopefully make a deep playoff run this season.
In the regular CHL top 10 rankings, the OHL’s London Knights continued to show their dominance as they claimed the top spot for the seventh consecutive week. Three other OHL teams joined them in the top 10. The Windsor Spitfires slid in at the four spot, Kitchener Rangers at five and Oshawa Generals at nine. Three teams each from the QMJHL and WHL made the top 10. In the QMJHL, the Moncton Wildcats held down the two spot, Rimouski Océanic slid in at six and the Drummondville Voltigeurs at seven. The WHL saw the Everett Silvertips hold steady at three while the Calgary Hitmen slid in at eight and the Spokane Chiefs held down the 10th spot.
In other WHL news, a total of 66 players have been listed by NHL Central Scouting in the agency’s Midterm Rankings ahead of the 2025 NHL Entry Draft. Six WHL players were ranked in the top 20 among North American skaters.