CHL push for Americans accelerates as numbers climb

From the Moncton Wildcats’ playoff roster packed with American-born players to sharp jumps in U.S. picks across the QMJHL and OHL, CHL teams are adjusting fast. The reasons are clear—prospect pools, recruitment opportunities, and rule changes tied to NCAA hock

When the Moncton Wildcats rolled into this year’s playoffs with 11 American-born players on their roster, it didn’t look like a one-off swing—it looked like a blueprint.

The Wildcats pushed all the way within two wins of a second straight QMJHL title, and their mix of talent is part of a larger shift taking hold across the CHL: teams are increasingly treating the United States as a primary pipeline.

It’s not just speculation. The flow of American prospects has been rising across the major junior landscape. Last week, 50 Americans were taken in the QMJHL draft—an increase of 13 from last year. In the OHL, Americans accounted for 79 picks in 2025, up from 33 in 2024.

And if that momentum continues, more of the same could show up when the OHL’s first round happens Friday and Saturday in Kingston, Ont. A mock draft by veteran hockey writer Ken Campbell in the Toronto Star has six players from American teams going in the OHL’s first round.

Moncton general manager Taylor MacDougall expects the trend to keep expanding. Now firmly building the program he started assembling in 2024 alongside his dad and coach Gardiner MacDougall, MacDougall said he doesn’t see any reason for U.S. numbers to level off.

“I don’t see why it wouldn’t, as a league,” MacDougall said in a recent telephone interview. “The QMJHL, CHL, we have a great product to offer. I think it’s reasonable to think kids will continue to take advantage of it. All teams in the CHL want good players. It broadens your prospect pool. I would expect each side to continue to take advantage of the situation.”.

Last season, that “prospect pool” wasn’t a slogan. Forty-six U.S. players played in the QMJHL, 30 more than in 2024-25.

One standout example is free-agent defenceman Tommy Bleyl from the Albany, N.Y. region. He entered last season as a relatively unknown prospect. but the payoff is now being reflected in how draft discussions are shaping up. Bleyl is now listed in the first round of many mock NHL Drafts for the event later this month.

Recruiting in the U.S. is also becoming more methodical. The London Knights, long seen as an OHL powerhouse, added three U.S. scouts in the past year, per Ryan Pyette of the London Free Press.

“It’s 100 per cent (because of the rule change allowing CHL players to play NCAA hockey starting this past season),” London associate GM Rob Simpson told Pyette. “We needed more eyes on players, more people in arenas, more people completing reports and just more information.”

Still. it’s the whiplash between what CHL teams want and what other institutions are pushing that leaves the story unsettled. The OHL and QMJHL have said they’d like to add U.S. teams to expand their footprint. but it comes with a tricky political situation involving USA Hockey and the NHL. both of which have made it clear they want to see a healthy USHL.

That matters because the USHL is continuing to expand. Earlier this month, the USHL announced it has a memorandum of understanding to establish clubs in Arizona, California and Nevada. Presumably, that signals continued competition for top American prospects.

There’s also a structural difference between the leagues. The USHL currently allows a maximum of six non-U.S. citizens per team, while the CHL has no limit on the number of American players allowed on its rosters.

Within that gap, the debate over what comes next becomes personal for players—and for the organizations watching roster maps closely.

More Americans can mean fewer Canadians in the CHL, at least at its current size. But USA Hockey has also watched key talent move from the U.S. National Team Development Program to the CHL, including WHL rookie of the year JP Hurlbert (Kamloops Blazers). The USNTDP, it seems, is facing challenges of its own.

Meanwhile. Hockey Canada may not love fewer Canadians in CHL lineups. but Canadians are finding development opportunities in a place the CHL isn’t under the umbrella of any national governing body: the NCAA. In 2025-26, there were 628 Canadians on NCAA Division I men’s rosters—the most on record going back to 2003-04. The article frames that as a real help for Hockey Canada down the road. with at least some of those players expected to end up contributing to Canadian hockey’s broader ecosystem.

Through all of it, the numbers keep pulling the conversation forward—because once the pipeline widens, the consequences follow.

And there’s another kind of connection beginning to surface as the league’s talent pool changes: family ties. Just like last year, when the sons of Gary Roberts and Nikolay Kulemin were picked in the first round of the OHL Draft, more notable family connections are expected this year.

Vaughan Kings centre Kane Cloutier is the son of former NHL goalie Dan Cloutier. Fellow top prospect Colin Kennedy of the Detroit Little Caesars is the grandson of ex-NHL coach/player Craig Hartsburg.

It also marks a milestone for the OHL itself: this year’s draft is the first in-person OHL draft since 2000 in Mississauga, Ont., when Patrick Jarrett went first overall to the hometown IceDogs.

Looking back at first-overall picks in the OHL since then, the list includes John Tavares, Steven Stamkos, Aaron Ekblad, Connor McDavid and Matthew Schaefer.

The family theme has been showing up in other ways too. Trevor Daley Jr. is leaving the U.S. National Development Team Program and following his father’s path.

The highly regarded forward officially left the U.S. National Development Team Program this week to sign with the Greyhounds, his dad Trevor’s junior home before a 1,058-game NHL career.

“I did get drafted by the Greyhounds, I live here in the summertime, my dad played here, so there’s a lot of history here,” Daley Jr. told the Sault Star. “I think it was pretty obvious that it was going to be the Sault. It was just a matter of time until we got everything done the right way.”

Daley Jr. is a third-round pick in the 2025 OHL Draft, and he played just four games with the USNDTP last season because of a knee injury.

CHL QMJHL OHL Moncton Wildcats American players Tommy Bleyl Taylor MacDougall Gardiner MacDougall London Knights Rob Simpson USHL NCAA hockey Hockey Canada USA Hockey JP Hurlbert Trevor Daley Jr Greyhounds draft