Top WHL players continue to move to the NCAA
The silence has been deafeningly and it continues. Perhaps the shock hasn’t worn off yet.
The Victoria Royals, with vice-president of hockey operations Joey Poljanowski speaking for the Western Hockey League club, told theTimes Colonistthe Royals have “no comment” about losing their two best players.
At the end of this last major-junior hockey season, a plausible preseason 2025-26 scenario had the defending B.C. Division-champion Royals meeting the defending league-champion Medicine Hat Tigers in the 2026 WHL final. The chances of that happening are now almost nil after the ice virtually melted right beneath the Royals with the stunning news this month that franchise cornerstones Cole Reschny and Keaton Verhoeff will be leaving the WHL for the University of North Dakota of the U.S. collegiate NCAA.
The biggest bomb, however, is yet to drop on the WHL, with rumours swirling that consensus 2026 top NHL draft pick Gavin McKenna is set to leave Medicine Hat for the NCAA, with the only decision remaining whether it will be to Michigan State or Penn State.
Reschny, ranked for the first round of the 2025 NHL draft on Friday, and Verhoeff, ranked in the top five for the 2026 draft, were the first big WHL players in the 17-18 age range to take advantage of the NCAA rule passed last year allowing WHL players to play in the NCAA.
It was one thing for graduating 20-year-old WHLers to announce they are going to the NCAA, but losing returning players was something else altogether and has created an earthquake rattling through the major-junior system and has severely shaken the very underpinnings of the governing Canadian Hockey League, which includes the WHL.
The CHL’s entire model has been suddenly and drastically altered and nothing will ever be the same again for Canadian major-junior hockey.
Defenceman Jackson Smith of the Tri-City Americans of the WHL, ranked for the first round of this year’s NHL draft, has followed Reschny and Verhoeff and will play for Penn State of the NCAA. The WHL has lost three of its biggest stars, and is on the verge of potentially losing its biggest with McKenna, and goes into the 2025-26 and future seasons severely diminished in terms of the marquee appeal. How do the Royals and potentially Tigers market next season? How do their opponents market games when they come into their towns without players the stature of Reschny, Verhoeff, Smith and potentially McKenna?
A big part of the appeal of going to major-junior games is watching potential future NHLers, even if they are on opposing teams.
But this is a good thing for the players, say experts.
“It’s outrageous that players have to pick a route at age 15,” said player-agent Bayne Pettinger of Victoria, whose stable includes Dallas Stars captain Jamie Benn of Central Saanich and 2024 WHL prospects draft overall No. 2 pick Brock Cripps of Victoria.
“This opens doors for more options for the players and will be good for the game,” added Pettinger.
“Will it help Gavin McKenna to get NHL ready by getting 100 more points this season for Medicine Hat or will it help him more by playing against 23-year-olds in the NCAA and having more time to develop in the gym? We’ve all seen the first-class work-out facilities at the big NCAA schools. There will be shock value to it and the CHL will have to adapt and get younger with more 16- and 17-year-olds.”
Sean Hogan, executive director of College Hockey Inc., concurred: “It’s an historic change to all of hockey. The biggest winners in this are the players. You used to have to make a decision at 15 on where to play. Now you don’t have to do that. You can play anywhere. The effects will be felt down to the Junior A leagues. Now it’s up to the NCAA, CHL and Junior A to market themselves to convince players they are the most desirable option.”
If the NCAA wins this battle, the challenge for the CHL will be that getting younger would essentially mean putting on the ice high-school age players, develop them to an extent, only to have them eventually jump to the NCAA. And how do you charge current WHL ticket prices to watch high-school hockey? The old major-junior model may not just have been modified, but broken beyond recognition.
Whether they are commenting on it or not, the Royals find themselves at Ground Zero.
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