Quote:
Originally Posted by pens66
Just wanted to mention that it is - if I remember that correctly - theoretically possible for North Americans to play in the AHL if they are under 20 years old. There is only an agreement between the CHL leagues and the NHL that if a CHL team owns the rights to a player, he can't play in the AHL. If no CHL team has the rights for a player (i. e. he was released), he should be able to play. These players don't necessarily have to be recruited by a college team.
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There is also a very rare exemption for junior-eligible CHL players to be assigned to the minor pro IF they have completed 4 seasons of major junior. This is at the discretion of the NHL club that holds the player's rights of course. The only example that comes to mind is Jason Spezza who played in the AHL as a 19-year old. In order to be eligible for this exemption, the player would have to play a full CHL season as a 15-year old. I'm not certain how it works in the QMJHL or WHL, but in the OHL a player can't be drafted to play as a 15 year-old unless he applies for and is granted "exceptional player status" by the league prior to the Priority Draft. Most of these exceptional players don't last 4 years in the league (John Tavares as an example) because they are so advanced that the NHL plucks them from the vine as 18-year olds.