Canadian Hockey League

The Canadian Hockey League (CHL) is an organization with oversight over Canada’s three major junior ice hockey leagues. These leagues—the Ontario Hockey League (OHL), the Quebec Maritimes Junior Hockey League (QMJHL), and the Western Hockey League (WHL)—include the top amateur hockey teams in North America. Despite the name, the CHL does have teams in the United States that play in the OHL and WHL.

The CHL is widely considered to be the best junior hockey league in the world, and many professional hockey players began in the CHL. Each of the individual member leagues have their own annual championship series. The winners of these series and one other team, which hosts the competition, then compete in the Memorial Cup tournament held each May. The CHL is headquartered in the Canadian province of Ontario.

Background

The National Hockey League (NHL) is the professional ice hockey league in North America. The players for this 31-team league come from a variety of places besides Canada and the United States, including Russia, Finland, Sweden, and Czechia. Most North American-born players prepare for NHL careers in one of two places: the college teams that are part of the National Collegiate Hockey Association or the teams of the CHL.

The three leagues that the CHL oversees each formed separately and were brought together under unified oversight in 1975. Junior hockey—competitive hockey for amateur players generally between the ages of sixteen and twenty-one—has existed for over one hundred years in North America. There have been a number of leagues formed for these players over the decades, with major junior hockey being the most elite level in Canada and the United States.

The league that became the OHL began informally in 1892. At that time, teams of mixed-aged players would simply challenge each other to games. Eventually, various divisions developed based on age and ability. By the 1920s, the league was known as the Ontario Hockey Association and was involved in play for the Memorial Cup, which is now the championship trophy for the CHL. It became known as the Ontario Hockey League in 1980 and includes twenty teams, seventeen of which are in Ontario, Canada, and three in the United States. The league’s championship team takes home the J. Ross Robertson Trophy.

The QMJHL originated in 1969 with eleven teams. Between 1969 and 2005, seven additional teams were added for a total of eighteen teams based in Quebec and the Maritime provinces of Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, and Prince Edward Island. The league is noted for its emphasis on offense, and many of its alumni have gone on to become members of the NHL Hall of Fame. The teams compete at the end of the season for the President’s Cup. In December 2023, QMJHL changed its name from Quebec Majors Junior Hockey League to Quebec Maritimes Junior Hockey League to recognize its presence in the Maritime provinces.

The WHL was formed in 1966 with seven teams in the western Canadian provinces of Alberta and Saskatchewan. Teams were added over the next fifty years until the league reached a total of twenty-two teams. The sixteen Canadian teams are located in the original two provinces as well as British Columbia and Manitoba. They are joined by six teams in the American states of Washington and Oregon. These teams compete for the WHL championship Ed Chynoweth Cup.

Overview

The CHL includes sixty teams, fifty-one in Canada and nine in the United States. It is the primary avenue to reach the NHL for North American players who do not play NCAA hockey. The league is highly ranked among the junior hockey programs around the world.

The league is the highest level of junior hockey in Canada. Its players are generally between the ages of sixteen and twenty-one, though in some rare instances younger players have made the roster for a CHL team. Each of the individual leagues that fall under the CHL umbrella play their own schedule of games within the league and award their own championships and other awards for outstanding play. At the conclusion of the individual championship series for the three leagues, the respective champions meet each year in May in a host city for the Memorial Cup tournament. In addition to these three top finishers, the team from the host city participates in the tournament.

The players in the CHL have all of their expenses covered by their team. This includes their hockey equipment, all expenses related to games and practices, their living expenses and their education. They also receive a small stipend but are not considered paid professionals. However, many of these players will go on to professional careers at various levels, including the NHL. They may also become part of the American Hockey League (AHL) or the East Coast Hockey League (ECHL), both of which are minor league “farm” programs. In these programs, potential NHL players continue to develop or maintain their skills to be ready to fill gaps in the rosters of the parent NHL. Some players will eventually become part of an NHL team, while others will remain with the minor league programs.

The CHL is similar to the highest tier of the American junior hockey program, the United States Hockey League (USHL). However, one key difference is that CHL players have the ability to sign entry contracts with NHL teams. As a result, they have historically had professional status in the eyes of the NCAA, meaning a CHL player who was not selected in the draft by an NHL team became ineligible to play NCAA hockey. The structure of the USHL, though, has allowed players to maintain their amateur status for the NCAA, so players there who were not signed by an NHL team but still met other eligibility requirements to play NCAA hockey could continue their hockey career by playing college hockey. However, as of August 1, 2025, the NCAA changed their policy so that CHL players are eligible to play in Division I hockey, though they are still ineligible to play Division III hockey. However, players who sign NHL contracts and later return to the CHL are still not eligible to play NCAA Division I hockey, as this deems them professional and therefore disqualified per the NCAA's requirements.

In addition to the opportunity to play for their own league championship, the players in the CHL have several other opportunities to play in games designed to allow them to showcase their skills. These include the annual Top Prospects game, where the 40 players most likely to be chosen in the next entry draft play each other in a game similar to an all-star competition, and the Canada/Russia series, where the top players from the CHL and Russia’s top junior programs compete.

Bibliography

“About the CHL.” Canadian Hockey League, 2026, chl.ca/aboutthechl. Accessed 13 Jan. 2026.

Blouin, Maxime. “The QMJHL becomes the Quebec Maritimes Junior Hockey League.” QMJHL, 14 Dec. 2023, chl.ca/lhjmq/en/article/the-qmjhl-becomes-the-quebec-maritimes-junior-hockey-league/. Accessed 13 Jan. 2026.

“Canadian Hockey League.” Youth Hockey Guide, www.youthhockeyguide.com/junior-hockey/canada-canadian-hockey-league-chl/. Accessed 13 Jan. 2026.

“History.” LHJMQ, www.lhjmq-records.qc.ca/xsl/records/book/. Accessed 13 Jan. 2026.

Shelley, Ben. “Hockey Factories: Which Major Junior Team Has Produced the Most NHL Talent in the Post-Lockout Era?” Hockey News, 2 Oct. 2019, thehockeynews.com/news/article/hockey-factories-which-major-junior-team-has-produced-the-most-nhl-talent-in-the-post-lockout-era. Accessed 13 Jan. 2026.

“Ontario Hockey League.” Hockey DB, 2026, www.hockeydb.com/ihdb/stats/leagues/167.html. Accessed 13 Jan. 2026.

“About the WHL.” Western Hockey League, chl.ca/whl/about/. Accessed 13 Jan. 2026.

Wyshynski, Greg. “NCAA Makes Canadian Hockey League Players Eligible for Div. I.” ESPN, 7 Nov. 2024, www.espn.com/college-sports/story/_/id/42254200/ncaa-makes-canadian-hockey-league-players-eligible-div-i. Accessed 13 Jan. 2026.