The Moncton Wildcats had 11 American-born players on a playoff roster that took the New Brunswick team within two wins of a second straight QMJHL title this year.
Do not be the least bit surprised if other teams across the CHL start approaching those kind of numbers, too.
One of the clear trends of the ever-changing junior and college hockey landscape is a surge of American players coming to the 61 teams in the QMJHL, OHL and WHL.
Last week, 50 Americans were taken in the QMJHL draft, an increase of 13 from last year. The OHL had 79 Americans taken in 2025 after 33 in 2024, per Janson Duench of the Sault Star.
There could very well be a similar total in this year’s edition on Friday and Saturday in Kingston, Ont. In a mock draft in the Toronto Star, veteran hockey writer Ken Campbell has six players from American teams going in the OHL’s first round.
Wildcats general manager Taylor MacDougall, who has combined with his dad/Moncton coach Gardiner MacDougall to build a top-notch program since being hired in 2024, expects the U.S. numbers to continue to increase in the CHL.
“I don’t see why it wouldn’t, as a league,” Taylor MacDougall, who used his first two picks on Americans this year, 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.”
The talent from south of the border certainly is there. Last season, 46 U.S. players played in the QMJHL, 30 more than in 2024-25.
One of those was free-agent defenceman Tommy Bleyl from the Albany, N.Y. region. A little-known prospect entering the year, Bleyl now is listed in the first round of many mock NHL Drafts for the event later this month.
The Bleyl story is an example of why CHL teams are recruiting hard in the U.S. The London Knights, a long-time 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.”
But there’s still a degree of mystery in terms of where this all goes.
The OHL and QMJHL have said they’d like to add U.S. teams in a bid to expand their footprint, but that’s a tricky political situation with USA Hockey and the NHL making it clear they want to see a healthy USHL.
The USHL announced earlier this month it has a memorandum of understanding to establish clubs in Arizona, California and Nevada.
Presumably, that means the 16-team USHL plans to continue competing hard for the best American prospects. 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 their teams.
There’s also the question of what Hockey Canada, a longtime partner of the CHL, and USA Hockey think about what’s unfolding. More Americans means fewer Canadians in the CHL, at least at its current size.
But at the same time, USA Hockey has watched key players leave the U.S. National Team Development Program for the CHL, including WHL rookie of the year JP Hurlbert (Kamloops Blazers). The USNTDP, it seems, also faces challenges.
While Hockey Canada may not love seeing fewer Canadians on CHL rosters, Canadians are getting extremely important development opportunities in a league not under the umbrella of any national governing body — the NCAA.
There were 628 Canadians on NCAA Division I men’s rosters in 2025-26, the most on record going back to 2003-04. Some of these players will end up helping Hockey Canada, with a large assist to the NCAA.
This is all a true developing story. Good luck predicting what happens next.
Just like last year when the sons of Gary Roberts and Nikolay Kulemin were picked in the first round of the OHL Draft, expect some notable family ties this year.
Vaughan Kings centre Kane Cloutier is the son of former NHL goalie Dan Cloutier, while fellow top prospect Colin Kennedy of the Detroit Little Caesars is the grandson of ex-NHL coach/player Craig Hartsburg.
It marks the first in-person draft for the OHL since 2000 in Mississauga, Ont., when Patrick Jarrett went first overall to the hometown IceDogs.
First-overall picks in the OHL since then include John Tavares, Steven Stamkos, Aaron Ekblad, Connor McDavid and Matthew Schaefer.
Speaking of family connections, Trevor Daley Jr. is following in his father’s footsteps.
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.”
A third-round pick in the 2025 OHL Draft, Daley Jr. played just four games with the USNDTP last season because of a knee injury.
