College sports are on the verge of major change once again, and it may significantly impact the development of men’s ice hockey players across North America.
The NCAA has sought to change its eligibility rules to be age-based and has officially drafted proposals since April. The initial proposal, per ESPN, would give athletes five years and five full seasons of eligibility, with the five-year countdown starting the academic year after their high school graduation or their 19th birthday, whichever occurs first.
While the rule primarily aims to address football-centric issues and establish more uniform eligibility, it would disproportionately affect men’s ice hockey. Unlike most collegiate athletes, many men’s hockey players do not go directly to college after high school, instead spending time in junior hockey leagues.
The vast majority of men’s hockey athletes play in a junior league before college — 99 percent of first-year athletes in D1 men’s hockey came from juniors — with the average age for players starting college at 20.3 and the average age for commitment in 2025-26 at 19.7. Additionally, 80 percent of freshmen were 20 or 21 years old at the start of last season.
Before, men’s ice hockey players had delayed enrollment, which provided a grace period until the athlete’s 21st birthday, to account for the unique path most players take.
But now, the NCAA is moving to standardize rules across all sports. NHL deputy commissioner Bill Daly shared during the Stanley Cup Final press conference on Tuesday that NCAA President Charlie Baker stressed that the NCAA doesn’t like sports-specific solutions, much to commissioner Gary Bettman’s dismay.
“I hope that a one-size-fits-all solution, which disadvantages some sports over others, isn’t the way they go,” Bettman said.
The NHL, college coaches and teams, and junior leagues are extremely concerned about this rule change and its potential negative impact on men’s college ice hockey. The new regulations would force players to go straight to college or miss out on years of eligibility.
And they’ve made their dissatisfaction known, discussing the issue publicly and directly with the NCAA.
“We’re not in favor of the change,” Daly said of the initial proposal. “We and a number of other hockey organizations throughout North America — the three junior leagues in Canada, the USHL, USA Hockey, the college coaching association — all have raised concerns.
“So we’ve made the NCAA aware of those concerns and what it might do to the development of players in North America. We had an opportunity to talk to the NCAA directly last week.”
Those discussions with the NCAA seemed to work, as the NCAA removed the high school graduation stipulation and replaced it with initial full-time college enrollment, per men’s ice stakeholders’ recommendations, just three days after the NHL press conference, potentially providing a year between high school and collegiate careers. The rule would still apply to all sports.
The adjustment to allow one season between high school and college without losing eligibility would help some common development pathways hold up. Situations like Chase Clark’s, a 2021 Washington Capitals draft pick, could still be mostly feasible. Clark played in the USHL for his 19- and 20-year-old seasons, then moved to the NCAA in 2022 without losing eligibility thanks to delayed enrollment.
Under the new proposal, Clark would technically lose a year of eligibility (since players would be able to play for five seasons). However, he could still get four years of collegiate play along with time in juniors. If his eligibility clock started once he graduated high school, every year in juniors would have picked away at his NCAA playing time.
While it is an important improvement — one that was specifically requested by major hockey organizations — the age-based eligibility rule would still shake up the structure of collegiate hockey and conventional player development, limiting players’ options. And it would come just after the NCAA strengthened the junior-to-collegiate pipeline, with CHL players becoming eligible for NCAA play last season.
If implemented, the new eligibility rule would cap the oldest players at 24. During the 2025-26 season, there were 65 Division I men’s hockey players who were 25 as of March 31st.
The NCAA can vote on the new model as early as their June 23-24 meeting.
