EHM The Blue Line

Hi, i got two specific questions and one general request about the CHL Import Draft.

First out my questions:

1, Is it only possible to draft european players in the draft? Are players from asia and other continents eligible?

2, Does it matter where the player is based? For example if an Canadian player is based in Sweden, how will he be drafted? If an swedish player is based in North America how will he be drafted? And(depending on my no.1 questions) if an european north american player is based in China will there be a differance?

And i got a general request to get a good explanation on how this draft(and the other CHL drafts) works, mostly how the rules are set and how it works for different players from around the world, if there are specific rules regarding age/nationality/regions etc.


//MG

I think the import draft is for players based outwith USA or Canada and teams are allowed 2 picks per season. I think this is a CHL wide draft so the same for all the leagues. The WHL, OHL and QMJHL have particular provinces and states they can draft north american players from (Basically USA/Canada divided west, central and east. I haven't really looked into within the game but the import draft as far as I can see is for anyone based outside USA or Canada would go through the import draft I haven't seen anywhere that this only covers Europe so would assume covers everywhere outside of North America. I cannot think though that there would be a league outside of North America or Europe that would produce a player good enough to get noticed and taken within one of the two picks in import draft. To be fair anyone in say China with extraordinary talent I think would need to be encouraged and playing in a midget league in north america if they had an ambition to get drafted by CHL. In theory though I think you can draft a teen playing in China but it would never happen beyond an maybe a blatant attempt to get publicity in that market. I think though there may be visa issues so more likely to go down the college route in America to get round that. Teams only have 2 picks so I think will want to be pretty sure the guy can and wants to play for them, has language skills, support network etc so may be put off if it is not clear. KHL also now have a junior draft so perhaps a bit more competition in Europe so really not straightforward as picking who you think is best player.

Any rules I have checked seem to be at least consistent that teams are only allowed 2 non north american players so I think even with the Chinese player playing in midget leagues he would need to be drafted in import draft. Not sure about say a Canadian based in Sweden, if he is not based in any province e.g. British Columbia for CHL or Ontario for OHL etc then not sure how it would be determined what league he would play in. I would suspect he would need to play in north america, take Ben O'Connor and Brendan Perlini as examples these are players both born in England but to Canadian fathers so counted as north americans but they did play midget hockey in OHL catchment area before being drafted, Ben O'coonor just played a season in Ontario before being drafted. I would expect that any Canadian located in Europe with CHL ambitions would look to make that move at least a year before the draft.

Interesting rule is that you can not draft a non north american goalie since about 3 years or so ago.

The leagues are divided up for drafting players based in the follow states/provinces/territories etc

QMJHL (Connecticut, Massachussets, New Hampshire, Maine, Rhode Island and Vermont) Quebec, Newfoundland & Nova Scotia

OHL (Alabama, Arkansas, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Michigan, Mississippi, Missouri, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia, West Virginia and Wisconsin) Ontario

WHL (Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Hawaii, Idaho, Kansas, Minnesota, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Mexico, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Oregon, South Dakota, Texas, Utah, Washington and Wyoming) BC, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Northwest Territories, Yukon and Nunavut.

In terms of ages here is info on WHL which I think is likely to be pretty much the same across CHL with maybe small differences. Players aged 15–20 are eligible to play in the WHL, though 15-year-olds are permitted to play only five games unless their midget team's season has ended. Also, each team is allowed to have only three 20-year-olds on their rosters, unless there is an expansion team, in which case five 20-year-olds are eligible to play. Each team is permitted to carry only two non-North American players.

A bit more info on on CHL I think if you play in CHL it means you are not eligible to play college hockey in USA so it is a difficult decision at a young age to make particularly for young Americans as the cost of higher education is very high if you are not from a wealthy background and hockey gives scholarship opportunities. Though if it is more clear your going to be an exceptional talent then CHL will probably give them a higher level at a younger age as you would need to hang about Junior A level e.g. USHL for a year or two before playing college hockey but once your there it is a good level that produces good NHLers like the CHL has but might take you bit longer to develop. Canadian universities do not have the same restrictions so maybe an easier choice for Canadians who can have a real go in CHL then go play at uni after but that level is considered a fair bit lower than US college hockey. In terms of playing Eastside I assume EHM EA is like older versions where in young players profile it may state if they want to play junior or college hockey.