NCAA decision has potential to alter Canadian junior hockey and the pipelines that feed the NHL
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And it makes no difference that college hockey wasn't on his radar growing up in North Vancouver and regularly attending WHL games with his younger brother Macklin, the NHL's draft's No. 1 pick last summer.
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'We didn't know much about college hockey,' Celebrini said during the Frozen Four championship in St. Louis. 'Going to Vancouver Giants games, that was always kind of our dream to play in the WHL and then eventually play in the NHL.'
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It's a dream Macklin has already achieved in completing his rookie season with the San Jose Sharks and after one year at BU. Aiden could well follow after being drafted by his hometown Canucks in 2023.
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Last fall, the NCAA made a landmark eligibility decision to allow Canadian Hockey League players to compete at the college level. The ruling frees today's players from the either-or choice the Celebrinis faced to either join the CHL team that drafted them or preserve their college eligibility as they did by playing at the Canadian Junior A or USHL levels — Aiden in Alberta and Macklin in Chicago.
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'I'm kind of jealous,' Aiden Celebrini said. 'I think it's awesome that guys can experience both now because I think the WHL is a top league, and obviously the NCAA is also. It's great to have that kind of pipeline now.'
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While players will benefit most, the NCAA ruling has the potential to dramatically tilt North America's junior hockey developmental landscape toward U.S. colleges in a fundamental altering of how prospects reach the NHL.
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Paths to the NHL
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The route for many has traditionally run through the CHL's three leagues, the WHL, OHL and QMJHL.
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The CHL remains the clear leader in having 839 players drafted from 2015-24, with the NCAA's 74 a distant seventh. And yet, of those 74 college players, 63 were chosen in the first round, including two Canadians selected first overall (Celebrini and Michigan's Owen Power in 2021).
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College hockey players now make up about a third of NHL rosters, up from 20% in 2000, with Hockey East commissioner Steve Metcalf envisioning that number growing.
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