GOJHL becomes official development league of OHL

CTV’s Colton Wiens take a look at a deal that may let hockey players move more freely between leagues.

The Ontario Hockey League has entered a partnership with the Greater Ontario Junior Hockey League, making the GOJHL the first official development league of the OHL.

The agreement also created formal guidance to move players between the two leagues.

“They have the ability to move them up and down a little more freely,” Craig Spada, commissioner of the GOJHL said. “We want to allow that player to move up and down. Therefore, what are the benefits? It’s the player. That’s the development of it.”

Before the agreement, some major junior teams in the OHL and Junior B teams in the GOJHL had informal affiliations for sharing players.

“There was a certain amount of games that they couldn’t come up for. Just in general there was always agreements between teams, but it was a little less informal,” Mike McKenzie, general manager of the Kitchener Rangers, said.

The new agreement lays out official guidelines on when and how players can move and gives all 20 OHL teams the option to call up players from any of the 23 GOJHL teams, or send draft picks down for more development.

“You would normally see before, the OHL teams keep one and two, maybe their third-round picks and develop them right there. Right now, we have first rounders for the first year in our league. We have some second-round [players] we’re going to see, but we have a number of third and fourth rounders where before we were seeing [draft picks] from [rounds] 4 to 5 to 6 to 7, 8 up and ten. And we were developing ten and twelves and stuff,” Spada said.

“It’s telling them that we’re not going to cut that player, we’re going to allow them to go back and forth and that’s what I think a lot of the advantage is. I also think there’s some change. Obviously, we don’t know all the changes yet with the NCAA rule, but it’s not easy for a 16-year-old to play in the OHL, where before, you didn’t get all the players because the players did go the NCAA route. Now, most players are going to give the CHL a first crack,” Spada added.

“We’re right in the heart of GOJHL country with all the teams pretty close to us. So selfishly, it’s great for us to have that partnership” McKenzie said. “We had placed guys in the past there and we’ve placed guys already this year and will continue to do in the future. But now that there’s actually some more guidelines and rules on it, it makes it nice and easy.”

“Some of them are higher draft picks or draft picks in general that just aren’t quite ready for the OHL yet. And this gives a real good option, for teams, to bring them up and down - a little bit more flexibility than in the past. So, it’s really positive for the player and the OHL,” McKenzie said.

The Kitchener Rangers recently sent their second-round pick, 16-year-old Alex Forrest, down to the Cambridge Redhawks. While current Rangers players Weston Cameron and Kaden Schneider played in the Junior B ranks last season along with Owen Edwards, one of the Rangers prospect goalies.

As for GOJHL clubs, the Waterloo Siskins agree that it’s a great opportunity for players to get more development and also means that players aren’t stuck in a certain league for the entire season.

“It’s exciting. It’s opportunities for players, you know? They don’t have to think about it as being here for a whole year. They could be here for half a year. They could be here for as long as they need to be. I think that’s exciting. It’s all about the players,” Brian Huddle, director of hockey operations and general manager of the Waterloo Siskins said.

Junior B players will now participate in OHL related prospect events. Spada believes this also gives older GOJHL players another chance to be seen by OHL scouts.

“We’re not trying to reinvent the wheel, but we’re trying to give a little bit more access to the actual player being developed,” Spada said. “If they’re not there to watch the younger player, you’re not going to see the older player. In my opinion, this dramatically favors both the younger and the older player from being seen a lot more.”

“We’re really looking forward to having the opportunity to help develop more players for the OHL,” Huddle said.

The OHL has also indicated it is exploring further agreements with other junior leagues in the province.