How do hockey players get to the NHL?
Very few players go straight from youth hockey to the NHL. Most take a longer road through junior or college hockey, the NHL Draft and several seasons in the minor leagues.
Junior hockey in Canada and the US
How do hockey players get to the NHL? For most of them the road starts in junior hockey, the top amateur level for players in their late teens. Junior hockey is generally treated as amateur hockey: its players are not considered professionals.
In Canada, the leading junior level is the Canadian Hockey League (CHL). It oversees three leagues: the Western Hockey League (WHL), the Ontario Hockey League (OHL) and the Quebec Maritimes Junior Hockey League (QMJHL). Most of its teams are in Canada, and nine are in the United States. These leagues are heavily scouted by NHL clubs.
In the United States, USA Hockey certifies junior leagues in tiers. Tier I is the United States Hockey League (USHL), Tier II is the North American Hockey League (NAHL), and Tier III covers a further group of leagues. Many American players use junior hockey as a step toward college hockey.
College hockey
College hockey is the second main route. NCAA programs give players several years of games, practice and physical growth while they study, and NHL scouts follow them closely. A player can be drafted while still in junior or college hockey and keep playing there before turning professional.
The NHL Draft
How do NHL players get drafted? The NHL Draft is held once a year after the season ends. Teams take turns selecting amateur players from junior leagues, college hockey and leagues in Europe and elsewhere. Drafting a player gives the club the right to sign him; it does not put him in the NHL.
The age rules are precise. A player becomes eligible if he will be 18 years old on or before 15 September of the draft year. North American players must also not be older than 20 by 31 December of the draft year. Can a 20 year old be drafted in the NHL? Yes, as long as he falls within those limits. Players from outside North America who are entering the league for the first time are treated differently.
After the draft: the minors
Players are usually drafted at 18, and only a small number of the very top picks are ready for the NHL straight away. The rest keep developing, first in junior or college hockey and then as professionals in the minor leagues.
Once a prospect signs his first contract, the AHL is the usual next step. It is the NHL's primary development league, and every NHL club has an affiliate there. The ECHL, one level lower, also develops players, especially those who need more playing time than the AHL can give them. How a player moves between these levels, through two-way contracts, recalls and waivers, is explained in the guide to NHL and AHL affiliates.
How difficult is it to get into the NHL? Very. Each club's opening day roster is limited to 23 players, and every season new draft picks compete with existing players for those places. Many good professionals spend whole careers in the AHL, the ECHL or abroad.
Can ECHL and SPHL players reach the NHL
Do ECHL players ever make it to the NHL? Yes. The ECHL says that the league has been represented on each of the last 25 Stanley Cup champions, counting players and staff who passed through it. For many of them, the ECHL was a place to prove themselves before the jump to the AHL and then the NHL.
The SPHL is further from the top, and its teams have no NHL affiliation. Its role is to give players a first professional chance and a way up: the league says that since its first season in 2004 nearly 1,100 of its players have been called up to the ECHL or other leagues at the AA level or higher.