MJHL announces end of player draft

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This article was published 02/07/2024 (317 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Players from across Manitoba will have more freedom to pick a team if they want to play junior A hockey in the province.

The Manitoba Junior Hockey League (MJHL) announced June 22 they would be completely eliminating the league’s annual draft, allowing teams to sign any players who want to play for them.

The MJHL has changed much of their rules regarding young players in the past few years. In 2022 the league moved from drafting 15-year-olds to 16-year-olds. The league began to allow players as young as 17-years-old to swap teams starting last year as long as they haven’t signed a letter of intent with the team that drafted them.

Steinbach Pistons coach and general manager Paul Dyck said eliminating the draft was the next logical step following the recent rule changes.

“The players have a lot of say in today’s game,” Dyck said.

“In where they want to play, and when they want to play junior. It certainly gives the players a lot more freedom.”

Players who didn’t want to sign with a team that drafted them could play out their U18 AAA season until they were eligible to move to a different team than the one who drafted them. When players turn 18, they can also move to play anywhere in Canada.

The non Hockey-Canada sanctioned B.C. Hockey League, which now includes five Alberta teams, can sign any player, without any compensation to the affiliated team that had the player’s rights previously.

“I personally don’t think it’s a huge change,” Dyck said on eliminating the draft.

“Teams are going to have to maybe work a little bit harder to make their program attractive.”

The new rule was voted on at the league’s annual general meeting, with the results of the vote not shared in the MJHL’s news release.

“Nobody was surprised by it obviously,” Dyck said.

“It’s been part of the discussions between governors and gm’s, excreta, for a number of months already.”

Junior A leagues in Alberta and B.C. and some eastern Canada leagues do not have an annual draft. The Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League only recently re-introduced their draft.

“It’s not uncommon at the junior hockey level,” Dyck said.

With the ability of players to leave the province or the team that drafted them early in their junior careers or play at in the Western Hockey League, any advantage of picking early in the draft is erased.

As for if the new rules would help or hinder the Pistons, Dyck was unconvinced either way.

“We’re not going to have that much room every year for two to four 16-year-olds,” Dyck said.

“Time will tell if it benefits certain teams or not. I don’t really believe it’s going to have a tremendous impact in creating an imbalance in parity.”

Teams in the MJHL had the chance to auto-protect local players before the start of the MJHL draft. It hasn’t been announced if protections for local players will continue in the new system.