Pro Hockey Rumors’ Josh Erickson believes that, should the NHL, NHLPA and CHL agree on an “AHL exemption” for one player per season, it’s possible that Carter Bear may skate in the Detroit Red Wings’ system this season:
Yesterday, PuckPedia reported that certain aspects of this summer’s CBA extension will take effect for the upcoming 2025-26 campaign instead of the 2026-27 season as was initially expected. Among those items is a proposed exception to the current transfer agreement between the NHL and CHL, Canada’s top association of junior leagues, that would allow teams to loan one 19-year-old player drafted from that league to their AHL affiliate without permission from the player’s CHL club. Under current rules, teams must wait until a player’s age-20 season to send them to the AHL full-time – until then, it’s either the NHL or CHL.
It’s not yet clear whether that rule will actually be implemented this season. While the league will make an aggressive push for it to happen, PuckPedia added that the CHL hasn’t yet signed off on the change and that serious negotiations haven’t started yet.
If the league does manage to strike an agreement with the CHL to allow the exception to happen, though, it’s a good time to take a look at some potential candidates who could test the waters. This isn’t an exhaustive list of every player who’s eligible for the rule, rather, a deep dive into which names might actually make sense to receive the early start to their pro careers.
Here’s his take on Bear’s chances of skating for the Grand Rapids Griffins this upcoming season:
Detroit Red Wings: Carter Bear
Bear is the only player from the 2025 draft class on this list, and that has to do with the difference between how the NHL defines draft eligibility and how the CHL defines a player’s age for a given season. The NHL’s draft cutoff is September 15, while the CHL’s age cutoff is January 1. Since Bear has a November 2005 birthday, he was a couple of months too young to be eligible for the 2024 NHL draft, but he has already been credited with his age-18 season in the CHL’s eyes. The winger was the No. 13 overall selection by Detroit and likely could have gone a few spots higher if not for some concern about a partial Achilles laceration that ended his season in March. He managed 82 points in only 56 games for the WHL’s Everett Silvertips before that happened, though, and his 6’0″, 180-lb frame should help an early AHL transition along.
Continued; I know that Bear has signed his entry-level deal, and whether it’s Erickson or the Hockey News’s Jake Tye, who was first on this story line…
I’m going to have to respectfully disagree here. I don’t see the Red Wings rushing a 6,” 179-pound youngster coming off a partially torn Achilles tendon (and Bear hasn’t taken part in Everett’s training camp as of yet) to the AHL for the sake of playing him in the AHL. At this point, I really believe that Bear needs one more year in the WHL, where he can play against players in his same age range and dominate in the league.
This is all hypothetical to begin with, but I just don’t see it happening.
