The Ontario Hockey League has gone through some rapid changes.
In the 2025 championship series, nine players were either first-round NHL picks or expected to be in the upcoming drafts. That London-Oshawa series – featuring talents like Easton Cowan (Maple Leafs), Sam Dickinson (Sharks), Beckett Sennecke (Ducks), and Calum Ritchie (Avalanche pick, now with the Islanders) – seems like a distant memory.
As this new OHL season kicks off this week, there are likely four – maybe five – NHL first-round picks across all 20 teams in the league. Interestingly, three of these players are part of one team, the London Knights, and none were actually born in Canada.
Senators prospect Jaxon Cover learned to play hockey while at prep school in the Greater Toronto Area; however, he was born in Miami, Florida, and raised in the Cayman Islands. The towering Russian defenceman Maksim Sokolovskii (Flyers) comes from Kazakhstan, while incoming 2026 Ducks first-rounder Marcus Nordmark is a hopeful for Sweden’s world junior team.
Adam Novotny from Peterborough is a Czech winger who went 24th overall to the Canucks back in June. Nikita Klepov from Saginaw is currently the reigning scoring champion of the OHL and was selected 15th overall by Anaheim; his future with the Spirit remains uncertain.
He was born in Florida but spent his childhood in Russia.
Even if this talented scorer returns to Saginaw, it still doesn’t amount to much NHL first-round talent being showcased across OHL arenas.
NEW PATH: There are three main reasons for this shift.
The first is an NCAA decision allowing Canadian Hockey League players eligibility for U. S. college hockey. The Windsor Spitfires, who will face off against the Knights on Friday (7 p. m. at Canada Life Place), won’t have their 2024 OHL No. 1 overall pick Ethan Belchetz (Mammoth) or Jack Nesbitt (Flyers) because of this change.
Belchetz is set to join Michigan State this fall while Nesbitt has committed to play at the University of Michigan alongside Landon Du Pont, who recently competed in last spring’s Memorial Cup final with Everett and is seen as a frontrunner for the top choice in the 2027 NHL draft.
The appeal of NCAA programs lies not only in potentially earning significant money right away but also facing older competitors and having more time for practice and workouts due to fewer games scheduled.
This opportunity has been available for a few years now.
The second factor involves a new provision within the CHL/NHL agreement that permits professional teams to develop their first-round picks aged 19 instead of sending them back down to junior leagues as per traditional practices.
Some GMs found that redundant since players of similar age could be drafted from Europe or leagues like USHL without needing to return to juniors again after being picked.
Before this rule change, Soo Greyhounds captain Brady Martin would have had no choice but either make Nashville’s roster out of training camp or go back to his junior team. Now if there’s a crowded situation on Predators’ roster he can start playing in American League; same goes for London’s defenceman Henry Brzustewicz with Los Angeles.
If he can’t secure a spot on Kings’ roster as a teen, he can still play for Ontario Reign’s farm team instead.
Lastly, there’s an influx of well-prepared talent entering into NHL ranks lately. For several years teams opted for younger players as affordable options when up against salary caps.
Now that cap limits have risen it will be interesting if they’ll exercise more patience before making decisions on those younger prospects. But there will always be standout junior players ready to step up such as reigning Calder trophy winner Matthew Schaefer who remains eligible with Erie Otters along with exceptional forward Michael Misa who played half-season at age eighteen last year with Sharks
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OHL officials are discussing these trends closely across CHL leagues without any concrete counteractions yet established so far; many more U. S.-committed college athletes seem inclined towards trying out junior hockey rather than opting out towards NCAA opportunities due financial incentives related name image likeness rights
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However some big stars’ departures – like Porter Martone leaving Brampton last year heading over Michigan State followed by Chase Reid moving onto Spartan-land from Soo – present notable concerns.
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