Quote:
Originally Posted by zukes
I thought that it depended on draft year...I could be wrong.
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No, it's based on the player's age (or CHL experience). Any CHL player who turns 20 before the end of the calendar year in which a season starts can play in the AHL that season (which is why Poirier, Shinkaruk, and Andersson -- among others -- all played in the AHL at 19).
Also, any player who has played 4 full seasons in the CHL can be sent to the AHL without first being offered back to his junior team. This is uncommon because a player has to have been given Exceptional Player status at 15 in order to have 4 years in junior before his 20 year-old season. So far, every player who has received Exceptional Player status has made the jump right to the NHL (Tavares, Ekblad, McDavid), so it hasn't been an issue. Sean Day is the first Exceptional Player to not go first overall and go immediately to the NHL, so he could go to the AHL next season despite not turning 20 until 2018.