WHL Player Commits to ASU, Adds Pressure to Eligibility Rules

A junior league player verbally committed to Arizona State University, putting more strain on the eligibility rules in the NCAA.

Arizona State University's Max Balinson (26) controls the puck against Clarkson's Jack Jacome (16) during the second period of their game in the 2018 Desert Hockey Classic in Glendale, Friday, Dec. 28, 2018. Uscp 73egffoiiw810q6fkj2b Original / Darryl Webb/Special for the Republic

The NHL and the game of hockey is largely unaffected by the legal proceedings happening in the world. This summer, however, brought the entire hockey world into a legal battle currently unfolding. Junior hockey player Rylan Masterson filed a suit to challenge the eligibility rules currently in place in the NCAA.

The goal of Masterson's case is to eliminate the NCAA's rules that make anyone who competes with players that signed professional contracts ineligible to compete in college hockey. Canadian junior hockey league players have been held out of the NCAA and competing universities due to this rule, but there is a growing belief that this will be overruled soon.

Furthering the matter, this campaign is building momentum. On a recent written version of32 Thoughts on Sportsnet, NHL insider Elliotte Friedman mentioned a new bump in the road for this battle. Current Western Hockey League (WHL) player Braxton Whitehead, who currently plays for the Regina Pats, verbally committed to Arizona State University. Whitehead is the first player in the CHL to publically make this decision.

Under the current NCAA rules, Whitehead won't be allowed to suit up for the Sun Devils if he joins the school. Friedman wrote that while this case is still unresolved, the NCAA as an institution has taken repeated losses in court lately, and this could be the next defeat.

"While we don’t know how that case will turn out, we do know the NCAA is losing court battle after court battle across several sports," he wrote. "There are only so many punches you can take; only so many lawyers you are willing to pay. The entire landscape is changing, with athletes able to earn money on their name, image and likeness like never before."

The landscape of the NCAA is certainly shifting across all sports, and now hockey is the next sport affected. The result is that more players from the CHL could start making more commitments to NCAA schools.

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