In our first monthly newsletter, we are going to go over what it means to sign a Hockey Canada card with a Junior A program in the Canada Junior Hockey League.
The amount of a Hockey Canada cards a CJHL team has depends on their provincial league’s regulations. The CJHL consists of leagues from the Maritimes to British Columbia.
Ultimately, signing a Hockey Canada card with a Junior A team is comparable to getting asked out on a date. It’s exciting and shows the other party is interested in moving forward in a relationship. However, there’s no long-term commitment if things don’t go well. The relationship with the team could last two years or two weeks.
We know of numerous players who have been guaranteed a full season, among other things, to sign with a Junior A team. Some coaches will stand by their word while others will go back on it. It is important for each player and/or his advisor to do adequate research on teams’ reputations and track records before putting pen to paper.
It is understandable for a team to cut a player early in camp if he showed up out of shape or with a bad attitude. That said, it’s not always that cut and dry. Some teams simply overcommit to players. Say, for example, a team has three openings on the back end. They might commit to one player in February and fill the other two holes in April. But then in the summer they might spot another defenceman they like, so they decide to sign him. Suddenly one of those first three defenders they signed is out of a job regardless of what he was promised.
A Junior A player’s job security ultimately isn’t safe until the Jan. 10 trade deadline passes. Teams can no longer trade or release players from that point on. It is, however, uncommon for a player to be released beyond November. Junior hockey players are usually traded rather than released if they are able to stick in their respective league for the first two months of the season.
There are additional restrictions for underage (16-17) players. The CJHL doesn’t allow teams to trade underage players outside of their province. Furthermore, most leagues have a November deadline for underage players, meaning they can’t be released or traded beyond a specific date in November.