No question the standard players agreement will change, in time, to allow for opt outs in order to enter the NCAA as an 18-year-old freshman if feasible and desired but, and this is a BIG BUT, freshman under the age of 20 constitute less than 25% of an incoming class and true freshman (18years) represent less than 8%. The reality is that the vast majority of freshman are 20 or older. So, the notion that the CHL is worried about losing all its 18- and 19-year-old players is simply wrong.
The battle will be for the very elite 18–19-year-olds (as it is now) and while I believe that while for now the top U.S. born talent will continue to choose the NCAA, in time that may change. The CHL will encourage those players (and we can confidently assume that more high-end U.S. born players will begin to filter into the CHL) to sign E.L.C. thus making them ineligible for NCAA hockey. This is why that programs like B.U., Michigan. Minny were so against allowing CHL players to be eligible for college hockey.