So, when they're in the CHL, you can use their "likeness" and that's perfectly fine..
Right, because the CHL has a licensing agreement with EA.
but the minute they join the AHL and up until they sign their PHPA papers you can no longer use their likeness,
Right, because the PHPA has a licensing agreement with EA.
When the individual is out of the CHL and not yet in the PHPA (or NHLPA), they are not covered by any licensing agreement. EA has no right to use their likeness without such an agreement.
I guess they could strike an agreement with the individual, but you can bet that the player's agent would want compensation. And considering they're not paying CHL players anything (I'm not sure about the PHPA) I doubt that EA is about to spend money on a prospect that 99% of their audience has never heard of.
even though they used their likeness in a previous game/roster and will be using the exact same in-game character as they used in said previous games/rosters? It's dumb.
Dumb or not, it would be an open-and-shut lawsuit against EA if they went around using people's likenesses without a contract.
The NHL series profits off fans love of hockey and it's star players, not the players that are jumping from the CHL to the AHL.
That being the case, does Andreas Nodl or Steven Kampfer really need to be in the game?
Answer: yes, they do need to be in the game because EA customers expect complete rosters for every team. You can see the reaction to incomplete rosters in this thread, particularly the people saying they won't buy future editions without better roster completeness. Therefore, EA is in fact profiting off even the most random CHL'ers who are included only to make the game more authentic.