Youngest Player to play in the CHL

[WhiskeyYerTheDevils]

13 is crazy young . . but potvin was pretty good.

 

[AmericanDream]

pretty interesting to see Trevor Morbeck of Sault Ste. Marie playing in the OHL at 15. He has a late 1993 birthday...11-21-93, and the kid from Wisconsin looks to be a pretty darn good one. A pretty nice accomplishment to play for at least a few months at 15 years old... he has nice size as well.

 

[Ogopogo*]

Glen Goodall, Seattle, in the mid 80's played a full season at 14.

I believe Goodall actually played his first WHL game as a 13 year old.

 

[Dave Karp]

Kirk Muller...15
Denis Potvin...14.

Those guys came to mind before Rico Fata for me.

 

[SPORTSMANIAC]

The Q didn't have an exceptional player rule...the only player to have tried to gain exemption by it was Cormier...

I doubled checked and the Halifax Moosehead did ask for an exemption.

The Halifax Mooseheads (QMJHL) tried to get a hometown exemption for Crosby so he could play major junior last fall but the attempt failed, which is probably just as good -- 14 is kind of young to be playing in that league. Crosby appears to have never shaved.

http://ushr.com/news/20020601

 

[JFA87-66-99]

I doubled checked and the Halifax Moosehead did ask for an exemption.



http://ushr.com/news/20020601

Thanks for that link

 

[TheGroceryStick]

If i remember correctly . Brian Drumm
http://www.hockeydb.com/ihdb/stats/pdisplay.php?pid=8244

played for the Oshawa Generals at 14 years old as well.
Played 8 years in the OHA, wow that seems like alot.

Its weird enough seeing guys who go on to being well known NHL regulars and start at a young age.
But when someone is looked at as a exceptional talent at 14, and barely does anything with it.
Any other guys who came into juniors with exceptional status and never filled the shoes.

 

[Sore Loser]

Tavares was drafted as a 14 year old (May 05 Draft, September 1990 birthday), but I believe he turned 15 about 4 days before Oshawa's first actual regular season game. Other recent 15 year olds to play in the OHL include Rico Fata and Jason Spezza, who both played under the old rule that allowed exceptional 15 year olds to play for their hometown team, before entering the Priority Selection at the conclusion of the season.

The rule now allows 15 year olds to apply for exceptional entrance (like Tavares), for a fee of $1 000, plus they have to gain approval by an appointed board. John McFarland is the only other known player to try this, in 2007, but was denied.

Players in the WHL can play at Age 15, depending if they are called up, and I believe once their club season is over they're allowed to play games with the WHL team. Mark Pysyk played 14 games or so in his 15 year old season a couple years ago.

This is correct. Once their midget team's season is over, they can be called up by their respective WHL team. The WHL holds its annual bantam draft prior to a player's 15 year old season, so their rights are already held. They can then play up to 5 games in the season, until their minor team's season is over; then they can play full time.

Blake Gal has a Memorial Cup ring, and was a 15 year old for that season. He never played a playoff or Memorial Cup game, but was an extra after his club's season was over.

 

[JFA87-66-99]

Why did Goodall play in the WHL as a 13-14 year old? Was he drafted into the league? Was he some kind of prodigy at the time? I never really heard of him.

Project Sidney Crosby CHL QMJHL stats if he played as a 15-year-old? just curious to see how he would have done

Real Stats:
03-04, 16 yo, 59 GP-54 G-81 A-135 PTS
04-05, 17 yo, 62 GP-66 G-102 A-168 PTS

My Projected Stats:
02-03, 15 yo, 60 GP-36 G-68 A-104 PTS
03-04, 16 yo, 59 GP-62 G-91 A-153 PTS
04-05, 17 yo, 62 GP-76 G-114 A-190 PTS

 

[Breakfast of Champs]

If it were not for Sidney Crosby, John Tavares would never have beem deemed with exceptional player status. When Crosby entered the qmjhl, nobody had ever been an underaged player, so it wasnt like they didnt let him, its just that it wasnt even brought up. But after seeing what he did for the league(ticket sale, immense popularity) the ohl took note of a kid ripping up midget as a 14 year old, similar to what crosby ahd done a few years earlier. The ohl, not wanting to lose this potential crosby-like attraction to ncaa or us prep, quickly changed their rules and allowed him to deem deemed exceptional to play as a 15 year old.

 

[slumpy43]

Scott Cameron and Tim Helmer played in the OHL before the age of 15, but only a few games.