WHL's Braxton Whitehead commits to Arizona State, challenging NCAA rules - ESPN

Braxton Whitehead of the Western Hockey League's Regina Pats has received a verbal commitment for the 2025-26 season from Arizona State University's Div.1 program, despite NCAA eligibility rules that prevent any player who has appeared in a major-junior hockey game from playing college hockey.

This is the first NCAA commitment for a Canadian Hockey League player since a proposed class action suit was filed against the NCAA and 10 universities in August, claiming that the eligibility rules violate antitrust laws. The suit seeks to allow players to play hockey in both major-juniors and college, which would be a dramatic shift in the player development landscape.

Whether or not that suit is successful, Whitehead and Arizona State are both confident those restrictions will be lifted before he joins the Sun Devils in 2025.

"[ASU's] slogan is 'Be the Tradition' and I think they love the idea of me being a trailblazer throughout all this and paving the way with NCAA and CHL relations," Whitehead told ESPN on Thursday. «I'm very hopeful that [the rules] will turn over before the 2025-26 season.»

The NCAA has deemed anyone who played in the CHL — comprised of the OHL, WHL and QMJHL — as ineligible because there are players who have signed professional contracts with NHL teams playing in those leagues. CHL players are also paid a monthly stipend that's capped at $250.

NCAA Bylaw 12.2.3.2 states that «an individual shall not be eligible for intercollegiate athletics in a sport if the individual ever competed on a professional team.»

In August, Ontario Hockey League player Rylan Masterson challenged that rule. He filed a proposed class-action lawsuit in the U.S. District Court of Western New York against the NCAA and 10 universities