CHL Season Over for Several Carolina Hurricanes Prospects

The Canadian Hockey League has cancelled the remainder of the regular season and playoffs, in turn officially ending the 2019-20 campaign for a few Carolina Hurricanes prospects.

News broke last night that the Canadian Hockey League has officially canceled the remainder of the 2019-20 season and Memorial Cup Playoffs. Joining the NCAA, ECHL, USHL, AHL, and SPHL the CHL marks another hockey league to cut their season short rather than postpone it indefinitely following concerns surrounding the Coronavirus.

For those who aren’t too familiar, the CHL is made up of the OHL, WHL and QMJHL. Within those three leagues the Carolina Hurricanes have four prospects on various teams. Jamieson Rees, Ryan Suzuki, and Blake Murray all play in the OHL and Luke Henman in the QMJHL.

Before their recent announcement, it was expected that playoff positions were to be based on points percentage, resulting in three of the four Canes prospects qualifying for the postseason, with Rees’ Sarnia Sting the odd man out. Although Rees had a career year, with 61 points in 39 games, the Sting struggled vitally without him in the lineup.

On the other hand, Suzuki’s Saginaw Spirit was among the top three teams statistically in the OHL and was considered one of the favorites to win the J. Ross Robertson Cup and compete for the Memorial Cup in Kelowna this season.

Also in the OHL, Murray’s Sudbury Wolves finished atop their division and was going to enter the playoffs as the second seat in the Eastern Conference. Likewise, Henman’s Blainville-Boisbriand Armada had also won their division in the QMJHL and was looking to make a championship run themselves.

Of course this new is disappointing for the fans, but you have to feel for the players. Suzuki’s team made a fair amount of deadline deals to load up for a cup run, with Ryan one of them himself, and to not get the chance to see it through has to be heartbreaking.

Luckily for him, and the rest of the prospects playing in the CHL, they all have another year of eligibility, so they can finish what they started next season.

While the same can be said for some of the guys playing the NCAA, whose season was canceled earlier this month, David Cotton, Matt Filipe and Luke Martin will not get that chance. The Senior trio now has to turn their attention to signing a NHL deal, with Cotton inking one with Carolina earlier this morning, rather than playing for a title.

Question for CC readers: What are your thoughts on the latest cancellations?