Changing times of the OHL
As the National Collegiate Athletic Association has changed its eligibility rules, the Ontario Hockey League over the past two years has started drafting a record number of American born players.
To be sure, over both the 2025 and 2026 priority selections drafts, OHL teams have picked a record number of American born players. Among the just over 600 players who have been taken at the past two OHL drafts, more than 25 per cent are American.
Call it a fresh way of doing business.
And, from an OHL standpoint, if more Americans means retaining calibre of play standards among young talent while losing some players to the NCAA ranks before their junior eligibility has expired, then so be it.
Nationality and birth place should matter little if the OHL wants its current 20 team membership to ice the best players available whether they have developed in the Greater Toronto Area, Eastern Ontario, Southwestern Ontario, Metro Detroit or the Midwest States.
An example of the top notch talent that is coming out of Michigan is the Detroit HoneyBaked team of 2010 birth year players that won the annual OHL Cup tournament in April of this year. In finishing first among the 25 teams that made it to the this year’s OHL Cup, HoneyBaked became the first American squad to win it all in the 23 year existence of the tournament.
Of further note, HoneyBaked had three defensemen who were among the top 69 draft picks at the 2026 OHL priority selections. They are Max Lappan (first round, Niagara IceDogs), Ivan Belikov (second round, Sudbury Wolves) and Jake LaMontagne (fourth round, Windsor Spitfires.)
Notably, all three have signed with their respective OHL teams ahead of the ’26-27 season. And all three are clients of venerable player agent –- and former National Hockey League goalie — Eddie Mio. Mio, who was born and raised in Windsor, Ontario, now resides in the Metro Detroit area of southwest Michigan.
At any rate, both the Spitfires and Brantford Bulldogs are just two examples of OHL teams with a heavy accent on American players, either through the draft or via the trade route.
While Windsor has seven American born players signed ahead of the looming OHL season, Brantford has even more, with 10.
Jake LaMontagne, in photo above
