2024 CHL Import Draft to be held July 3rd

The Val-d’Or Foreurs of the Quebec Maritimes Junior Hockey League (QMJHL) will have the first overall selection in the 2024 CHL Import Draft, which is scheduled for Wednesday, July 3, 2024 at 11:00 a.m. ET. Following the Foreurs, the Kamloops Blazers of the Western Hockey League (WHL) will choose second, while the Windsor Spitfires of the Ontario Hockey League (OHL) will select third (see the complete draft order below).

Val-d’Or, who will have the top pick of the draft for the first time since 2000, finished the 2023-24 regular season with a 15-48-3-2 record as they collected 35 points in 68 games. With its first-round selection in 2023, the Foreurs chose Czech forward Samuel Fiala with the fifth overall pick. The 18-year-old from Prostejov, Czechia, finished the season with 14 goals and 23 points in 60 games.

Holding the second overall pick for the first time in franchise history, the Kamloops Blazers wrapped up their latest campaign with a 20-42-3-3 record. At last year’s CHL Import Draft, the 2023 Memorial Cup hosts selected Czech defenceman Matteo Koci, who had five goals and 15 assists in 52 games. Koci was also one of 13 CHL players to represent Czechia at the 2024 IIHF World Junior Championship and help his country to a bronze medal at that tournament. Additionally, in that same 2023 draft, the Blazers also nabbed Czech blueliner Vojtech Vochvest at the end of the second round, who registered five points in 67 games with Kamloops this past season.

The Windsor Spitfires earned the third overall pick in the 2024 CHL Import Draft after winning the 2024 OHL Priority Selection Lottery. The Spitfires, who have selected third overall at a CHL Import Draft only once before in 1993, completed the regular season with an 18-42-5-3 record. With their first-round selection in 2023, Windsor drafted Czech defenceman Josef Eichler, who finished the 2023-24 campaign with five goals and 12 points in 64 contests. Eichler is listed as the 146th-ranked North American skater in the NHL Central Scouting Midterm Rankings ahead of the 2024 NHL Draft.

Russian and Belarusian players will be eligible for selection in the 2024 CHL Import Draft and they will be able to play in the CHL as long as they are granted the necessary visa that they require to enter and play hockey in North America. In addition to this change to the CHL Import Draft, the CHL will permanently cancel the Canada-Russia Series as part of its annual calendar of events moving forward.

Over the years, the CHL Import Draft has seen a multitude of players chosen at this event who have later gone on to hear their names called at the NHL Draft. Just last year, at the 2023 NHL Draft in Nashville, Tenn., six CHL players who came through the CHL Import Draft were drafted by NHL clubs, including Samuel Honzek (Vancouver Giants / Calgary Flames), Egor Sidorov (Saskatoon Blades / Anaheim Ducks), Andrei Loshko (Rouyn-Noranda Huskies / Seattle Kraken), Rodwin Dionicio (Saginaw Spirit / Anaheim Ducks), Marcel Marcel (Gatineau Olympiques / Chicago Blackhawks) and Vojtech Port (Moose Jaw Warriors / Anaheim Ducks).

Since the first CHL Import Draft was held in 1992, over 2,090 players from outside of Canada and the United States have been selected at this annual event.

Order of Selections for the 2024 CHL Import Draft