BCHL December 1st Roster Deadline Rules:

This is posted on Brian Wiebe's BCHL Blog:

BCHL December 1st Roster Deadline:

Sunday, November 30, 2014

The December 1st Hockey Canada roster deadline of the season arrives tomorrow and it's one that's seen BCHL teams be traditionally busy.

I sent an email to the league office to clarify the details on the December 1st deadline, but didn't receive a response. However, a coach within the BCHL was able to confirm how it shakes down.

Basically, BCHL teams started with 35 cards on June 1st, then on October 1st that was reduced to 30. At that point, teams which had 22 players signed, were left with only eight cards to sign any players acquired.

As of December 1st, the number is cut to 25 cards or less, which includes carded players plus available unused cards. The norm is for teams to end up with a 22 player roster and 3 cards, but occasionally teams will go with less than 22 players and then have more cards available for use leading up to the January 10th roster deadline.

For example, if a team has 28 cards remaining of the 35 they started with on June 1st, (including the 22 players on their roster) and it reduces to 25 on Monday night, it makes sense to trade now, rather than after December 1st. The idea being that the team uses cards 23 through 28 instead of losing them. This is assuming the team wants to make some changes.

Last season, there were 12 trades in the week leading up to the deadline, including three on December 1st. In 2012, eight trades were made, while in 2011, seven trades were made. In 2010, there were 16 trades and in 2009, there were also 16 deals.

The other aspect of the deadline is that teams within the BCHL have until 7 pm Pacific time to make any deals with each other while they have until 6 pm Pacific time to make deals with CJHL teams outside of BC.