Kitchener Rangers sign Blackhawks prospect thanks to NCAA rule change

Thanks to a rule change at the NCAA the Kitchener Rangers will add a Chicago Blackhawks prospect to the lineup.

The Rangers signed 19-year-old forward Jack Pridham to an OHL Scholarship & Development Agreement on Thursday.

Pridham was selected in the third round in the 2024 NHL Entry Draft by the Blackhawks after a pair of impressive seasons in the BCHL with the West Kelowna Warriors.

Before last week, the NCAA recognized CHL players as professionals, making them ineligible to compete at American colleges because of the league’s amateurism rules.

The NCAA Division 1 Council voted last Thursday to allow players who have played in one of the three CHL leagues, giving them more options to choose where they want to develop as players and as people on their journey toward the NHL.

“The junior and college hockey landscape has obviously seen significant change recently and this is a situation where we have been a beneficiary of these changes by being able to add Jack to our team,” Mike McKenzie, Kitchener general manager, said in a press release.

Pridham was picked up by Kitchener in the ninth round of the 2021 OHL Priority Selection, and has already committed to play at Boston University next fall.

He’s expected to make his debut against the Peterborough Petes on Friday night.