How would you rank these leagues?

[rezero]

AHL, WHL, QMJHL, KHL, OHL, SwissNL

I’m curious if they have different styles of play and different directions for development.

[hockey jedi]

KHL
AHL
Swiss NL
OHL
QMJHL
WHL

[danno]

What about the Swedish elite league? I would think it would be a notch below the AHL, but I've never watched any games so what do I know?

[rezero]

KHL
AHL
Swiss NL
OHL
QMJHL
WHL

Thanks Jedi. So for Carbo could blues have moved him up mid way through the year to Springfield from the QMJHL as seems like he has topped out there?

[hockey jedi]

Carbo couldn't have moved from Junior to AHL midseason due to transfer rules. I think Carbo showed he was good enough to make the Blues out of camp. However, we thought our team was pretty good on paper and we didn't need to rush him. I believe he will skip the AHL and be on the Blues next year.

[rezero]

Carbo couldn't have moved from Junior to AHL midseason due to transfer rules. I think Carbo showed he was good enough to make the Blues out of camp. However, we thought our team was pretty good on paper and we didn't need to rush him. I believe he will skip the AHL and be on the Blues next year.

Me too. I like his combination of physicality and ability to score.

[bluetunehead]

What about the Swedish elite league? I would think it would be a notch below the AHL, but I've never watched any games so what do I know?

Yeah that’s the impression I’ve always gotten. KHL, AHL, and SHL seem like the clear top 3 non-NHL leagues. NCAA D1 probably goes below those but above the CHL leagues.

[Rollin' on the River]

AHL, WHL, QMJHL, KHL, OHL, SwissNL

I’m curious if they have different styles of play and different directions for development.

AHL, KHL, OHL/WHL, QMJHL, SWISS

Personal opinion on WHL/OHL being evenly matched. A shade above the QMJHL just because of the more complete style they play compared to the French League

[bluetunehead]

Carbo couldn't have moved from Junior to AHL midseason due to transfer rules. I think Carbo showed he was good enough to make the Blues out of camp. However, we thought our team was pretty good on paper and we didn't need to rush him. I believe he will skip the AHL and be on the Blues next year.

Me too. I like his combination of physicality and ability to score.

Kinda seems like the best spot for him might have been a year or two of NCAA where he could play against older competition instead of largely teenagers. He’s definitely got nothing to prove in Juniors at this point. I doubt the extra year there did him any harm in the long run though.

[Harry S Deals]

I think the AHL is the 2nd best league in the world, is it even close?

[BalotelliMassive]

AHL
KHL
Swiss NL
NCAA
OHL
QMJHL
WHL

This is how I see it...

[Pierre McGuire]

WHL > QMJHL everyday of the week and twice on Sunday

[callitwhatyouwant]

I think the AHL is the 2nd best league in the world, is it even close?

i'm not super knowledgeable of the leagues but isn't the khl supposed to be pretty top heavy? the swedish league is old too.

[kimzey59]

What about the Swedish elite league? I would think it would be a notch below the AHL, but I've never watched any games so what do I know?

Yeah that’s the impression I’ve always gotten. KHL, AHL, and SHL seem like the clear top 3 non-NHL leagues. NCAA D1 probably goes below those but above the CHL leagues.

1- The KHL has fallen quite a bit since the Ukraine War started. They simply aren't getting the NHL talent that they used to get.
The AHL, SEL and Liiga(Finnish Elite League) have jumped them by a fairly substantial margin at this point and the Swiss aren't too far behind.
It's still solidly above Canadian Jrs or the NCAA, but it's a shadow of what it was even 5 years ago.

2- NCAA vs OHL is still a very even match, even with the new transfer rules. The NCAA tends to have better defensive structure but the OHL still has the better offensive talent. Honestly not sure who would actually win a series between the OHL Champ and NCAA Champ if it were to take place, but I will say the OHL is generally more enjoyable to watch from a neutral perspective(goals are fun).

3- The WHL is solidly below both of them. On the whole, it is extremely defensive focused and the offensive talent is lacking.
The QMJHL is essentially a pickup league. Defense is entirely optional.
I'd actually put the USHL above both of them at this point. It's not just the beat up league for the USNTDP anymore(the USNT has actually struggled big time in that League recently). There is some legit skill in the League and it's becoming a good foundational step for players heading to the NCAA.

AHL
SEL
Liiga
KHL
SL
NCAA
OHL
USHL
WHL
QMJHL

[Rollin' on the River]

That’s 100% how I would describe the CHL leagues.

OHL is pretty balanced, WHL is defense heavy, and the Q is basically pickup with fancy uniforms

[STL fan in MN]

Here’s the NHLe (NHL Equivalent) score for each league. This measures the relative strength of each league as compared to the NHL by comparing the performance of players between those leagues and the performance of the same players when they play in the NHL. It’s not a perfect science but the results basically put the leagues in the order I would based on the eye test so it at least passes the sniff test.

With the NHL at a base of 1.0, here’s how the other leagues stack up:

SHL: 0.64
KHL: 0.63
AHL: 0.56
Swiss NL: 0.54
Czech Extraliga: 0.45
Finnish Liiga: 0.40
Allsvenskan: 0.38
VHL: 0.37
German DEL: 0.36
Hockey East: 0.34
Big 10: 0.29
Slovakia: 0.29
NCHC: 0.29
ECHL: 0.26
USHL: 0.23
OHL: 0.19
SPHL: 0.17
WHL: 0.17
MHL: 0.16
QMJHL: 0.14
Swedish J20: 0.12
Finnish J20: 0.12
NAHL: 0.10

NHLe is meant to be a measurement of the current caliber of each league as compared to the NHL. The above is based on points scored by players. There’s another NHLe that measure “win shares” (how much players in those leagues would contribute to wins in the NHL). This list is largely in the same order but I’ll note the AHL comes in 2nd in that measurement and only 0.01 behind the SHL.

So this largely matches how I view them. The AHL and the SHL at the top. The SHL has gotten better over the last 5 years or so. It’s a legit league. Lots of foreigners that would’ve gone to the KHL now go to the SHL because of the Ukraine war. But the KHL is still pretty good too, just a bit lower than it was 5 or so years ago. And it’s more top heavy. Lots of haves and have nots there.

The Swiss league seems to be in underrated here. It pays super well (for a Euro league) so it has good talent too. Liiga has taken a step back but it’s still ok. The OHL, Dub, Q, USHL are jr leagues. They’re the best jr leagues in the world but I think many people still need to realize teams from mid-tier pro leagues in Europe would still absolutely dominate jr teams.