So it's like determining age for overage/AHL eligibility...Jan. 1?
Yes. It's using the AHL age essentially as determined by the CHL-NHL agreement. If you're 20 on or before Dec. 31, you can leave the CHL to play in the AHL. The AHL doesn't care one way or the other.
I was thinking last night, maybe this weird clause had something to do with the CHL-AHL agreement, but if it did, why would it impact all players? I really just can't think that exception is there. I mean ... it impact such a small, small percentage of players. You're talking about a 3.5 month period that strips the team of the slide option.
They only thing I could come up with, and it's still tied to that CHL-NHL agreement, more often than not, you don't sign draft picks right away unless it's a top pick. It's not a hard and fast rule, but it is rare. Therefore, even though the CHL budged enough to give a small number of 19 year old players a pass to the AHL sooner, this risk of losing an ELC year in the AHL if you sign the player as a 19 year old would probably encourage most teams to just leave them in their developmental league as an overage.
IDK ... it's not a good explanation, but like I said I can't think of one that actually makes sense.