NEWS PHOTO JAMES TUBB
WHL commissioner Dan Near speaks to the crowd at Co-op Place ahead of the Medicine Hat Tigers season opener Sept. 20 against the Regina Pats.
jtubb@medicinehatnews.com@ReporterTubb
Entering his second full season at the helm of the WHL, Dan Near is looking forward to another competitive year for the league.
The Western Hockey League’s 10th commissioner was in Medicine Hat on Sept. 20, honouring the Tigers for their sixth Ed Chynoweth Cup ahead of the 5-2 win over the Regina Pats.
He spoke to News ahead of the championship presentation and the league’s 60th season getting underway.
“I can’t help but be more and more proud of what I’m part of, the Western Hockey League is something that means a lot, not just from a hockey standpoint, but what we mean to Western Canada and then the Pacific Northwest,” Near said. “So 60 seasons of developing players for the NHL, but 60 seasons of developing players, giving them education, setting them up for the real world life, we’re really proud of what we do and it’s a system that’s taken years to hone and perfect and we’ll never be done at looking at improving.
“We’re also very, very proud of the framework we’ve built and the ecosystem and environment that gives players a chance to be their best.”
The WHL had a loud offseason thanks in part to the NCAA rule changes allowing junior hockey players to play D1 hockey. Near says fewer than 15 skaters have left for the NCAA before their overage year. The rule change saw Victoria Royals forward Cole Reschny leave after being drafted by the Calgary Flames and defenceman Keaton Verhoeff leave before his NHL Draft year. As did Medicine Hat Tigers forward Gavin McKenna.
Near says they’re confident in their development model. He says they’re also putting in work with the players to see what more they can do as a league.
“We’re confident in the structure, putting the players in billet homes, we’re confident in the number of games they play and we’re confident in the environment we have around them, but we’re also not so arrogant to say there aren’y things we could do better,” he said. “So we’re spending a lot of time listening to players, talking to clubs.
“We’re giving a real assessment to ensure that we’re not just doing the bare minimum, but what we’re doing is trying to put ourselves in a position, that the player chooses to be in the league because that’s what they believe is going to be best for their advancement.”
Near says they conducted a player survey to get their feedback about pressure points and have also spoke to NHL clubs to see what they want from the league when it comes to nutrition, strength and conditioning and rest and recovery as they develop prospects and NHL Draft-eligible players.
He says the answers they’ve received aren’t shocking, with differences between the WHL and NCAA coming down to facilities. He referenced the Tigers’ shooting cage in Co-op Place as one of the improvements teams can offer while also recognizing that they’re not going to make sweeping changes to the league to counter-offer the college hockey.
“This is community oriented, it’s a value ticket, it costs a lot of money to move these teams around the league, so this is never going to be something that is going to change so remarkably that you wouldn’t recognize it,” Near said. “But there are a lot of incremental things we can do to enhance the player experience that we’re trying to be responsive to what they’re asking for.”
The 2025-26 WHL season will be the first streamed fully on Victory+, the free streaming service the league adapted before the 2025 playoffs. Near expects the service to set as one of the greatest enhancements to the league and he sees the availability of the games as the top way to serve the league.
“There might be five, six, seven thousand fans coming to watch a game but not all of them are going to pay $139 for a subscription product, not all of them would be going out of their way to watch what’s going on around the division and around the league,” Near said. “We’re now in a position where we’ve created access to the product in a way that makes our games much more consumable, makes fandom much easier.”
He hopes to see further development and professionalizing of each team’s broadcast, whether that come from pre-game and postgame shows, intermission hits or the inclusion of player trackers after goals and highlights. Near says it also takes time and resources to make those steps happen.
“First we have to get ourselves on the air, 16 teams did that in the playoffs and the rest of the league’s got to do it now, then what is it that’s going to provide the most value to fans,” Near said. “Because at the end of the day, what makes this interesting and makes this worthwhile is if we’re delivering value for our customers, our fans.”
This season will be his first with a WHL-hosted Memorial Cup, with the Kelowna Rockets holding the rights to the 106th tournament. He says they’ve already made enhancements to the arena that was deemed unworthy of hosting in 2021 and are on the path to being ready for the tournament in late-May.
Looking at the full season ahead, Near expects one of the more competitive seasons they’ve seen in a long time with the influx of U.S. born players. He views the Tigers as an example of how competitive the year will be.
“There’s somewhere in the neighbourhood of 75 players who have come to our league that we probably never would have otherwise seen, and we’re still learning their names, we’re trying to figure out who they are, but I think the structure of the league is going to look a little different,” Near said. “It’s going to be harder to predict who the best teams are going to be.
“A lot would have expected that in Medicine Hat, after all the changes, maybe the team wouldn’t be as strong. But I see what Willie Desjardins’ been able to put together, who would be shocked if Medicine Hat wasn’t a contender down the stretch, and I think that’s one of the fun parts of this year is just so much uncertainty.”
