The WHL's new Commissioner Dan Near was in Prince Albert to take in the season opener. (Nick Nielsen/paNOW Staff)

By Nick Nielsen

Having a chat

WHL Comm’r Dan Near opens season in P.A., talks future of league and its players

Sep 26, 2024 | 12:00 PM

With the 2024-25 WHL season underway, the newly minted Commissioner of the league Dan Near opened the season by dropping the puck here in Prince Albert as the Raiders opened the season against the Regina Pats. Near was announced as the new Commissioner in November of last year, started acting in January, and officially took over full time in February where he was able to make it to 17 of the 22 markets in the WHL last season.

For Near, getting to be in Prince Albert for the start of the season was important as he hadn’t been here yet, but he was impressed with the welcome he received from Hockey Town North.

“I know it’s such an important community for the league and one that I wanted to get to before the winter started, and Gord Broda and Curtis Hunt were kind enough to say, ‘Hey, come on. We’ll do some pregame ceremonies, you’ll have a chance to drop the puck’, and so I’m thrilled to be here. I’m thrilled to see what the team looks like this year.”

Since stepping in for the exiting Ron Robinson, who still serves as an advisor to Near, it’s been busy for Near to continue the work already being done in the WHL office. In his first six months as Commissioner, Near has had a new format to the top prospects game, a player committing to NCAA hockey when the current rules don’t allow for it, getting reacquainted with the WHL after spending nearly two decades working with the NHL and Adidas, and more all added to his plate, but he’s enjoyed the experience of getting to know the league and learn how to help carry it forward.

“Everybody is a little bit different. I’m learning what all the pressure points are, I’m meeting fans, I’m meeting education advisors, I’m meeting billets, and I think you start to see what makes a league and an organization like this tick, and we’re very, very proud of the ecosystem that we’ve created that’s not just developing players for the National Hockey League, but it’s developing players to be great people.

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When talking about that vision for the league, Near continued to say that it’s not just about developing the next Connor Bedard in our league, but also great people that will leave into other professions once their junior hockey career finishes.

“The scholarships that we award, the experiences that we provide, not everybody’s going pro, and I think that we need to understand that our objectives are to put great hockey teams on the ice and develop great people and that’s been really the most important and impactful first impression for me.”

For Near, his experience before becoming Commissioner of the WHL comes from working in hockey marketing. Near spent just under 10 years working for the NHL in their marketing department, then left to join Adidas and help their campaign to enter the hockey market.

When it comes to how he wants to see the WHL marketed, he sees a difference in approach. While the NHL has been running marketing campaigns that sweep across two nations and all 32 markets, he believes a more localized approach will be effective for the WHL and the teams that play in the league.

“We’re led by what happens in our communities, and I think that we’re very, very proud of that. The opportunity that I see and that I hope for is that you think about all the young draft picks and young players coming up in Prince Albert, this is going to be a good team over the next few years. I want people outside of PA to recognize that and care about that. I think it’s critical. I think it’s important. So what does that mean? I think it means distribution of our product, I think it means distribution of stories, and when I say distribution I mean access right, whether the games are on social media, whether the games are available digitally or whether TSN is showing highlights. These are the types of things that I think are really, really important to create exposure for the game.”

One trend that’s been picking up over the last few years and one that teams in the WHL have done well according to Near is showcasing the personalities of the players more. The typical hockey interview has changed from the usual canned answers that players used to give, to now seeing players express their personalities more in the public eye, and it’s a trend that Near said can be very powerful in bringing people to the rink.

“I really see an opportunity for players to show their personality and for them to build personal brands in connection to what they’re doing as hockey players. You have to remember these guys are high school students, they’re out there, they might have their first girlfriend, they might pass or fail their first test and they might be reluctant to show everything about what their personality is all about on social, but they’re also great personalities that I think are leaders in the community and the idea of them having social media profiles and being engaged and for the fans being able to connect with them and follow them in that regard, I think is a benefit to them, it’s a benefit to their personal brand it’s a benefit to the teams and to the league.”

One big change that Near is helping oversee is the shift from the usual CHL Top Prospects game that would see top prospects from the WHL, QMJHL, and OHL compete in a midseason all star game in late January, to the newly announced CHL/USA Prospects Challenge. The new format will see a CHL all-star team compete against a team made up of all-stars from the US National Development program. For Near, he thinks the added stakes of international competition will bring a new level of competition to the event.

“This is happening pretty quickly on year one, like it’s happening in November, and this thing has come together rather quickly when you think about the time it takes to put an event like that together. The NHL and central scouting signaled to us they’re really, really excited. I attended the prospects game last year, which obviously had great exposure, I think you had 40 players from the CHL exposed with the on ice and with the off ice, but it was a little bit like an All Star game and that the guys, I don’t know that they were playing for keeps. What you’re going to see this year with Canada versus the US is going to be kind of an elevated competition level that I think is really going to showcase our players in the positive light.”

Another unique challenge that Near has been faced with earlier this year is helping manage the CHL’s relationship with NCAA sports. Earlier during the summer, Regina Pats forward Braxton Whitehead announced a commitment to play NCAA Div. I hockey at Arizona State for the 2025-26 season.

Under the current rules, the NCAA does not allow athletes who have competed at the professional level to compete in their league, and the NCAA considers the leagues in the CHL to be professional leagues, although they do allow players from the similar programs in the United States like the USHL and the US National Development Program.

With one of the players from right here in the WHL leading the charge to get those eligibility rules changed, Near has been working with Commissioners from the other CHL leagues to come up with a solution.

“We’re thinking about it a lot, I don’t think we have all the answers. What I would tell you is we’re not in active negotiations, and so what Braxton chose to do as far as contacting the coach and coming with a potential outcome for him should the eligibility rules change, we’re really excited for him. There’s a guy that’s going to graduate from our league, you know, part of Regina’s leadership team, an American kid, a 4.0 GPA, probably not ready to go pro. The notion that someone can continue their journey toward being a professional hockey player but in the university environment, whether that’s in the US or Canadian side, we think it’s really, really fantastic.”

Near replaces Ron Robison, who served as the WHL’s Commissioner from 2000 until last year, overseeing a ton of growth in the WHL since then. Robison has stayed as an advisor to Near, and the new Commissioner has been happy to have an asset like Robison to work with on the regular.

“We speak a couple times a week and there’s lots of new ones, lots of complicated matters, lots of history and back story, and he’s there to help me out and he’s also given me a lot of space to figure it out, to learn. He might say, ‘I’m not sure I agree with you on that’, and then I’ve got to wade into it and say, ‘do I want to try it and see if there’s backlash or do I want to follow the advice?’, and he’s been a great partner in that regard. I found him to be the mayor of Saskatchewan every time I come somewhere here, he’s really well regarded.”

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nick.nielsen@pattisonmedia.com