USA Hockey is adding a new top level to youth hockey for 15U and 17U players, starting in the 2027-28 season. It’s called the Development League, or DL. On Oct. 5, 2026, USA Hockey named the 29 programs invited to start it. This guide explains what the DL is and how it works, using USA Hockey’s own rules and announcements.
Live: the DL Tracker follows all 29 programs and every date, updated as news breaks.
In this guide
What the DL is
Why USA Hockey built it
Where it sits on the ladder
Who plays
The season
Signing and the calendar
What it costs
What it changes for everyone else
Words you’ll hear
1. What the DL is
The DL is a group of youth hockey programs chosen by USA Hockey. Each program fields one 15U team and one 17U team. The teams play most of their games against each other, then compete in a DL playoff and championship.
It isn’t a league in the usual sense. DL Commissioner Scott Paluch described it on USA Hockey’s Next Gen podcast as “a framework of program partners.” Each program runs its own team, sets its own fees and builds its own roster, inside rules USA Hockey sets for everyone.
More than 80 programs applied. USA Hockey invited 29. See the full list of 29 programs.
Program pages: We’ve built pages for 10 of the 29 programs so far: Madison Capitols · Chicago Mission · Ohio Blue Jackets · Nashville Jr. Predators · Colorado Thunderbirds · Boston Jr. Eagles · Mid Fairfield · North Jersey Avalanche · Philadelphia Jr. Flyers · Pittsburgh Penguins Elite.
2. Why USA Hockey built it
Bob Mancini, USA Hockey’s assistant executive director of hockey development, said on the podcast that there was “no real clear direction” for the top players aged 14 to 17. In parts of the country where high school and prep hockey lead, he said, the path is clear. In regions built on Tier I club hockey, it wasn’t: “We had too many programs at the top.”
USA Hockey says the DL is meant to give those players more training and steadier competition before junior hockey, college and the U.S. national teams.
3. Where it sits on the ladder
Level | Who it’s for |
|---|---|
Tier II (A, AA) | Competitive travel hockey, most players |
Tier I (AAA) | The top club level, all ages |
Development League | 15U and 17U only, at 29 invited programs |
NTDP, USHL, NAHL | USA Hockey’s national team program and the top U.S. junior leagues |
College and pro | NCAA, then the NHL and other pro leagues |
High school and prep school hockey run alongside this ladder, not under it. The DL doesn’t replace Tier I. Tier I keeps running, including 15O and 16U teams at clubs that aren’t in the DL.
4. Who plays
USA Hockey sets age by the player’s age on Dec. 31 of the season’s first year.
Team | Ages | Birth years in 2027-28 |
|---|---|---|
15U | 14 and 15 | 2012, 2013 |
17U | 15 to 17 | 2010, 2011, 2012 |
Each year the birth years move up by one. A 2014 is a 15U candidate in 2028-29. Our age chart has the full table.
USA Hockey says the DL is designed for the top 2% of 15U and 17U players in the country. Rosters have open residency, so a program can sign players from anywhere. A roster holds up to 22 players, 20 skaters and two goalies (Guidebook F.4.h, F.4.j), and the goalies must be U.S. citizens (F.4.k). A team can also roster up to two players who aren’t U.S. citizens, as long as they have registered with and played on a USA Hockey team in an earlier season (F.2.e, F.3.e).
The DL is boys’ hockey in the U.S. only. There are no girls’ teams, and it doesn’t include high school or prep teams.
5. The season
Rule | What USA Hockey requires |
|---|---|
Games | 40 to 55, September through March |
Opponents | At least 60% against other DL teams |
Practice | At least three on-ice and two off-ice sessions a week, on average |
Staff | A goalie coach and a strength and conditioning coach |
Off the ice | A team manager and a locker room monitor with current background screening and SafeSport training |
Postseason | A DL playoff and championship, separate from USA Hockey Nationals |
6. Signing and the calendar
Date | What happens |
|---|---|
Oct. 7, 2026, 5 p.m. ET | Invited programs must accept. All 29 did. |
Oct. 15, 2026 | Program deposits due. |
Jan. 15 to 31, 2027 | Early signing period for an organization’s returning players (Guidebook I.1.a). |
Feb. 1 to 28, 2027 | Open signing period (I.1.b). |
March 1, 2027 to Nationals | Blackout. No tryouts or signings (I.1.c). |
48 hours after the last Nationals game | Tryouts and signings reopen for DL and Tier I teams (I.1.c). |
Aug. 1, 2027 | DL teams may start practice. |
September 2027 | First regular season. |
Tier I programs outside the DL still can’t hold tryouts until 48 hours after USA Hockey Nationals in the spring. That means DL signing happens before most other Tier I tryouts.
Three rules protect families, and one binds them:
The Team Fact Sheet. Before a DL team can offer an agreement, it must give the family a Team Fact Sheet listing the season’s fees, the payment schedule and the weekly practice and game schedule.
A secured spot. A signed player agreement secures the player’s roster spot for the season (I.2.a).
A way out for juniors. A player who signs with the NTDP, USHL or NAHL before the DL team’s first game is released without penalty.
The agreement also binds the player. During the agreement a player can’t try out for any other team, except the NTDP, USHL or NAHL (Guidebook I.1.e). A signed player who tries out with another DL or Tier I program can’t sign with or play for that program for 18 months (I.3.b). A player who leaves mid-season for another DL or Tier I team can’t be rostered there for the rest of that season or the next (I.3.c).
Before you sign anything: the DL Guidebook, explained, has every rule with its section number.
Ask before you sign. Ask the DL program’s hockey director, not the team manager:
1. Can I see the Team Fact Sheet now, with every item Guidebook I.2.e requires?
2. Can I read the Player Agreement before the signing window opens?
3. What does the agreement say is owed if a player leaves after the first game (I.1.d)?
4. How many practices, games and off-ice sessions a week does the Fact Sheet commit to (I.2.e)?
Check the answers against USA Hockey’s DL page and its guidebook. Every DL team must provide a Team Fact Sheet before an offer (Guidebook I.2.e).
Deciding on a DL offer? The rules are here. The DL Decision Kit helps you decide what they mean for your family: a cost worksheet for what a team fee leaves out, the questions to put to a hockey director, four emails you can send as written, and a step-by-step timeline to Feb. 28. It’s $12, and every update is free. Insider members get it included.
Free: the DL Signing Checklist, a one-page printable of what to get and ask before signing.
7. What it costs
Each program sets its own fees, so there’s no single DL price. Two things are known.
The league fee. The league charges each DL team a $5,500 assessment for 2027-28 (Guidebook H.1.c), and each team covers its own operating costs (H.1.f). On a 22-player roster the assessment is $250 a player. On a 20-player roster it’s $275.
Everything else. Ice, coaching, travel and equipment are set by each program and have to appear on its Team Fact Sheet. Each DL team builds its own schedule (Guidebook G.2.d), and some opponents may be far away, so ask how many trips are overnight. The real number for your family is the one on that sheet.
Our free Team Fact Sheet asks any club for the same information. To line a DL offer up against what you pay now, use our free comparison sheet.
8. What it changes for everyone else
At a DL club. A program in the DL can’t also field a 15O or 16U Tier I team. Its DL teams take their place. It can still field 13O, 14U and 18U Tier I teams, up to five teams from 13O to 18U in all (C.3).
At a Tier I club outside the DL. Nothing changes in the rules. The club still forms its teams after Nationals. Some of its strongest players born 2010 to 2013 may sign with DL programs in January and February.
Everyone else. Tier II, girls’, high school and prep hockey don’t change. Mancini said on the podcast that the clubs not selected “must be a large part of the development pathway going forward.”
Will the DL grow? Mancini said the committee is “committed to expand” the DL as USA Hockey’s membership grows. The Guidebook says the earliest any expansion team could play is 2029-30 (D.4).
Ask if your club isn’t in the DL. Ask your club’s hockey director:
1. Will the club give families its fees, payment schedule and weekly schedule in writing before asking for a commitment, as a DL team must (Guidebook I.2.e)?
2. Does the club’s agreement release a player without penalty who signs with the NTDP, USHL or NAHL, as a DL agreement must before the first game (I.1.d)?
3. How many practices, games and off-ice sessions a week will the club commit to in writing for 2027-28?
Compare the answers with what the DL Guidebook requires of DL teams.
9. Words you’ll hear
Term | What it means |
|---|---|
DL | USA Hockey Development League |
Tier I / AAA | The top level of USA Hockey club hockey |
15O | A Tier I team for 15-year-olds only |
Nationals | USA Hockey’s national youth championships, held in the spring |
NTDP | USA Hockey’s National Team Development Program in Plymouth, Mich. |
USHL, NAHL | The USHL (Tier I) and NAHL (Tier II), the top U.S. junior leagues |
Open residency | A team can sign players from any state, plus up to two non-U.S. citizens |
Team Fact Sheet | The written list of fees and schedule a DL team must give a family before an offer |
Get DL updates free. Signing rules before January, fees as clubs publish them, and every change as it happens.
Sources: 1. USA Hockey Development League page (season rules, timeline, Team Fact Sheet, release rule, top 2%) · 2. USA Hockey, DL Guidebook 2027-28 (team limits C.2 and C.3, expansion D.4, roster rules F.2.e, F.3.e and F.4.h to F.4.k, scheduling G.2.d, game rules G, $5,500 assessment H.1.c, signing and player agreements I) · 3. USA Hockey Next Gen podcast, Oct. 5, 2026 (program count, applications, Paluch and Mancini quotes) · 4. USA Hockey 2026 Winter Meeting legislation (15O/16U restriction, age limits). U.S. only; Hockey Canada has no equivalent tier. No club or company had a hand in this guide.
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