Sheffield Steelers coach Aaron Fox on the Champions Hockey League and its potential impact on recruitment

The Steelers ensured they would be part of what some regard as Europe’s premier club competition in the game after winning their first Elite League regular season title since 2016, part of a memorable 2023-24 grand slam campaign which also saw them add the Challenge Cup and play-off trophies to their silverware haul.

The Steelers have been assigned to Pot D and will find out who their six opponents will be in the CHL ‘regular season’ when the draw takes place during the IIHF World Championships in Prague on May 22.

Steelers’ head coach Fox will be present for the draw and said a number of his grand slam winning roster were looking forward to the opportunity of locking horns with some of Europe’s finest teams.

On the subject of how CHL involvement next season would affect recruitment, Fox said: “This organisation does an unbelievable job of taking care of its guys, at the rink and away from the rink. So it’s a very good situation for players to come into.

“Obviously with us playing in the Champions Hockey League next year, I think some of the guys that are going to be back are very excited.

“I’m not sure yet whether it will be a selling point to some guys when I’m recruiting over the summer, I honestly don’t know whether it will be or not - but I’ll find that out when I’m having those kinds of conversations in the coming weeks and months.”

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The Steelers have competed in the CHL twice previously, in 2015-16 and 2016-17, both times under head coach Paul Thompson.

Of the eight games played, they have won only once, a 5-2 win over Red Bull Salzburg, with current captain Robert Dowd the team’s leading scorer in the competition with four goals.

Fox has no previous experience of the CHL, but has coached in the Kontinental Hockey League during his time at Croatia’s Medvescak Zagreb between 2013-18.

“It will be a very difficult challenge, for sure,” added Fox. “I’m looking forward to the draw in a couple of weeks, going to Prague and being there for that, it will be really, really nice and exciting to find out which teams we’re going to play against.

“It will be fun for our fans to be able to go into Europe, too, and it will be fun for us to set another goal for ourselves next season.”

While the CHL will present a different challenge for the Steelers in 2024-25, Fox is aware of the difficulty he will face in replicating last season’s domestic success, something Belfast Giants found out after winning the grand slam in 2022-23 and going empty-handed 12 months later.

“They lost quite a few pieces from that team and we’ll lose some pieces, too,” added Fox. “But they’ve been a very good team for the last three years in this league and I know that that team is going to reload here this summer and come back ready to compete again and push us.

“Cardiff is going to reload, Nottingham has just hired Danny Stewart who has got a ton of knowledge on this league and will get his team to play hard every night and they are a team that you always have to look at, too.

“Nothing is going to be easy, we know we can’t take anything for granted.”