To be granted exceptional player status in the Canadian Hockey League remains one of the greatest honours that can be bestowed on a young hockey player in this country.
In order to rise to that status and be allowed to play major junior as a 15-year-old, a player must prove that they possess a level of mental, social, and emotional maturity beyond their years, as well as hockey skills that exceed other elite players in their age group.
Since the exceptional player status was first instituted in 2005, only nine players have successfully risen to that status: John Tavares, Aaron Ekblad, Connor McDavid, Sean Day, Joe Veleno, Shane Wright, Connor Bedard, Michael Misa, and Landon DuPont.
DuPont is the most recent player to be granted the status, in April of 2024, which allowed him to be drafted first overall by the Everett Silvertips in the Western Hockey League Draft the same year.
He became only the second player to be granted the status in the Western Hockey League, joining Bedard, and the first defenceman.
“It feels like yesterday this happened, and it was a very long process,” DuPont told TSN prior to the start of the WHL final. “My agents and other people asked me how I felt about it and I thought there’s nothing to lose, so we went for it.
“Fortunately, they accepted me and I’m super thankful that Hockey Canada allowed that to happen. Getting drafted to Everett was super special and it’s been a fun couple of years. The way they treated me and all the players they’ve ever had has been unreal.”
DuPont had a slightly different situation than most of the other recipients of the exceptional player status as he not only had to leave home as a 15-year-old, but also move countries, from Calgary to Everett, Wash.
Only McDavid went through a similar situation, leaving the Greater Toronto Area to join the Erie Otters in Pennsylvania.
With all the changes to his life off the ice, DuPont said that the Silvertips stepped up to support him, which made the transition much easier.
“It’s obviously a different situation, being 15 and moving to a whole different country,” said DuPont. “I was pretty nervous at the start, but I was super lucky to get drafted by Everett. I got put in a great billet house with two other guys on the team, which is always nice in your first year to have someone to talk to and kind of look up to.
“Obviously, you miss your family and friends back home, but Everett is just an hour-and-a-half flight. It’s great when they can come visit.”
The changes not only changed his home life, but his school life as well. While technically remaining in his same high school in Calgary, he had to switch from in-person learning to online learning.
DuPont, who will turn 17 on May 28, says despite living in the United States the past two years, he’s still going to graduate with all his childhood friends.
“It was pretty hard going from in-person your whole live to the online switch,” said DuPont. “Every team is different, but here in Everett I think [players] stopped going to real in-person schools right around COVID. It’s made it easier for everyone by just being able to focus on hockey in the mornings and then go home and work on your school in your own time.
“I have some other buddies that I go to school with [online] that are also in the WHL and we’re all kind of in the same classes. Also, when I go back home this year, I’ll be graduating with all my childhood friends out of the same high school. It’s cool to keep those connections and I’ve been super grateful.”
On the ice, DuPont has lived up to his ‘exceptional’ expectations. The 5-foot-11, right-shot blueliner led all rookies in scoring during the 2024-25 campaign, recording 17 goals and 60 points in 64 games as a 15-year-old. He helped lead the Silvertips to the best record in the WHL at 48-12-8 but fell in the second round of the playoffs in seven games to the Portland Winterhawks.
This year, he’s upped his production with 18 goals and 73 points in 63 games and is tied for fourth in playoff scoring with four goals and 22 points entering Friday’s action.
DuPont views himself as a two-way defenceman who is reliable on both sides of the puck and can play in any situation. He also says he’s very competitive and is not afraid to get in people’s faces and play physically.
The Calgary native grew up as a Vancouver Canucks fan and bases his game off defencemen like former Canucks’ captain (now Minnesota Wild defenceman) Quinn Hughes and current Canucks blueliner Zeev Buium. He also likes to try to take things from fellow Calgary native Cale Makar of the Colorado Avalanche and Jake Sanderson of the Ottawa Senators.
His play once again helped Everett to the top of the WHL this season with a 52-10-6 record. The Silvertips ran through the Western Conference bracket, needing only 13 games to defeat the Winterhawks, Kelowna Rockets, and Penticton Vees to reach the WHL Championship Series against the Prince Albert Raiders.
After losing Game 1, the Silvertips are one game away from an Ed Chynoweth Cup, holding a 3-1 series lead into Friday’s Game 5. Everett is looking for their first WHL championship in franchise history and a trip to the Memorial Cup in Kelowna.
“We went into the playoffs [last season] being the No. 1 seed and we lost in the second round, which is not a good feeling,” said DuPont. “That motivated a lot of guys and some of them who were thinking of moving on to from the team decided to come back.
“That’s why our team is so good this year. A lot of guys came back, bought in, and we’re motivated to make sure it doesn’t happen again. We have one round to go and we’re going to leave it all out there.”
DuPont had his first taste of representing Canada on the international stage, competing at the 2024 Under-17 World Hockey Challenge and 2025 Hlinka Gretzky Cup.
The Calgary native took home silver at the World Hockey Challenge and then took on a leadership role at the Hlinka Gretzky Cup, serving as an alternate captain as a 16-year-old playing in an under-18 tournament.
It was there where DuPont first felt the full pressure of what it means to play for Canada as they fell in the semifinals to the United States 4-3 in a shootout and then came back to defeat Finland 3-0 in the bronze-medal game.
“There’s a lot of pressure for Canada because hockey is Canada’s game,” said DuPont. It’s good pressure because that means that the fans wan you to win and they’re so passionate. The people in Canada shouldn’t expect anything less than gold because that’s what they deserve.
“I think that was nice motivation for [the Hlinka Gretzky], and it was too bad we couldn’t bring it home. But I think that made us realize that the next tournament should be ours.”
While DuPont is purely focused on the WHL final and the Everett Silvertips right now, he can’t help but dream about playing in the World Juniors. He watched his billet brother, Carter Bear, play at the 2026 World Juniors in Minnesota and says that Bear made the experience sound like the time of his life.
The 2027 World Juniors is set to be co-hosted by Edmonton and Red Deer, which is in DuPont’s home province. If given the opportunity, representing Canada at home would be something he would cherish for the rest of his life.
“It would mean the world to experience that tournament with all the fans and represent your country on the biggest stage,” said DuPont. “I remember watching the World Juniors [in 2023] in Halifax and Moncton and it was just so cool seeing the crowd wearing red and all the fans being so passionate.
“I think that’d be a dream of mine and, hopefully, I can work to get better every day and try to prove myself to get onto that roster.”
