Neutral Zone scouts will go live today for rounds 4-15 in the OHL Draft follow live on YouTube and across our social channels for insights on each player selected. However, to start things off we’ll recap some of the storylines thus far through the first 62 selections.
Round 1
- 1 Player Selected from HEO; 2 from US Midgets; the rest from GTHL, Allliance and OMHA
- 5 of the first 6 picks including 1-4 came from OMHA and Alliance and not GTHL
- 1 Goalie selected; NZ top ranked netminder 4.25 star prospect Jack Ivankovic
- 1 American Selected with the last selection, 4.25 star prospect Henry Brzustewicz; 1 dual citizen William Moore
First round fell pretty much as expected; Ivankovic had been the top goalie in the province all season; nobody quite knew where he’d fall and this high for a goalie is not typical but it’s a premium position. William Moore may have been a suprise given he’s committed to the US National Development Program but this isn’t London’s first time swimming in these waters and was able to flip Antonio Strangers in a similar situation. Even if he doesn’t report they can use the late pick as a compensatory pick for the future so it’s a win-win for the organization at that stage in the draft.
Cameron Reid may be the player Ontario people know least about as he’s played his last two season in the US for a mdiget program in Rochester Bishop Kearney’s. NZ had him ranked 9th overall and our second best defenseman and he was the second defender off the board; a complete player, immediate impact type of defender who earned a 4.5 star grade in the final rankings.
What is interesting if you looked at last year with the impressive performances of a handful of underagers you would have predicted then that Roobroeck, Moore and Griffin would be 1, 2, 3 and while they were all taken in the first round, the order has changed. Schaefer was the clear No. 1 selection especially after his performances in the second half of the season at Canada Winter Games, OMHA Playoffs and OHL Cup. He checks all the boxes for a first overall pick; size, athleticism, skill, high level NHL upside and two-way game.
Round 2
- 2 Goalies selected in this round
- 9 of the 20 selections came from OMHA
- 2 Americans selected in this round plus 1 more playing in the US (Cloutier-Pittsburgh)
- Only 5 centers taken in this round
It wasn’t lost on us that we saw GM’s from Ottawa, Kitchener and Saignaw spending quite a bit of time down south this year especially at NEPack Playoffs, NTDP Evaluation Camp and U15 Nationals; in fact when you see Kitchener and Ottawa GM’s at USA Nationals during OHL Cup; you can guess they are looking seriously at an early pick.
Kitchener did that taking Cam Reid with their first pick; Ottawa took US player with their first pick and then opened the second round with Mount St. Charles standout Nicholas Whitehead who had been rumored as considering the OHL route. Next was Saginaw who took Ottawa standout playing down in the US in Jacob Cloutier with their second round pick. Many speculated he would fall to Soo in the second round as they currently have his older brother but they instead took another younger brother in Compuware forward Travis Hayes, younger brother to OHLers Avery and Gavin Hayes.
The next two top rated goalies heading into the draft were taken here; Gravelle first going to Oshawa and Medvedev after a star showing at OHL Cup leading his team to the finals going to London.
It was a strong OMHA presence in the second round; the last two defenders James Barr and Nolan Jackson were interesting picks in that we saw both of them elevate their games in the second half. Barr went from #53 ranked in mid-term to #33 in the final and Jackson went from #46 to to #29 in the final.
Round 3
- First 2006 off the board with GOJHL standout Hayden Reid going to Niagara
- First Northern Ontario prospect off the list in Chitaroni falling to Sudbury at #48
- First Eastern Canada selection with Lane Sim from Weeks Major at #53 to Sarnia (where his father played)
- Only two wingers selected in this round
The third round is typically where things get interesting. If you were to poll every team in the league in a given draft there will typically be the same 40-45 names in everyones top 50 meaning the variability early in the draft is very low. That’s because the first 50 are pretty easy; they standout clear above the rest. It’s the middle and late round where things get interesting and it starts here in the third round.
The best value of the draft came here with centerman; four of which had first round grades heading into the draft and fell to the third round; Matheas Stark to Kitchener, Carson Harmerto Huron-Perth, Lane Sim to Sarnia and Joshua Avery to Brantford. Some value here with Dietsch from Southern Tier who got underrated playing in Dryden Allen’s shadow but we had him at #34 overall and he fell to #46 for Ottawa to snag him.
For live coverage of rounds 4-15 check us out on live as our scouts will go through each selection and what that player brings to the organization.
