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The OHL Players To Watch This Year

August 28, 2018, 11:47 AM ET [14 Comments]
Adam French
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The OHL season is right around the corner and I can’t wait. I’ve got my 67’s season pass and am looking into getting some Olympiques tickets for when Alexis Lafrenière comes to town. Going into the season, there are a lot of interesting storylines to follow. As with every year there will be a lot of top prospects playing in the OHL this year, as well as some surprise cuts from NHL teams. I’d like to list some of the players I think will be useful to follow this season.


Marco Rossi (2020)

Unlike their NHL counterpart who seem to struggle to find players who want to move to Ottawa, Rossi told the 67’s flat out that the ONLY team he would play for in the OHL were them. This likely having to do with Rossi being fluent in French and Ottawa being a bilingual city. Rossi hopes to be the first Austrian to be selected in the First Round since Grabner in 2006…heck, he probably hopes to be the first Austrian drafted since 2006 as well! Despite representing Austria internationally, he has played in Switzerland since he was 9 years old. The season he had last year in Switzerland’s Jr. A league was fairly unprecedented. He scored 22 goals and 51 points in 37 games. He also played in their second tier men’s league and had 7 points in 18 games. All this at 16 years old. To put this into perspective, Nico Hischier had just 2 points in 11 games in Jr. A at the same age. Not bad to say the least.

Rossi has dominated internationally, but always in the weaker brackets. I’ve never actually had a chance to watch him as the U18/20A and B tournaments are impossible to get any footage from normally. Thankfully with such dominance at the domestic level, he should be able to transfer his skills to the OHL. He’s severely undersized at just 5’9 154lbs, so I hope he’s able to handle some of those nasty 21 year olds that seem to stick around the league. Hopefully they pair him with Kody Clark for protection.


Liam Kirk (Coyotes)

I’m very interested to see how Liam Kirk does in his first season in the OHL. When he was drafted in the 7th round this past summer, he became the first player drafted out of England’s domestic league. A league so obscure that you might be shocked to find out it even bloody exists. The 18 year old centre will be playing against quality competition for the first time in his life and it will be interesting to see how he handles it.

He is likely to play second line centre behind Der-Arguchintsev (Leafs) or as a left winger if his game isn’t up to snuff. The Petes were one of the worst teams in the OHL last season and I doubt that will change.


Morgan Frost (Flyers) and Barrett Hayton (Coyotes)

This is a tag team group to watch. The “Soo Two” (is this a thing? Probably not) were dynamic last season. Frost was one of the best scorers in the OHL last season. He finished with 42 goals (3rd) and 112 points (2nd). Plus he was an eye popping +70, as well as having a ridiculous playoff run. The Flyers are in a bit of a pickle to start the year as Couturier went down with an injury. The options are moving Giroux back to centre for the start of the year, promoting Patrick to the top line or…go with Frost. He’s not all there defensively, but he’s shown he can be a highly creative player. If he does make the Flyers out of camp, then obviously he won’t be one to watch in the O. If he does stay for his fourth and final season in the O, then expect an earth shattering season. He’s 19 turning 20 and he’d be leading a stacked team. I’m not saying he would set records, but I think it would be disappointing if he didn’t hit 130. Or at least be on pace for it, as he would be a huge feature for Canada at the U20’s. That feat has not been done since Tavares and Kane in 2006-2007. He’s one to watch.

The other player to watch on the Soo is Hayton. Chayka infamously went off the draft board and took the young centre. Passing on Zadina and the glut of defensemen. Hayton became one of the few under a PPG forwards drafted in the top-5. You have to go back to 2010 and Ryan Johansen. He turned out to be quite the player, so there’s no need to worry Coyotes fan. Hayton will either be the first or second line centre this season, depending on the status of Frost. He’s also expected to get more prime PP time, as well as PK time. Essentially he’s either going to be their go to all-purpose centre, or the number two they try to get hard matchups. This season will either make Chayka look like a genius or a buffoon. Whether that is right or wrong, it is what it is. If Hayton has the kind of big year offensively people expect, genius it is! If he has even just a PPG season…well, things will be looking less rosy.


Quinton Byfield
(2020)

Byfield was the top selection in the 2018 OHL Priority Draft. The poor sod was picked by the putrid and horrendously managed Sudbury Wolves. He joins a list of other youngsters tossed into the first who will enjoy setting records for the worst +/- in league history. Did I mention I don’t like the Wolves? Regardless, I always love seeing what the number one selections can do. A lot of people assume that because you’re the first overall pick you’ll be amazing, which is not always the case. Sometimes you have high tier guys like Ryan Merkley, Travis Konecny or Jakob Chychrun; sometimes you have extremely high tier guys like John Tavares, Connor McDavid or Steven Stamkos and then you have guys like David Levin (undrafted) or John McFarland (derailed by injuries). Byfield is likely in the high tier category.

He tore the ETAMMHL (that’s a mouthful) with 92 points in 34 games to lead the league. He recently turned 16 and I hope he can have a successful rookie season like new teammate Blake Murray did last season.


Ryan Suzuki (2019)

Ryan is Vegas Golden Knights Top Prospect Nick’s brother. The pair are both extremely talented players. Probably the most talented Asian-Canadians since Paul Kariya. Suzuki was the 1st overall pick in the 2017 OHL Priority Draft. He had a very strong rookie season in Barrie scoring 44 points in 64 games from the third line. He didn’t get to play with Sokolov, Svechnikov or Luchuk. Next season the Colts will be a lot younger. All three of the above mentioned players will be gone. He’ll have to take the reins and have a big year.

Suzuki was a match made in heaven with Alexis Lafrenière on the Gold Winning Canadian Squad at the Hlinka Gretzky Tournament. His playmaking skills were really well suited with talented shooters. Makes me sad I likely won’t get to see him passing to Svechnikov. He had 7 assists in the 5 games and was one of the better Canadians.


Michael DiPietro (Canucks)

My favourite OHL goalie and a player I really want to succeed. Not just to get the stench of the other DiPietro out of the NHL, but because his work ethic is so nice to see. He’s the complete opposite of the type of goalies the NHL are looking for. Hulking flexible behemoths. He’s only 6’0, he’s on the Ryan Miller stick thing side and he’s very athletic. He is the reigning OHL Goalie of the Year and the season before he helped the Spitfires win the Memorial Cup with an MVP level performance. Despite that season he has never really gotten much respect including falling to the third round in his draft year. All he does is win and play great, yet nobody cares. He’s probably not even going to be Canada’s starter at the U20’s. It’s criminal, but likely to go down like that.

I love his desperation saves, I love his athleticism, I love his bold puck playing and pure competence. The Spitfires don’t look like they’ll be a great team next year outside of DiPietro and Stavrikov (2019). Some team will nab him for their Mem Cup run.


Thanks for reading. Boston Bruins Top-5 Prospects is done. Sorry it took so long, work and everything piled up unexpectedly. I’ll get them done!
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