On the eve of the Canadian Hockey League season, Sportsnet magazine polled coaches and executives from every CHL team about their respective leagues. We asked 14 questions covering everything from best overall player to hardest hitter to who will win the MasterCard Memorial Cup.
In our first installment, we ran down the results for the top forwards, hitters and NHL Draft prospects. Then we went through some team questions, including league and Memorial Cup favourites were. Today we’re back to individual results with the top sniper, playmaker and best hands in each league.
Alex DeBrincat is definitely making the OHL voters look good early. He’s tied for first in the country with 12 goals and has done it in just seven games on 28 percent shooting. Nine of those markers have come at even strength as well, so it’s not like he’s been scoring on open nets with the man advantage. Have to think that with Dylan Strome back in the fold in Erie, the draft-eligible DeBrincat’s totals will continue to rise.
Pre-season predictions, they sure can offer some problems when guys not expected to stick with their NHL teams do, and that’s what happened here with Daniel Sprong. Two others receiving votes were Shawinigan stars Dennis Yan and Anthony Beauvillier, and they’re doing well by their supporters. Both were averaging better than a goal per game through and they are 1-2 in the Q in goals created per game.
The Tigers are off to a slow start and, at first blush, so is their overage captain. Sanford has four goals in eight games to start the campaign after a 50-goal 2014-15 that had him second in the league. But he’s also been in on neatly half of Medicine Hat’s goals so far this season while seeing his even-strength time on ice drop. All that while skating for a team with the lowest PDO in the Dub. Things should turn some for Sanford and the Tigers.
Nobody had more first assists in the OHL last year than Mitch Marner. Same goes for goals created. And in his draft-eligible season, no less. He’s at it again this season with four first assists in his first six games back after spending time at Maple Leafs training camp.
In the Q the results were not surprising considering the reigning MVP won. Garland had 63 first assists in 2014-15, a number would have had him fourth in overall apples by itself. In all he had 23 more total assists than No. 2 in the league.
Mathew Barzal’s draft season was interrupted by a knee injury that limited him to 44 games, but he still averaged more than an assist per game on a team whose top goal-scorer finished 30th in the league. Barzal had the highest points-per-game average among the WHL’s draft eligibles and about 46 percent of those points were first assists.
Hey, whadd’ya know?! Familiar names.
Marner is about as slick as it gets in the CHL, while Sprong, Garland and Point have been popping up all over this poll. The outlier here is Rouyn-Noranda captain Francis Perron, who is currently rocking the fifth-best Pts/G mark in the league thanks to 15 points in his first eight contests. The Ottawa Senators draftee leads the CHL’s No.7-ranked team in scoring.