Having been present during Hockey Canada’s summer development camp back in August, the coaching staff and returning players made it clear that in terms of who cracks this year’s roster, no one would be safe right off the bat. Obviously, that kind of advice rings truer as we get deeper into the OHL season. Here we are in the final week before the Christmas break, and we’ve seen some surprising cuts.
Chris Bigras was one of five players cut from Team Canada’s roster, and one of seven returning players.
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Bigras notably made last year’s squad over the likes of Darnell Nurse, the more favourable selection this year.
Nick Baptiste, only one of two right-wingers invited to camp, was the second OHLer sent home. He’ll return to the Erie Otters—who surely miss him after Saturday’s 5-1 loss, their worst defeat of the season.
Finally, the Belleville Bulls will get their offensive catalyst back in Elie.
Saginaw busy
As one of the teams spearheading the earliest trade rumours of the season, perhaps it isn’t much of a surprise the movements have continued in Saginaw. The Spirit acquired ’97 defenceman Troy Henley from the Ottawa 67’s in exchange for fellow ’97 blueliner Ryan Orban, an Ottawa native himself.
They also sent overager Sean Callaghan to the Plymouth Whalers for a fourth-round pick in 2016.
Saginaw picked up a huge 7-1 win over the Niagara IceDogs on Saturday night.
IceDogs have hope
Speaking of Niagara…
While a 7-1 loss doesn’t paint a pretty picture, the IceDogs should have the upper hand heading into the next couple weeks, in that their top offensive players were passed over by Team Canada. Arguably, any of Josh Ho-Sang, Carter Verhaeghe or Brendan Perlini could have cracked the preliminary roster, but with a talent pool as large as it is, it’s also no huge surprise they weren’t invited.
Perlini’s hand injury was perhaps a liability for the team. Ho-Sang was arguably the biggest surprise, but there was already-immense competition in 17 forwards vying for 13 spots. Verhaeghe’s offensive talent wouldn’t necessarily match that of Canada’s best, and he had a slow start to the season to boot.
That being said, with all three players staying put, Niagara should be a threat to make up some ground in the standings. They have the advantage of three strong offensive players who can help their team get back on its feet in the upcoming weeks. The question is whether or not the rest of the team can really step up, as well as Brandon Hope’s ability to stand tall in net—something that proved to be more of an issue this past weekend, as he was yanked Thursday evening and let in seven goals on Saturday.
Three Stars of the Week
Mitchell Stephens, C, Saginaw Spirit Saturday night’s unanimous top star with a four-goal game against the Niagara IceDogs. Reminder: Stephens is listed as a “B” skater on NHL Central Scouting’s watch list heading into the draft. Perhaps this is the jolt he needed, as he had only four goals to his name heading into Saturday’s game. Dylan Sadowy also had a four-point hand in his team’s victory.
Tyler Bertuzzi, LW, Guelph Storm Guelph’s top scorer had a strong five-point weekend, including back-to-back goals to tie Plymouth and an assist on the overtime winner. On a team left shorthanded while the world juniors play out, Bertuzzi will have to take on a larger role in keeping the Storm rolling.
Josh Ho-sang, RW, Niagara IceDogs – The IceDogs thumped the Petes 7-4 on Thursday before beating the red-hot Oshawa Generals the next day. Ho-sang nabbed a collective seven points in those two wins. I think it’s safe to say he’s fitting in quite nicely.
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Blake Speers, RW, Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds – Speers had an impressive five-goal weekend in two games for the Greyhounds, who have taken over first place in the Western Conference with a 24-6-2 record.
Mitch Marner, RW, London Knights – With Team USA’s evaluation camp beginning tomorrow, Marner will no longer have teammate Mike McCarron by his side—assuming he cracks the final roster. But the OHL’s current top scorer has the team to dominate in the upcoming weeks alongside Christian Dvorak. Eight points in three games is basically just another regular weekend for this one.
Brett McKenzie, C, North Bay Battalion – Listed as a “C” skater among NHL Draft prospects, McKenzie has only 11 points in 30 games with the Battalion. I wouldn’t expect him to put up ridiculous numbers, especially given the shut-down type of team Stan Butler usually has in the Battalion. But it’s worth keeping an eye on this centreman, who picked up three points this past week.
Who’s safe during WJC
Oshawa did see a hint of adversity (if you want to call it that) after falling to the IceDogs, but we know very well that their team shines far behind Dal Colle and Cassels. No worries here.
North Bay has one game this week – a tough one against the Generals. I’d expect Oshawa to come out on top, but that would be no fault of a lack of Nick Paul.
London will bid farewell to McCarron, surely a big loss. With Marner and Dvorak taking the reins, I’d expect them to grab the available four points against Kitchener and Guelph. Whether or not it’ll be easy, we’ll have to see. I don’t like to read too much into this, but you’ll recall the Knights struggled early on in the season without McCarron.
Who isn’t
The Plymouth Whalers lose an important chunk of their team in Sonny Milano and goalie Alex Nedeljkovic to Team USA, all while they’re already faltering in the basement of the Western Conference.
I’ve spoken ad nauseam about the Peterborough Petes’ ongoing issues. They have some questionable matchups coming up against Belleville and Kingston (by questionable, I mean they could realistically go either way), but my faith in the Petes is thinning, and even more so without Nick Ritchie in the lineup.
I think the biggest question here remains Niagara. On paper, the Dogs are surely destined to pick up more wins from here on out, but again, the weight cannot fall solely on a few elite OHLers when the rest of the roster often looks less than mediocre.