Up to Date on The OHL: 2012 NHL Draft Eligible Players
By Bryan Thiel
Sarnia’s Nail Yakupov has been dynamic all season. He has scored 21 goals in 26 games and 53 points for the season, but he’s also suffered through some injury problems. This latest one could have been the biggest setback, but fortunately it isn’t. In the Gold Medal game against Sweden, Yakupov was felled by a knee injury. Igor Larionov tweeted that he had an MRI over the weekend that the MRI fortunately revealed that Yakupov would not require surgery, but would be out for up to four weeks.
The OHL released their performers of the month for December, and Erie’s Connor Brown took home Rookie of the Month. Brown had six goals and four assists during the month, failing to score in just four games.
With the World Juniors ending, leading rookie scorer Radek Faksa returns to the Kitchener Rangers. Faksa left with 17 goals and 17 assists in 32 games played, leading rookies and ranking second on his team. Faksa’s lead in the race was safe thanks to Max Domi (London) and Nick Ritchie (Peterborough) being selected to the Under-17 World Hockey Challenge.
Staying with Kitchener, Matia Marcantuoni had just returned from a shoulder injury, but will be out for an undetermined amount of time after popping the same shoulder last weekend in Erie. Since coming back, Marcantuoni had two goals and two assists in five games, both of those goals coming in the game against Erie.
Malcolm Subban, who missed time with an ankle injury earlier this season, is out once again. Subban suffered an injury in practice late in December and hasn’t played since. Meanwhile, the Peterborough Petes made it official, announcing that Slate Koekkoek is set to have season-ending surgery. Koekkoek has been out since November 27th.
Sticking with goalies, Oshawa’s Daniel Altshuller has been red hot since the Christmas break. Outside of losing Sunday’s game against Brampton 6-2, Altshuller had won five in a row before that, with a 1.99 goals-against average and a 0.940 save percentage.
If you’re looking for a guy who’ll be interesting to watch on draft day, look no further than Owen Sound’s Gemel Smith. Smith’s name can be found all over the place in pre-rankings, some having him in the first round and others he’s way farther down. It’s hard not to notice what Smith has done this year though, with 40 points (18 goals) in 41 games he sits third on Owen Sound in scoring. He had 16 points (8 goals) in 66 games last year. He’s ranked 20th on the mid-season draft rankings.
The trade deadline saw plenty of movement, and a few draft eligibles changed teams as well. The London Knights sent late birthday Dane Fox and defenseman Troy Donnay to Erie as part of the Greg McKegg deal, Mississauga landed Kristoff Kontos from the Sudbury Wolves for Derek Schoenmakers and picks, Billy Jenkins went to Kingston from Niagara for picks, and both Eric Locke and Clint Windsor were sent to Saginaw.
These are just a few of the names that changed place before the deadline on Tuesday January 10th 2012 and how they did over the weekend with their new teams. Others did move over the weekend and on Tuesday’s deadline but have yet to play.
- Dane Fox, ERI: 2 GP, 1 goal, 1 assist, -1 rating
- Troy Donnay, ERI: 2 GP, 1 goal, -5 rating
- Kristoff Kontos, MISS: 2 GP, 1 assist, +1 rating
- Billy Jenkins, KGN: 2 GP, 1 goal, 2 assists, +1
- Eric Locke, SAG: 3 GP, 1 goal, 2 assists, even rating
- Clint Windsor, SAG: 25/30 svs, 5 goals-against
The coaches were named for the CHL Top Prospects game. Recently retired Stanley Cup champion Mark Recchi will be the Head Coach for Team Cherry while Pat Quinn will lead Team Orr. The two-day event will take place in Kelowna, with the game being played on February 1st.
The mid-season rankings were released on Wednesday January 11th for the 2012 NHL Draft. Not surprisingly Sarnia’s Nail Yakupov was listed as the top-rated North American skaters with Ryan Murray as the top North American defender and Olli Maata the top-ranked defender at six. Filip Forsberg was the top-rated European skaters with Finnish defender Ville Pokka as the top-ranked European defender. Belleville’s Malcolm Subban tops the list of North American goalies, followed by Matt Murray of Sault Ste. Marie. Russian Andrei Vasilevski is the top European goalie.
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