DOB: Jul. 11/93 | Shoots: R | Height: 6.01 | Weight: 183lbs   

Midterm Rank: 10 | League Rank: 4th OHL | Country Rank: 6th Canada

     Ryan Strome is a player who will thrill the fans almost every night he steps foot on the ice. He’s been a TSR favourite since his 16 year old season started with the Barrie Colts and he has definitely not disappointed since then exploding in his sophomore season with the Niagara IceDogs. Strome is a center that is likely on the small side of what NHL teams would prefer, however his skill-set will definitely propel him into the top 15 of the NHL draft coming later this month.

     As a 16 year old with the Barrie Colts in 2009-2010 Strome saw limited ice time and put up 14 points in 34 games. At the trade deadline Ryan was moved to the Niagara IceDogs as the center piece in the deal that saw Alex Pietrangelo moved to the Barrie Colts. Strome finished up the season with 13 points in 27 games with the IceDogs. Ryan Strome returned to Niagara this year with more opportunities to showcase his skills and put up an astounding 106 points in only 65 games.

     Strome is without a doubt a player who is very hard to ignore while he is on the ice, he seems to have an uncanny ability to make all his moves at top speed causing havoc for any OHL defensemen who tries to keep up with him. Strome demonstrates great skating ability, most notably his explosiveness and agility. He has a great ability to read plays and utilize his skating ability to find openings in the defensive coverage. Strome also shows a great ability to read the play and hit his teammates with great passes.

     He’s a player who is at his best with the puck on his stick and will often make opposing defenders look absolutely silly in YouTube worthy moments. While many of his goals belong on highlight reels, Ryan owns a great shot and hockey sense that allows him to put home rebound goals as well. On the power play his offensive skills can often be seen along the wall where he and fellow 2011 draft eligible Dougie Hamilton can often connect on the one timer.

     Defensively Strome does show some promise as he did take a regular shift on the penalty kill and putting up a few shorthanded goals. His ability to read the player translates well defensive as he is able to intercept passes and send the rush up ice for his team. He competes reasonably hard for a player of his stature, however with his lack of size and strength he can pushed off the puck relatively easily. While not an overly physical player he does show that he is willing to step in and defend both himself and his teammates by putting up a handful of fights this year.

     Overall Ryan Strome is a prospect for hockey fans to get very excited about, while he is not the most NHL ready prospect from the draft, on pure skill he definitely ranks near the top of the list. A key to his development will be getting drafted by a team who will allow him to develop and not one who will rush him into the NHL.

Pro: Puck Skills, Shot, Ability to read the play
Cons: Size, Strength,
Skill-set comparison: Patrick Kane

Marco Lizotte | W/D | 6’1” | 185lbs | 5/26/95

All three games that I’ve had a chance to see Marco he’s played up front on the wing. Marco is definitely a player who likes to play with an edge to his game throwing his body around and is not afraid to get into the dirty areas. He could likely be criticized for being overaggressive, as in the two games I got to see him in the line-up he ended up being tossed from the game for fighting in both games and was suspended for the second fight when I saw the Wolves the following game.

While he does have a mean streak he can also contribute in other facets of the game. He shows good skating ability as well as an extremely hard and heavy shot. He seems to generally be very vocal on the ice both in aiding the play with his team as well as trying to get under the oppositions skin. While Lizotte likely won’t hear his name called early in the draft, I could easily see a team nabbing him with a late pick as he is a player who could very likely be a solid bottom 6 guy as a long-term projection.

Tyler Bertuzzi | C/W | 5’10” | 150lbs | 2/24/95

Tyler is a player who plays much bigger than he is, and plays with no fear in his game. He plays an extremely aggressive brand of hockey and is often seen flying into traffic at full speed. For his size he’s also reasonably strong on the puck all the while using his body to shield the puck from the opposition. Tyler shows good vision making some great passes down low a few of which lead to goals for his team. He’s also good at handling the puck and likes to go hard to the net with it.

He needs to work on keeping his head up; over the course of three games there were more than a few instances where he got hit hard with his head down. He will definitely have to add size before he can make the jump to the OHL; if he does add height and weight, he has the potential to be a good power forward type prospect. I’d likely expect to see Tyler get drafted by a team in the fourth or fifth round, however due to his potential I would not be surprised if a team stepped up and drafted him earlier.

Charlie Venedam | W | 6’0” | 180lbs | 2/24/95

Charlie is a player who over the course of three games was at times one of the better players on the ice and at other times almost invisible. While he does bring good size to the table, which combined with his great shot and good skating ability make him an intriguing prospect, his lack of consistency will likely be called into question. Charlie is a player who excels when the puck is on his stick; he uses size in order to protect the puck near the boards and down low and has a great wristshot with a quick release. As previously mentioned the consistency is just not there. He will likely be drafted in the front half of the draft due to his skillsets however his consistency and work rate will have to improve if he wants a shot at making an OHL line-up.

Ryan Erickson | C/W | 6’1” | 165lbs | 6/17/95

When you see Ryan Erickson on the ice, nothing initially sticks out about him; he seems to be a player with no true strengths. As you focus in on him you start to notice that he thinks the game on a great level. He seems to always be where he needs to be both offensive and defensively. He has extremely good vision and uses it to slow the play down to where he can make some great plays. Defensively he looked great on the penalty kill blocking shots and intercepting passes to clear the zone. While it’s hard to say where in the draft Erickson might go due to the lack of a wow-factor but given his solid all-around game it would not surprise me if he found himself in an OHL line-up within a few years.

Jacob Smith | C | 5’11” | 150lbs | 1/30/95

Jacob Smith seemed to get better each game that I saw him in. He showed great play along the boards and behind the net. He seemed fairly hard to knock off the puck as well. His puck handling skills are extremely good and lead to him scoring a handful of goals over the three games. While his hands are quite good, he was guilty of over-handing the puck which led to a few giveaways. Overall, Smith’s offensive game is extremely well rounded he’s equally adept at passing the puck as he is at putting it on net. Defensively, he has a great active stick and is great at picking off passes in the defensive end.

Brandon Langella | W | 5’10” | 150lbs | 2/13/95

The first thing you’re likely to notice about Langella is his skating ability he’s both a quick and agile skater. Langella has a fairly accurate shot which he’s great at putting on net on the rush. Langella competes fairly hard and wins a lot of battles for the puck despite his lack of size. While he does need to add size, he also needs to put a bit of work into his defensive game. Regardless he’ll likely be drafted on the basis of his skills with the puck.

Ryan Kujawinski | W | 6’2” | 185lbs | 3/30/95

Ryan Kujawinski is likely the most notable player on the Sudbury Wolves Minor Midget team and will also likely be the highest drafted. At this point in time the consensus is that Kujawinski will be select sometime between the mid to late first round. He brings an imposing size to the ice which he could definitely benefit from utilizing more often. His skating ability is top notch especially once you factor in his size.

He has a decent shot and loves to shoot the puck; however he can sometimes hold the puck on his stick for too long. His offensive instincts might also be an issue while he gets the majority of his goals from simply taking shots on net off of the wing; his creativity has yet to be seen. While he is not the most well rounded prospect the skills he does have are definitely top notch. It’s hard to gauge his impact at the next level, but give his skillset it will definitely be interesting to see.

Given the amount of talent on this team, and the lack of exposure from missing the OHL Cup it’s extremely hard to say how many players off of this team will get taken in the OHL Priority Selection. However a few other names to keep an eye on off of this team are goaltender Joel Horodziejczyk, forwards Josh Moore and Michael Laidley, as well as defensemen Shane Snow.

If you’ve seen this team I’d love to see more discussion about it in the comments below.

http://www.litterboxcats.com/2011/1/28/1956841/the-scouting-report-erik-gudbranson

OHL Contributor Jeff Krever was able to make his mark in his hometown paper, the Brampton Guardian, with a featured column focusing on three Ottawa 67′s players who call Brampton home. Krever, who currently attends Carleton University as a Journalism Major, was able to conduct an interview with 17 year old forward Tyler Graovac which was published on the paper’s website. Click here for the link to his story.

Lastly, TSR Contributor Scott Campbell had a column focused on the popular fantasy hockey website, Dobber Hockey. Scott’s opinion piece on the fantasy value of players in the New York Islanders organization was featured on the site and was his first foray into this type of article writing. Click here for a link to the article.

http://www.fromtherink.com/2010/9/28/1705373/2011-nhl-entry-draft-an-early-look

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#12. Alexander Burmistrov | C | Barrie (OHL)

Date of Birth: October 21st, 1991
Height: 5.11
Weight: 157lbs.
Shoots: L
Season Statistics: Regular Season | 62GP 22G 43A 65P 49PIM
Playoffs | 17GP 8G 8A 16P 22PIM
TSR Midterm Rank: 12 | Position Rank: 8th Forwards
League Rank: 5th OHL | Country Rank: 2nd Russia

Alexander Burmistrov’s transition to the North-American game this year was quite impressive. In 62 games with the Barrie Colts Burmistrov put up 65 points. He followed this performance up by posting 16 points in 17 playoffs games. While some argue that these numbers are due to the fact he played on a star-studded Barrie Colts squad, you could easily make the case Burmistrov was a large reason as to why the Barrie Colts were such a dangerous team.

Offensively Burmistrov is the type of player who loves to have the puck on his stick. He has the ability to speed play up or slow it down when necessary. He has an extremely high hockey IQ and often sees the play before it develops. He has great hands and can make opposing defenders just look silly with some of the moves he pulls with the puck. He also has the ability to deliver tape-to-tape passes to his teammates from almost anywhere on the ice. Burmistrov’s creativity is really something worth the price of admission, he uses his skillset to his fullest ability and is the type of player who can really do it all.

When watching Burmistrov play you’ll very rarely notice his speed, as he is a slightly above average skater. However, he uses his skating ability very deceivingly creating space for himself when needed. Burmistrov is a very evasive skater, he excels and cutting in and out of traffic, and keeping space between himself and opposing players. Down low and on the cycle he can stop on a dime and lose defenders quite easily.

Defense is likely the most underrated aspect of Burmistrov’s game. He excels defensively at stealing the puck off of opponents sticks, as well creating turnovers with his skating ability. Burmistrov also shows a bit of grit in his game when necessary and is definitely not afraid to go in to any areas of the ice. At times he was also used on Barrie’s penalty kill unit, never looking out of place.

While Burmistrov is no doubt a great hockey player, there are a few concerns about his game. One of the largest is likely the fact that he weighed in at 157lbs at the draft combine. Burmistrov will likely have to add at least 20lbs to his current frame to compete in the NHL. At times this season Burmistrov has also shown consistency issues being seemingly invisible some nights. While Burmistrov is considered an elite offensive talent he likely needs to work on his shot as he does not have a lot of power behind it, this will likely improve as he adds more muscle over the coming years.

While rumors, which look to be true, have Burmistrov heading back to Russia for the 2010-2011 hockey season, he has definitely demonstrated that he plays a game that can easily translate to the North-American ice surface. However there is no doubt that this will hurt his draft status to a certain extent.

Pros: Creative, great hands, high hockey IQ, elite offensive talent, defensively aware

Cons: Size and Weight, consistency, shot could use improvement

Skillset comparison: Pavel Datsuyk

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#23. Jordan Weal | C | Regina (WHL)

Date of Birth: April 15th, 1992
Height: 5.10
Weight: 162lbs.
Shoots: R
Season Statistics: Regular Season | 72GP 35G 67A 102P 54PIM
Playoffs | n/a
TSR Midterm Rank: 28 | Position Rank: 16th Forwards
League Rank: 7th WHL | Country Rank: 10th Canada

This season Jordan became the first 17 year old WHL player to score 100 points in eleven years when he put up 35 goals and 67 assists in 72 games. Weal finished 5th overall in the CHL scoring race and had more assists than any draft-eligible player including both Taylor Hall and Tyler Seguin. Of course it didn’t hurt that Weal was playing with Jordan Eberle, the 2009-2010 CHL player of the year, but he wasn’t just getting by riding Eberle’s coattails. His 102 points were only four behind Eberle and a whopping 43 more than overager Matt Strueby who finished 3rd in team scoring for Regina. Those totals were accomplished despite opponents often matching their top players against Weal’s line in an effort to shut down the high-scoring tandem.

Unlike a lot of small skilled forwards that thrive at the junior level by using their speed to score off the rush, Weal prefers to do most of his damage by maintaining puck possession in the offensive zone, circling and cycling along the half wall until he finds an opening to dart into. Much like Eberle, Weal is a diminutive, shifty, intelligent player that does not possess blazing speed and prefers to slow the game down in the offensive zone where he can dissect the defense in order to generate scoring chances. Weal is predominantly a playmaker and while he doesn’t have a particularly hard or accurate shot, it is effective when he uses his cunning and quick release to fool goalies.

Some detractors look to his poor showing in December when Eberle was away at the World Juniors, but the team was missing much more than just him. Among the other players away or injured were standout defenseman Colten Teubert, starting goalie Damien Ketlo, and defenseman Brandon Davidson. On a very poor Regina team where the top players had to carry the team the entire season, the team struggled to a 1-7 record over that period as they were simply overmatched without the majority of their key players. Still, Weal had a respectable 7 points in the 8 games with literally next to no help at all. This poor stretch did however expose Weal’s defensive play and he has been working at improving that aspect of his game ever since.

Outside of playing with the Pats, Weal managed to represent Canada a couple times over the course of the year. He played at the Ivan Hlinka Memorial tournament this past summer and also participated in the IIHF U18 World Championship in Belarus where he led Canada in scoring with 3 goals and 6 assists in 6 games.

Due to his size, Weal likely won’t be picked early in the first round of the 2010 draft but his skill, intelligence and focus making him an intriguing pick for the upcoming draft. With his ability to read defenses, Weal will likely be sought after by a team looking for some help on the powerplay.

Pros: Playmaking Ability, Intelligence, Offensive Awareness

Cons: Lack of Size/Strength, Defensive Zone Play

Skillset comparison: a slower Patrick Kane

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#27. John McFarland | LW | Sudbury (OHL)

Date of Birth: April 2nd, 1992
Height: 6.00
Weight: 192lbs.
Shoots: R
Season Statistics: Regular Season | 64GP 20G 30A 50P 70PIM
Playoffs | 4GP 3G 0A 3P 2PIM
TSR Midterm Rank: 13 | Position Rank: 19th Forwards
League Rank: 9th OHL | Country Rank: 14th Canada

John McFarland’s 2009/2010 could have gone better, but definitely was not the disaster some people made it out to be. However, it was the story of two players. During the months of November and March McFarland registered a measly  3 points in 17 games. During the remaining months of the season he played in 47 games while putting up 47 points.

As a 16 year old McFarland was a player who all but ignored the defensive side of the game. While he has improved in this aspect, his dedication to the defensive game is still a ways behind where it should be for a player of his caliber. One thing McFarland does do well is play with a chip on his shoulder and he can throw some hits which definitely change the tone of games. However he seems to prefer to avoid contact when he has the puck on his stick.

McFarland’s skating ability definitely sets him apart from most other prospects in the draft. His explosiveness is among the best in the draft and when he hits his top speed not many defenders in the OHL can keep up with him. However he seems reluctant to use his speed to get to the inside. As such he is easily contained to the outside by most defencemen. This issue is likely caused by one of the biggest drawbacks in McFarlands game, his hockey sense is questionable for a player of his caliber. Defensively he can often be found making bad reads and will often try to cheat to the point and look for the breakout pass before it can materialize. Offensively he tends to lack creativity often attempting to go around defenders with the same toe-drag move time after time.

As far as the rest of his offensive skillset goes he does have the ability to move the puck to his teammates, he does at times however hold onto the puck for too long. Both his wristshot and slapshot have NHL power behind them, every time the puck comes off his stick its high and hard, however he can often be seen missing the net because of this.

The biggest intrigue with McFarland is the fact he seems to always play to the level of his linemates, always stepping up his game when brought to the hockey Canada stage and rarely disappointing.  However he has shown that he can easily be knocked off his game at times and as such he needs to learn to keep his mind on the game.

One thing that will likely aid McFarland’s falling draft stock is his recent performance at the NHL combine. McFarland performed exceptionally well in many categories.

Pros:   Excellent skating ability, extremely explosive, can play a physical game, demonstrates elite offensive skills

Cons:  Lack of focus, consistency issues, lack of hockey sense, needs to hit the net more

Skillset comparison:  Grittier Nikolai Zherdev

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