The 2011 Draftees in the OHL almost have half of their rookie campaign’s under their belts, leaving everyone curious as to how things will eventually shake out for this crop. With over a year and a half until the 2011 Draft, there will still be a lot of movement in the rankings but we’ll take a look at how the picture is looking right now. TSR has ranked the Top 15 skaters available for the 2011 Draft from the OHL thus far, as well as the Top 3 Goalies, which follows the skaters. As always, we’d love to hear some feedback either through a comment or an email!

Skaters

Goaltenders

Related posts

• Canadian Under 18 Camp Report: Forwards (0)
• Canadian Under 18 Camp Report: Goaltenders & Defensemen (0)
• CHL Feature – 2009/10 Junior Preview (0)
• OHL Feature: Sudbury, Saginaw NHL Draft Prospects (0)
• OHL Feature: Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds Update (0)

Often considered the weakest link out of the three CHL leagues, the QMJHL took some of the national spotlight from the WHL and OHL this summer with some big news of its own. Leading the way has been the ongoing dilemma with Russian phenom Kirill Kabanov and where he will indeed play the 2009/10 season. After indicating that he wanted to play in the CHL in early 2009, Kabanov’s intentions seemed to change when his rights were traded from his previous KHL club Spartak Moscow, to KHL powerhouse Salavat UFA. However, the terms of Kabanov’s contract have apparently changed as he will no longer have an NHL escape clause until his mid to late 20’s which has once again caused the 17 year old Moscow native to apparently switch his intentions to playing in the CHL.

Luckily for the Moncton Wildcats, this means that they are now one step closer to landing a player who many feel could contend for top honours in the 2010 draft class. After selecting Kabanov with the 7^th overall pick in this summer’s CHL Import Draft, Kabanov is now in New Brunswick as he looks to obtain a transfer from the IIHF to allow him to play in the QMJHL this season. While Salavat is disputing this heavily, and rightfully so, if Kabanov does land in the QMJHL, he will likely be one of the most followed players in the league since Sidney Crosby’s reign ended in 2005.

The Kabanov impasse has overshadowed another Russian’s arrival to the QMJHL as well. After a tough season last year, the St. John Sea Dogs were able to add two major components to their rebuild after they were able to nab fellow 2010 eligible Stanislav Galiev with the 1^st pick in the Import Draft, and supplemented that with flashy Slovakian Tomas Jurco with the 4^th pick. While Jurco is not eligible until the 2011 Entry Draft, both players look like they will be impact players this season and will definitely be worth keeping an eye on throughout the season.

How can you top the notion that your league has produced the first overall pick in the NHL Entry Draft for the last three years? Easy, you do it again. With the resurgence of the OHL kicked into high gear, the 2010 draft crop will definitely be one of the biggest storylines to follow in the league this season. Two Windsor Spitfires, Taylor Hall and Cam Fowler, will be top contenders for the first pick in the draft, hoping to follow in the footsteps of Kane (2007), Stamkos (2008) and Tavares (2009) in continuing the OHL dominance at the top of the draft. As if having these two guys wasn’t enough, when you look around the league and see some of the other players available, the 2010 NHL Entry Draft’s first round will surely be littered with upwards of 10 OHL players.

One of the big teams to follow this season will be the Kitchener Rangers, who have done a nice job rebuilding over the past season after hosting the Memorial Cup in 2008. After adding a trio of Americans with Columbus first rounder John Moore, Atlanta second rounder Jeremy Morin and Colorado goaltending prospect Brandon Maxwell, the team has done a nice job of adding some high end talent to the team. Adding in third overall pick Ryan Murphy and one of the top prospects for the 2011 Entry Draft in Gabriel Landeskog, there is certainly a lot to be excited about. Oh, and don’t forget about guys like Jeff Skinner, Jason Akeson and Chris MacKinnon and this team has the potential to be one of the better teams in the league with a roster that is littered with several NHL calibre prospects as well.

After producing some solid high end players in 2009, the 2010 NHL Entry Draft doesn’t look as promising for the WHL. While Brett Connolly will surely be a Top 10 pick and Mark Pysyk could break into the Top 15, the draft crop from the WHL lacks the high end talent it normally produces. While 2010 will probably be considered a bit of an off year for the league, there is a gem that is waiting to be uncovered yet, the 2011 crop.

Many scouts have been quick to label the 2011 Draft as one of the worst in the past decade, when you look closer at some of the players that will be eligible, that opinion seems to be on the contrary. Although the draft may lack some of the high end impact prospects from other drafts, there is no doubting that there is a considerable amount of quality depth in this draft, especially from the WHL in particular.

Leading the way is Red Deer’s Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, a slick forward who has extremely good offensive instincts. Two other players who are at a similar level are Shane McColgan of Kelowna and Colin Jacobs of Seattle. All three of these players saw some time in the WHL last season as 15 year olds, and despite their young age, each of them showed that they could already be impact players in the league despite their inexperience. However it doesn’t stop there as several other players like Ty Rattie, Duncan Siemens and Michael St. Croix will all be interesting players to follow this season.  All in all, the 1993’s in the WHL will be an intriguing age group to watch as they appear poised to break a reign of OHL dominance in the first round of the NHL Entry Draft.

There will always be people who are often quick to simply write off the United States’ top calibre of junior hockey despite the fact that the league continues to take steps towards becoming a better league. This year, they’ve done that by bringing on the USNTDP program into their league for a second stint. There will always be advocates and critics of how the program is operated and whether it is ultimately beneficial or not, but one thing cannot be disputed, and that is the fact that many of the top 16 and 17 year old American players continue to call this program home during their first two years of junior eligibility. With the NTDP joining the regular league schedule this season, they will help bolster the quality of play in the league and should attract plenty of attention from the NHL scouting community which will only help create more exposure for the growing league.

One USHL player of particular intrigue will be Omaha’s Seth Ambroz, a 6’3” forward who played 61 games with the team as a 15 year old where he registered a very impressive 14 goals and 31 points. He has been generating a lot of hype with his combination of size and skill and scouts will be following his progress a lot this season to get a gauge on just how good Ambroz might be able to be.

Suffice to say, with junior hockey across the continent surging in popularity, there is plenty to be excited about once again in 2009/2010. Across the CHL and the USHL, many of the top young players in the world will once again be on display and it will be very interesting to see who will surprise and who will disappoint.

All images are the property of their respective team/website. These logos and photographs are used soley for factual purposes, and TSR in no way claims these logos to be their own. All rights remain with the owners of the logos and images.

Related posts

• TSR’s 2010 NHL Draft Mid-Term rankings Top 60 Skaters (1-30) (10)
• TSR’s 2010 NHL Entry Draft Preliminary Top 15 Rankings (16)
• WHL Feature: Eastern Conference Prospects Review (0)
• TSR’s 2010 NHL Draft Final Rankings: Top 100 (1-25) (5)
• Mid-Season 2010 OHL Top 50 (3)

While the CHL Import Draft is always considered to be a bit of a crap shoot, there is no denying that the 2008 edition of the draft was particularily unique. With only two of the top five selections suiting up in the CHL last season, the draft was full of notables lining the draft list sporatically. One of the reasons that this tends to happen is due to the nature of the import draft. Many teams target specific players and work out deals with them before hand, so that where they pick becomes less of a factor as they will still be able to get their guy.

With the 2009 CHL Import Draft recently completed on June 30th, early indications already show that there is going to be a significantly different trend with this draft. At this point it appears that each of the first five selections in the draft will be making their CHL debuts with their respective CHL clubs for the 2009/2010 season, while several other high profile players have also committed to play in the CHL only a month after the draft. Today we’ll look at some of the players who could be impact players in the league as early as this season.

1st OVR – F Stanislav Galiev

Saint John Sea Dogs (QMJHL)

After some initial concerns that Galiev would remain with the Indiana Ice of the USHL where he played last season, the Sea Dogs recently announced that they had come to terms with their top pick. Galiev, rated 13th in TSR’s Preliminary 2010 Rankings, is a dynamic offensive talent that should instantly be able to step onto the top line in Saint John. A big season from Galiev could vault the Moscow native into the Top 10 of the 2010 NHL Entry Draft, and there will no shortage of scouts following his progress this season.

2nd OVR – F Nino Niederreiter

Portland Winterhawks (WHL)

Niederreiter is a player who has been pretty highly regarded by a lot of scouts and early indications show that he would likely slide into the Top 30 for the 2010 NHL Entry Draft at this point. Niederreiter had a solid season with the Davos U20 team, and was a pretty strong contributor at the recent U18′s averaging a point per game as an underager. Either way, Niederreiter will be a very nice addition to an up and coming Portland squad.

3rd OVR – F Gabriel Landeskog

Plymouth Whalers: Traded to Kitchener (OHL)

Landeskog’s story has been one of the most interesting cases to follow since the Import Draft. After Plymouth traded up to select the 16 year old Swede, Landeksog recently had his rights traded to the Kitchener Rangers in a fairly major transaction that saw several high picks going to the Whalers in return. Landeskog is a late 1992 birthday which means that he will not be eligible until the 2011 NHL Entry Draft, but there are already high hopes that this physical two way forward could be a Top 5 pick in 2011.

7th OVR – F Kirill Kabanov

Moncton Wildcats (QMJHL)

Arguably the most talented player in the draft, Kabanov’s case is a curious one as there continues to be rumblings back on forth as to where the highly touted Russian will spend his 2009/2010 season. After playing with Spartak last season, Kabanov has reached an agreement to move to KHL powerhouse Salavat. However there continue to be signs that Kabanov is actually intent on heading overseas to suit up for the Wildcats. It appears that things might become more clear after the conclusion of the Ivan Hlinka U18 tournament, but it will a very interesting storyline to follow.

9th OVR – G Robin Lehner

Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds (OHL)

Lehner is the first NHL drafted player on the list after being selected 46th overall by the Ottawa Senators in this summer’s NHL Entry Draft. Lehner is a big goalie who put up respectable numbers with Frolunda last season and will now spend time on a very young Greyhounds club. Since he will likely see a lot of quality shots this season, it will be very important for him to show some mental toughness and prove that he is able to battle through some adversity that he will almost assuredly face.

12th OVR – F Alexander Burmistrov

Barrie Colts (OHL)

Burmistrov is the most recent player to announce that he will be coming over to play in the CHL next season after agreeing to terms with the Barrie Colts. A late 91 birthdate, the undersized forward will be eligible for the 2010 NHL Draft and there is reason to believe that he could work his way into the first round.  Burmistrov is extremely talented and will get a great chance to succeed with a team that should be one of the better teams in the OHL this year. While he may not be more talented then guys like Vladimir Tarasenko and Evgeni Kuznetsov, the combination of a strong season and already being in North America could give Burmistrov the upper hand on his fellow countrymen in the draft.

14th OVR – F Toni Rajala

Brandon Wheat Kings (WHL)

One of the most highly touted internet phenomenoms in recent memory, Toni Rajala went from being perceived as a Top 5 pick in the 2009 NHL Entry Draft to plummeting all the way to the fourth round where the Edmonton Oilers were happy to pick him up with the 101st pick in the draft. Rajala will come to Brandon fresh off a very impressive U18 performance where he racked up 19 points in a mere 6 games. This season will definitely be an interesting for Rajala as he joins up with a very talented Brandon team that is set to host the Memorial Cup in 2010. Playing in a very physical league should challenge Rajala’s durability and it will be interesting to see how the talented forward progresses during the season.

Suffice to say, it is certainly going to be interesting to see how the new dose of European flavour takes shape in the CHL this year. Many are often quick to jump to the conclusion that the CHL will automatically ruin European players, and while that trend did have some support as early as a few years ago, recent indications show that many European players have thrived in the CHL since the NHL lockout season, where the CHL also adapted the same rule changes. Nevertheless, with so many draft eligible players making appearances in the league this season, it will be an interesting year following the plight of many of these young players.

Related posts

• TSR’s 2010 NHL Draft Mid-Term rankings Top 60 Skaters (1-30) (10)
• CHL Feature – 2009/10 Junior Preview (0)
• TSR’s 2010 NHL Draft Final Rankings: Top 100 (26-50) (2)
• TSR’s 2010 NHL Draft Final Rankings: Top 100 (1-25) (5)
• TSR’s 2010 NHL Entry Draft Preliminary Top 15 Rankings (16)