I saw three OHL games this week: the Peterborough Petes vs the Mississauga Steelheads, Oshawa Generals and Niagara Ice Dogs.
I watched the Steelheads and Ice Dogs live and the Generals on TV.
All players are first time draft eligible unless stated otherwise.
Steelheads
Michael McLeod – C
McLeod was one of Mississauga’s best players. He’s got a very high skill level including a great set of hands. His ability to find the puck and pull it out of scrums was impressive. He scored a goal where the puck was lost in a scrum in the crease, he found the puck pulled it out and roofed it. He’s a good skater who generates good speed.
Nathan Bastian – C
Bastian was quiet in this game. He’s got good size but isn’t a great skater. He used that size well to get to the front of the net, but wasn’t very physical. He scored a power play goal down low, using that size to box out the defender.
Alex Nylander – RW
Nylander has a lot of hype surrounding him and it didn’t take long to see why. He scored a ridiculous goal four minutes into the game.
Michael Nylander. That is all. #2016NHLDraft @OHLSteelheads l https://t.co/6xCnbujZUh
— NHL Draft Vines (@NHLDraftVines) October 2, 2015
As you can see in that vine, Nylander has some filthy hands. He was making moves like that all night. He’s a good skater and has a great shot. One attribute that stood out to me that won’t get talked about much was how good a passer he is. He made numerous passes through traffic that looked like they had no chance of getting through. He’s going to get a ton of assists this season.
Luke Kutkevicius – C
Kutkevicius spent the game on the fourth line. He’s a quick physical player who showed flashes of some skill. He got a chance on the power play and penalty kill. It’s impressive with the talent on the Steelheads that Kutkevicius got regular power play time. It shows his coach believes in talents and skills.
Sean Day – D
The first thing that immediately stood out when watching Day is how much bigger and thicker he looks this season. He is officially listed at 6’2, 244 on Central Scouting’s preliminary ratings, making him the heaviest player on the list. The increased mass didn’t look to affect Day’s skating as he’s still elite in that area. It really helped his shot as he gets a lot of power behind it. His decision-making with his shot was questionable, as more than once he fired the puck right into the shot blockers shin pads. Jeremy noted in his piece on Day that Day does not challenge zone entries and frequently lets opposing forwards walk right into the zone. This was something I noticed as well. For someone with his size and strength he should be challenging players either physically or trying to disrupt them with his stick.
Austin Osmanski – D
Osmanski is a big bodied defencemen, 6’4, 194. He’s a good skater who looked good carrying the puck. He showed good offensive instincts joining the rush and pinching when appropriate. His shot is fine and he was able to get his shot from the point through traffic and on net.
Generals
Domenic Commisso – C
Commisso is an OHL rookie this year after spending last season in the OJHL. This looks to be another situation where a coach is easing in a player. Commisso barley played in this game.
Riley Stillman – D
Before you ask, yes, this is the son of former NHL’er and Peterborough native Cory Stillman. Riley is also an OHL rookie and played on the third pair at even strength. He did get some power play time on the second unit where he showed a good wrist shot. His skating from the limited views I had was pretty good.
Ice Dogs
Christopher Paquette – C
What stood out about Paquette in this game was how he was used. He started the game on third line, but was given many opportunities to centre the team’s top line with Josh Ho-Sang and Brendan Perlini. I didn’t see enough from Paquette to think he should be on the top line but I’m willing to trust the coach here. I will be watching Paquette much closer next time I see Niagara.
William Lochead – D
For a defencemen, his play with the puck was solid. He displayed good decision making and didn’t panic when pressured. His play without the puck needs work though. He looked lost at times in his own end. He played physical doing a good job of taking the body and landed some big hits.
Blake Siebenaler – D
For Siebenaler I tracked his Corsi, zone starts, zone entries and targets. Siebenaler had a very good game from a Corsi perspective. He was +27/-18 for 60%. Part of the reason for this was he had favourable zone starts, starting nine shifts in the offensive zone, and seven in the neutral zone versus just five in the defensive zone. The biggest reason for his strong performance was his defence at his own blue line. Siebenaler was targeted eight times by my count, six of which were carry-ins. He pressured the puck carrier on each entry and only allowed two of those entries to lead to shot attempts. His stick work was fantastic in breaking up these plays. Siebenaler looked very comfortable in his own zone. As a converted forward this was great to see. He was directing his partner around which really showed how far he has come as a player.
Offensively, an area where he usual shines was sub-par. Siebenaler is a great skater but he didn’t use it much. In the past he would skate the puck from the defensive end, right though the neutral zone and create an offensive chance. He played much safer in this game. He only had three zone entries all of which were dump-ins.
An area where Siebenaler struggled with was accepting passes. He seemed to bobble just about every pass sent his way. One of which led directly to a goal against as Siebenaler mishandled a pass at his blue line and the Petes player stole it and went in on a mini breakaway. I think this was more a bad game than anything else. Siebenaler is very good with the puck and doesn’t usually mishandle it like he did.
Peterborough
Jonathan Ang – C
The Petes were crushed by the Steelheads but despite that, Ang was very good. He was +18/-12 for 60% Corsi. He’s very speedy and because of that speed he is able to draw penalties. Defensively he showed great stick work in the Ice Dogs game, particularly against Ho-Sang.
Logan DeNoble – LW
DeNoble started the Ice Dogs game on the top line. I think Head Coach Jody Hull was looking for a spark more than anything else as it didn’t take long before DeNoble was back on the fourth line. He continues to play hard and bring energy.
Eddie Shultz – C
Shultz was given the tough assignment in the Steelheads game of going up against their top line of McLeod, Nylander and Bastian. The team seems to view Shultz as a shutdown forward using him against the other team’s best and on the PK. At this point in his OHL career he is not ready for that. His line got crushed by the Steelheads.
Adam Timleck – RW
Timleck was unimpressive in the three games. He got a lot of time on the power play where he got a couple chances and displayed a decent shot. He needs to show more at 5 on 5 though.
Matt Timms – D
Timms was very impressive in these games. He is poised with the puck on his stick and very comfortable carrying the puck, even pulling out a spin-o-rama move to get by a player. He’s got a hard shot which he was able to get through and on net. I thought he did a good job at defending Nylander, choosing to challenge him rather than sit back.
You can follow me on Twitter @PaulBerthelot
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