A Look At Some Of The Injuries In The OHL

Selecting players for any draft for any sport is a crap shoot at the best of times. But when most of the top players that are available have missed significant time, what do you do?

This isn't just an OHL problem, but has been almost a plague of sorts throughout the CHL this season. With players like Alex Galchenyuk, Ryan Murray, and Martin Frk, we at least have last year to look at, the latter two already making their return. Galchenyuk is rumored to be coming back as early as March. but does he really need to to solidify himself as a top 10 or top 5 pick? I suppose one would like to see how his knee responds.

Nail Yakupov has missed time at different points in the season but that hasn't stopped him from topping just about every ranking from NHL Central Scouting to the blogger in his mother's basement. This guy is just pure gold and if he didn't play another game this season, would probably still be tops on most lists.

Malcolm Subban seems to be another that hasn't had his rankings hurt with the time he's missed. In fact, I would say its been even more solidified with the fact the Belleville Bulls just can't seem to buy a win when he's not playing, proving even more so, how valuable he truly is.

Where it does get tricky is further down the list. What do you do with a Matia Marcantuoni who's been plagued with injuries this season and is now out for the year? Ditto with Slater Koekkoek. What about Jarrod Maidens who's missed the last two months with a concussion? How much does that influence your decision not to select him?

I really liked Adam Pelech's chances this year of showing what he can do, but he to missed the first two months of the season, and although he's played extremely well for Erie since his return, how many people are going to notice when he's playing in Erie? Granted, with Dane Fox and others there, scouts will get a look at him but did his stock drop before the puck did on the season?

This has to be one of the worst draft classes for injuries to the top players in recent memory. One things for certain: NHL teams will get their money's worth from their scouts in June. Question is: will they make the right choices? It's almost a guessing game right now.

Here's a look at some of the injuries to players that were projected in the first round or just looking in. I've shown my rankings of the players back in October and January for comparison. It should be noted that in the case of Nail Yakupov and Olli Maatta and their injuries in December, that part of that time was at the World Junior Championships and where the injuries occurred.

Team Orr Beats Team Cherry In Top Prospects Skills Competition

Team Orr beat Team Cherry 15-9 at the Home Hardware CHL Top Prospects Game Skills Competition Tuesday in Kelowna, British Columbia.

Nick Ebert of the Windsor Spitfires (Team Cherry) had the hardest shot at 94.7 MPH. He was followed closely by Ryan Murray of the Everett Silvertips (Team Cherry) at 94.3 MPH. Team Orr recieved a point for the highest team average at 91.9 MPH.

Francis Beaullivier of Rimouski Oceanic (Team Orr) won the fastest skater with a time of 14.132 seconds. Team Orr also got the point for the fastest team average of 14.524 seconds.

Gianluca Curcuruto of the Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds (Team Orr) beat out Scott Laughton of the Oshawa Generals (Team Cherry) in a playoff after both finished with 4 targets in 5 shots. The teams were tied at 13 for 28 and both received an extra points.

Radek Faksa of the Kitchener Rangers (Team Orr) also needed a playoff to beat Tim Bozon of the Kamloops Blazers (Team Cherry) in the Show-Down Breakaway Challenge. Faksa earned a score of 26 in the third playoff round to take the event. Team Orr took another team point with an average score of 22.3.

Team Orr had a 7-2 lead on Team Cherry heading into the 3 on 3, where Team Orr took the contest 8-7.

Other OHL Players involved in the skills competition were:

Gemel Smith of the Owen Sound Attack in the fastest skater event with a time of 14.907 (6th)
Adam Pelech of the Erie Otters in the hardest shot competition at 91.0 MPH  (6th)
Matt Finn of the Guelph Storm in the hardest shot competition at 90.1 MPH (7th)
Tom Wilson of the Plymouth Whalers in the shooting accuracy finishing 4/6 (3rd)
Scott Kosmachuk of the Guelph Storm in the breakaway challenge scored 20
Tanner Pearson of the Barrie Colts in the breakaway challenge scored 26
Andreas Athanasiou of the London Knights in the breakaway challenge scored 15
Daniil Zharkov of the Belleville Bulls in the breakaway challenge scores 21
Brendan Gaunce of the Belleville Bulls in the breakaway challenge scored 16
Dane Fox of the Erie Otters in the breakaway challenge scored 19

The Top Prospects game goes this evening at 10:00 PM Eastern On Rogers Sportsnet Nationally and TVA in Quebec. It is also available on the radio and on line at http://www.fan590.com/

OHL Academic Players of November

Toronto, ON - The Ontario Hockey League today announced the OHL Academic Players of the Month for November, 2011.

West Division- The OHL Academic Player of the Month for November in the West Division is right winger Tom Wilson of the Plymouth Whalers.  Wilson, 17, a native of Toronto, Ontario, is currently a senior at Plymouth High School and has achieved a 3.75 GPA average.  Tom has worked hard to reach his full educational potential while playing with the Whalers this season.  Eligible for the 2012 NHL Entry Draft, Wilson will compete in the 2012 Home Hardware CHL/NHL Top Prospects Game in February.

Midwest Division - The OHL Academic Player of the Month for November in the Midwest Division is Defenseman Adam Pelech of the Erie Otters.  Pelech, 17, a native of Toronto, Ontario, hold’s straight A’s in all of his advanced courses.  Adam has preformed terrifically so far displaying great leadership both on ice and off.  Adam’s teachers all rave about his attitude and good manner throughout the school.  He is eligible for the 2012 NHL Entry Draft and will compete in the 2012 Home Hardware CHL/NHL Top Prospects Game.

Central Division- The OHL Academic Player of the Month for November in the Central Division is Defenseman Aaron Ekbladof the Barrie Colts.  Ekblad, 15, a native of Belle River, Ontario, is currently attending Innisdale Secondary School.  Despite his young age Aaron demonstrates a very mature approach to his academics and displays a tremendous work ethic on and off the ice.  Aaron is off to an amazing start to his OHL career and is adapting very nicely to the demands of his academics and hockey life in Barrie. He is a hard working well organized elite student athlete.

East Division- The OHL Academic Player of the Month for November in the East Division is left winger Michael Curtis of the Belleville Bulls.  Curtis, 18, a native of Mississauga, Ontario, is currently completing his final grade 12 university level courses for graduation at Quinte Secondary School.  At midterm Michael carried an average of 88%.  Just like on the ice Mike shows hard work, focus and determination, and his teachers wish him congratulations on his accomplishments so far as well as good luck with his hockey and academic career in the future.

Adam Pelech

Adam Pelech - Erie Otters

6'2" - 210 LBS
D.O.B. August 18, 1994

Pelech entered this his second season with the Otters with high hopes but an early season injury has limited him to 2 games and he could very well miss up to 6 to 8 weeks with a hairline fracture in his wrist.

Pelech comes from a family with bloodlines in hockey. Vancouver Canucks General Manager is his uncle. His older brother Matt was a first round pick of the Flames while middle brother Mike was drafted by the Kings.

But Adam is making a name for himself. In his rookie season, the big defenseman scored once and added 13 assists in 65 games leading him to be named the Otters' Rookie of the Year for 2010-2011. He was a member of the gold medal winning Team Ontario at the 2011 World Junior Hockey Challenge Under 17. In August, he won another gold medal for Canada, this time at the Ivan Hlinka Memorial.

Pelech brings good size and already has the bulk to fill his frame. Defensively he is rock solid. He has intimidating size, uses what seems to be a longer stick that he knows how to use with his already long reach and is almost never caught out of position. He makes good, clean, crisp breakout passes. He is a strong skater but doesn't have blazing speed. He has a good heavy shot from the point that is accurate.

Pelech possesses some offensive ability. In 2009-2010 he played Minor Midget AAA for the Toronto Marlboros where he scored 6 goals and added 28 assists in 69 games. He was on NHL Central Scouting's A list of players to watch for this upcoming season. We also had him ranked number 18 from the OHL in the preseason.

This was to be Pelech's breakout season where, on an Erie squad with a very young defense, he was expected to play upwards of 30 minutes a night. To early to tell how much missing up to two months will hurt his status and even when he does return, it's the type of injury that will take time to fully recover from and make an impact again.  If Pelech does drop, one NHL team is going to be very fortunate to grab him when they do.




Photo courtesy of Aaron Bell/OHL Images