CCHL 2016 Draft Notes by Dick “Dirty Mitts” Puxindeep
December 28, 2015
With the New Year just days away, it behooves the management teams to start looking ahead to the CCHL draft in late June of 2016.
While many know the big names like Austin Matthews and Jakob Chychrun, but there are many other quality players that are out there you may not know all that much about.
Why aren’t they known commodities you ask? Well it’s simply because they play on teams where they have been over-shadowed by other players, or their draft status has fallen from where it was expected to be when they entered the OHL. This stuff happens but I’m here to tell you about those players and why you should have them on your draft lists.
Sean Day, defense, Mississauga Steelheads – Day was once considered a top ten pick overall in the NHL draft but has slid considerably since then. In a lot of ways, Day was failed by the system of the “Exceptional Player rule” as he was the player many on the committee feel was most like an average 15 year old mentally; yet was still granted exceptional status to enter the league as a 15 year old defenceman. It’s easy to knock the process though years after the fact, as Day stood 6’3” tall and weight 220lbs as a 15 year old. He was dominating Michigan midget leagues and tournaments that season as a 14 year old; it really seemed like the right thing to do at the time.
The issue now is that Day still stands 6’3” and 225lbs (though he showed up to camp with exceptionally more weight than 225lbs), so he hasn’t matured physically since his OHL draft year.
The real issue at hand is that Day will always be compared to other exceptional players such as Tavares, Ekblad and McDavid. All three guys are, for lack of a better term, mutants who excelled in the OHL far more than Day has to date in Mississauga. In fairness to Day, he hasn’t been surrounded by the talent the three have been either throughout his OHL career; Mississauga GM and Head Coach James Boyd just hasn’t gotten it done in terms of surrounding Day with the talent to play with.
As he slides down the draft rankings, CCHL GMs should remember the bucket of tools that had scouts once salivating. Those tools are still there and if he puts it together at the next level, many will be left wondering just how they missed out on the talents of Sean Day in the first few rounds.
Alex DeBrincat, forward, Erie Otters – The diminutive forward is maybe 5’7” tall and 160lbs, but within that small package is a whole lot of skill that should have CCHL GMs taking note. DeBrincat was not even selected in the OHL draft but was invited to the Otters camp prior to the 2014-15 season as a walk-on and had players asking management on day one if he was their first round pick because they were floored with the skill level he brought to the table DeBrincat would go onto score 50 goals and over 100 points on the season, but many credited playing with McDavid and Dylan Strome as the reason for his success. Many wondered how he would do early this season with McDavid gone and Strome having an extended stay at the next level and the answer was, in a word, fantastic!
DeBrincat moved to center and had a five goal game early in the season against Niagara, and ten in his first three games. DeBrincat continued his fine play once Strome returned to the lineup, and is averaging over a goal per game (33 goals in 30 games) this season. DeBrincat is a reminder that good things can come in small packages, and this small package should be taken in the first round or very early in the second round in the CCHL daft.
Alex Nylander, forward, Mississauga Steelheads – The younger brother of William Nylander, Alex is a combination of high skill and speed much like his older brother.
Not many people knew what to expect coming into this season, his first in North America, but Nylander has been the subject of many highlight reel goals and has a very quick release to his shot that he can surprise goaltenders from pretty far out.
Nylander is in the top ten in OHL scoring and is the only rookie in the top 20 scoring leaders in the league, but he does have some warts to his game from where this reporter sits. He tends to leave the offensive zone earlier than others and doesn’t work as hard on the back check however with his offensive skillset, one could worry about improving his defense later on in life, as he’s spending a lot of time with the puck when he is on the ice this season in the OHL. It’s tough to teach defense when a player like Nylander has the puck as much as he does.
Nylander should be a slam dunk for the first round this year in the CCHL draft; the only question to be answered is whether or not he gets picked higher than his brother did in the CCHL draft.
Cliff Pu, forward, London Knights – Poor Cliff Pu of the London Knights. Last season Pu found himself in a tough spot in Oshawa, with very limited minutes on a veteran team and one that would eventually go on to win the Memorial Cup.
Of course Pu was not a part of that experience, after being dealt in January to London in exchange for Michael McCarron. It was thought at the time that Pu, would get all sorts of opportunity in London, given their lack of depth in comparison to the team he was on in Oshawa.
At the start that was pretty true, however with London adding Matthew Tkachuk and Max Jones this season, Pu has once again fallen down the depth chart. It should be noted that Pu has an abundance of skill; he was selected 16th overall in the OHL draft in the spring of 2014 so the kid thinks the game at a high level.
I’m not sure exactly where Pu will fall to in the draft, but young Cliff has 16 points in 29 games this season as a third liner and that is without receiving any sort of significant power play time on the loaded London Knights.
It stands to reason that with some power play time available to him next year and beyond, he could also be another player CCHL GMs wonder how they missed out on given his talent level.
Stephen Dhillon, goaltender, Niagara IceDogs – Buffalo native Stephen Dhillon has had an interesting ride in the Ontario Hockey League thus far, and one should be excused if they aren’t familiar with him.
Dhillon made the IceDogs last season, beating out overage goaltender Blake Richard and 19 year old Mackenzie Savard for the backup position – despite spending all but 3 days of training camp as a 15 year old!
As we all know, the goaltender position takes much longer to develop at than any other position on the ice, so the fact that Dhillon made the team while competing as a 15 year old says quite a bit to his natural ability.
It wasn’t to be for Dhillon last season though, as he spent most of his time on ice in practice, only suiting up for a handful of games due to erratic play and playing behind veteran goalies Brent Moran and Brandon Hope (Hope was acquired when both Moran and Dhillon were struggling).
Flash forward to 2015 and Dhillon once again rose to the occasion in training camp, not giving up a single goal in the entire exhibition schedule. Dhillon continued that hot play over the first month of the season when Moran struggled, posting a.930 save percentage through the first month of the season.
Unfortunately for Dhillon, he was unable to sustain that level of play and now he backs up goaltender Alex Nedeljkovic. Dhillon is slated to be the number one goaltender in Niagara next year, and with his 6’4” frame, projects to be a solid option going forward. It should also be noted that Dhillon maintains a 94% average in school and his ability to develop with coaching is said to be top notch – according to both goaltending coaches he has had in Niagara.
This fine play didn’t come as a surprise to some of his ex-teammates in the Buffalo system, with one commenting that he is the best goalie he’s ever played with; noting the number of times they were outshot 2:1 but came away with the victory.
Dhillon will likely be a very late round pick in the CCHL draft but it should be noted that he could also be a guy that really develops late and could get overlooked with the immense talent of European goaltending surely to be available in the draft.
That’s all for this month’s edition of Draft Notes. I hope you have enjoyed reading and I’ll be back to talk about other players in a month.
About the author:
Dick “Dirty Mitts” Puxindeep has been a CCHL columnist since December of 2015. When he’s not watching hockey or eating chicken wings, he can be found at local karaoke competitions performing his world famous rendition of ‘Baby Got Back’. Dick knows what he knows and won’t stray from that. Enjoy reading Dick’s semi-regular column here when he posts it.
