The eyes of Ontario Hockey League hopefuls will be glued to this weekend's OHL priority selection as players from the U16 level across the province will be chosen by the 20 Major Junior clubs.
This year's selection of North Bay U16 AAA Trappers boasts a number of intriguing options.
Paul O’Hagan is the Ontario Director of Scouting for Neutral Zone (an In-depth amateur scouting coverage and rankings website) and he was asked about the Trappers this year as a whole.
“They’re big. They are tough, they are disciplined and a lot of them skated well. They were a really hard team to play against as well,” says O’Hagan who got to see some of that group at the OHL Cup in March.
“Their defense was massive. They are all going to need to put the work in at the next level, but they all have the tools and the size to help them get there. Their forwards were tenacious, I thought they had a couple of guys up front that I thought were very good.”
“They also have two really good goaltenders,” he says.
Kaleb Papineau was named to the Great North U18 first all-star team and is garnering a lot of interest from multiple OHL clubs, while Mike Purkhart is projected to be selected this weekend after getting two Jr. A games under his belt with the Kirkland Lake Gold Miners this past season.
“Both goalies really challenged the shooters and they controlled the rebounds really well. I think Papineau is rated a little bit higher just because he is a little bit taller and that’s one of the first thing teams look at,” says O’Hagan.
“He had some really good games at the Kitchener Blue Line tournament and he was one of the top players there. He was also part of the NOHA team and had a strong showing at the OHL Cup.”
The highest ranked North Bay skater is forward Mason Wray, the son of Battalion Assistant Coach Scott Wray, listed at number 38 on the Neutral Zone rankings.
“Wray in particular might be one of the better kids to come out of the north in the last few years,” says O’Hagan.
“He has great foot speed and skating ability; he’s got good length and size to his game. He works his tail off and really hunts down pucks when he loses it, doesn’t sit back and wait for somebody to go get him the puck, he’s a good solid north-south skating and he knows what to do when he doesn’t have the puck to get it back.”
O’Hagan says Wray caught a lot of attention with Trappers team that played won the Kitchener Blue Line tournament and then elevated his game at the OHL Cup with Team NOHA.
The top defenceman from the Trappers is Zach Major who, along with Wray, was one of 78 players invited to participate in the OHL Combine in Oshawa last week.
“Major is a big athletic kid, who likes to engage,” says O’Hagan. “He’s also a player who’s not afraid to make mistakes and they are going to maintain good gap and follow the play up the ice and create themselves as a secondary option on the attack and Major was really good at all of that.”
O’Hagan says they can see Major developing into a two-way threat, “He’s got to develop his foot speed, but they can get him there at the next level.”
Other forwards receiving OHL attention include Marshall McCharles, Nate Gravelle, Caleb Dawson, Anthony Boyes and Heath Bradley.
“They are all big strong, prototypical athletic forwards who will go and hunt down pucks and they have some skill in front of the net,” says O’Hagan.
“We liked them all. They stood out for their aggressiveness and the ability to get to the front of the net.”
Meantime, Jesse Lefebvre stood out from the group as his skill set outshined his smaller stature.
“Lefebvre, at times, looked very special. He looked a lot like the Giroux brothers (Zacharie and Damien) out of Sudbury where he gets really hard on pucks and has noticeable skill on every shift,” says O’Hagan.
“Our guys really like him and he moved way up our list from our first ranking to our last ranking and his pace of play is quite strong.”
On the blue line the Trappers were blessed with size as Grayson Bradley and Jacob McGill getting mentioned in the rankings, along with puck moving defender Davis Anello.
“They can all move and handle the puck well. There’s not a lot of panic when they were under pressure. I’m not sure who was coaching the team, but you can tell that that team knew what they were doing and that was exemplified by these defenders,” says O’Hagan.
“They defense always had an option and if it wasn’t there, they had a second option and they knew where to go. They didn’t get in to a lot of trouble in their own end and they were very disciplined as well. All of those kids have that DNA in them that OHL teams look for.”
The 2022 OHL Priority Selection Draft Show presented by Real Canadian Superstore begins at 7:00pm on Friday night with Rounds 1-3. The draft continues on Saturday, April 30 starting at 9:00am with Rounds 4-15. The Priority Selection will be streamed for free in its entirety on CHL TV.
