London Knights Award Winners

The London Knights held their annual awards banquet Saturday night in London. Four of the Knights players eligible for the 2011 NHL Entry Draft took home hardware on Saturday.

Here are your winners :

14 OHL Players Named To Team Canada

There were 14 OHL players named to Team Canada for the Ivan Hlink Under 18 world championships in Germany set to go from April 14-24.

Here are your OHL players named to the 22 man squad

Goaltenders:
Andrew D’Agostini, Peterborough Petes
Malcolm Subban, Belleville Bulls

Defencemen:
Cody Ceci, Ottawa 67’s
Scott Harrington, London Knights
Slater Koekkoek, Peterborough Petes
Ryan Murphy, Kitchener Rangers

Forwards:
Austen Brassard, Belleville Bulls
Daniel Catenacci, Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds
Nick Cousins, Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds
Seth Griffith, London Knights
Eric Locke, Barrie Colts
Alan Quine, Peterborough Petes
Brett Ritchie, Sarnia Sting
Mark Scheifele, Barrie Colts

All but Cody Ceci, Slater Koekoek and Eric Locke, and goaltender Malcolm Subban are draft eligible in 2011.

Are Houser, Harrington and Griffith taking a back seat to Namestnikov ?

In short, the answer is yes. That's not to say the 3 draft eligible players are not having a good season. But the fact is that rookie Vladislav Namestnikov is having a great season. You could even say that all four are being overshadowed by Jared Knight (Boston Bruins).

Projected to be a first round pick in the 2011 NHL entry draft, Namestnikov has gone quietly about leading his team in goals, points and plus/minus (team stats) and trails only  Knight in assists. He is also now tied with Knight for the team lead in power play goals.

Much was talked about the comparisson between Namestnikov and Ilya Kovalchuk prior to the season. While he doesn't quite have the speed that Kovalchuk has, or that patented shot, when you watch Namestnikov skate with the puck, you see glimpses of what Kovalchuk can do.

Which brings us to Seth Griffith, usually paired on a line with Namestnikov. Unless you followed Griffith with the St Marys Lincolns of the GOJHL, you probably wouldn't have known his name. He did play 17 games with the Knights last season and put up 3 points in 17 games. nothing to write home about, but in the playoffs he put up 7 points in 10 games.

I followed him through his days with the Lincolns and said here in the preseason to watch him as a sleeper. He now trails only Namestnikov and Knight in all offensive categories. He was named OHL player of the week a couple of weeks ago and has been my first star of the week for draft eligible players twice.

There is no question that Griffith brings offensive ability to the game. He can even play the point and quarterback the powerplay. But the question that will always come into play is size.

Scott Harrington came into the season ranked in my survey of OHL General Managers and scouts as the defenseman that would be taken first in the NHL Entry Draft. It's been a bit of a dissappointment for Harrington this season as he hasn't been able to keep his development curve on an upwards trend.

But things have improved markedly for Harrington since trade deadline day most notably because of increased ice time. With the trade of Michael D'Orazio, he now leads all Knights defensemen in every offensive category, a part of his game that should have taken the next step this season. While he has surpassed last season totals, he's only just done that.

Of concern is his discrepency in the plus/minus department, dropping from a plus 25 a season ago, to a minus 13 to date this season.

Which brings us to goaltender Michael Houser, who was passed over in the 2010 NHL Entry Draft, likely due to the limited number of starts he's had in the OHL backing up Michael Hutchinson (Boston Bruins). Coming into the season, Houser was again expected to be the Knight's back-up, this time to Igor Bobkov (Anaheim Ducks). You may remember Bobkov from Team Russia in the Subway Super Series, or the Gold Medal Russians from the World Junior Championships.

But Houser stole the show from training camp and the number one position has been his all season, playing in 49 of the Knights 59 games to date. He sits 12th in the entire league in goals against average and 8th in save percentage but is among the leaders in draft eligible goalies. He is 4th in both wins and minutes played in the entire league and first in both categories among draft eligible players. But Houser's name still doesn't get mentioned in the same sentence as the other draft eligible goaltenders. We'll have to wait until June to see if NHL scouts see something in Houser.

When trade deadline approached and passed, the Knights had traded away most of their veterans for only draft picks in return. Jared Knight took a quiet leadership role on the ice and these four followed. Many questioned whether the Knights could still make the playoffs. They've done better than that. They've led a group of young players to pulling within 2 points of the Windsor Spitfires (after last nights action) and home ice advantage in the first round of the playoffs.

For Houser, Harrington and Griffith, they may just be garnering some quiet attention.

Windsor Spitfires and London Knights player updates

I was in Windsor last night for what was an exciting game between these to rivals. Coach Dale Hunter tried juggling lines up for the Knights who are having trouble scoring goals early this season putting Jared Knight, Vladislav Namestnikov and Seth Griffith on a line.

Goaltender Michael Houser, coming off of a shut out Friday night was great in net despite allowing 4 goals. Houser is very good with his lateral movement, his rebound control, is quick getting back up on his feet, directs shots very well out of danger, is excellent at picking up shots through traffic. If there is one thing he needs to work on its handling the puck. Although he was overlooked in the draft last year, he will garner a lot of attention in 2011.

London's Seth Griffith had a good weekend with 4 assists and a plus 4 in two games. Last night in Windsor he showed his grittiness, excellent passing ability, his quickness at getting into the forecheck and a very good defensive game. In six games, Griffith has yet to score his first goal of the season, but now has 6 assists in 6 games.

Russian import Vladislav Namestnikov is quietly finding his game. The smooth skating center man had a learning process playing in North America for the first time but seems to be finding his game. He leads the Knights now with 3 goals and 5 assists and is a plus 4. He shows a willingness to back check and shows a dedication to the defensive game. He is an excellent play maker who finds open men and seams. He is willing to go to the dirty areas and take the puck to the net. One thing he needs to work on is to use his shot more often.

Defenseman Scott Harrington is a force in the defensive zone. He is excellent in front of his net, battles hard in the corners and on the boards and comes away with the puck most of the time. He makes good outlet passes. he doesn't carry it as much as he probably could. Offensively, he has a good shot from the point, accurate and gets it through. Doesn't always look for the bomb from the point and sometimes looks for a good low wrist shot for a deflection. He still needs to learn when to pinch since he doesn't have great speed to recover.

Windsor's Alex Khokhlachev is everything we were told he would be. A superb skater who plays both sides of the puck extremely well. He drives the net hard, is usually the first player in on the forecheck and he battles hard along the boards. He has a tremendous passing ability and an excellent shot. With 1 goal last night, he now has 6 goals and 5 assists in 8 games.

Defenseman Steven Trojanovic is a work horse in the defensive zone. He doesn't give opponents much room. He plays a physical game and is capable of standing players up. Strong in front of the net, he clears the puck effectively. his offensive game will come with experience but don't expect him to be a force offensively.

Fellow defenseman Craig Duininck is in a similar situation. It is often said in hockey that if you don't notice a player, he is going about his business quietly. And that was the case with Duininck last night. Like Trojanovic, he is strong in his own zone but not as physical. He also has offensive potential that will come with more experience.

As for the rest of the Spits, I will have more on them when i do their profiles.

Question and Answer with Scott Harrington, London Knights

Check out the question and answer with London Knights and 2011 draft eligible Scott Harrington courtesy of the London Knights.

http://www.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=1408517580962&ref=mf

My survey of OHL General Managers

As in the past, I conducted a survey of OHL GM's in 4 categories of their top 3 picks to go in the 2011 NHL entry draft. Again, this is just OHL players. New this preseason is the category of top import player. It probably would have been better to include that in the mid season rankings, as some of the GM's didn't feel knowledgeable enough to select more than 1 or 2.

The survey covered 60% of the GM's so it should be a pretty accurate picture of the league. In 2 instances, the survey was done with an assistant GM or head scout, one because he is a new GM and felt he didn't know the players as well yet. 

Each GM was asked to select a first, second and third pick in 4 categories. Those categories are, Top Goaltender, Top Import Player, Top Forward and Top Defenseman. The players are then scored based on those votes with the best possible score being 60 (12 first place votes).

Only 4 players received at least one vote from each GM. They are Gabriel Landeskog, Matt Puempel and goaltenders Tyson Teichmann and Matt Mahalak. Every player that received at least 1 vote is listed. So, without further delay, here are the results:

Top Goaltender

Tyson Teichmann (48)

Matt Mahalak (40)

Jordan Billington (11)

Tadeas Galansky (7)

Mike Morrison (1)

Jacob Riley (1)

It's pretty similar to my rankings which i did at the end of last season. Mahalak was an exception because he didn't play in the OHL last season, therefore wasn't eligible for my rankings. Tadeas Galansky was also picked in the top imports (below) therefore his numbers maybe a little skewed by that.

Top Import

Gabriel Landeskog (41)

Niklas Jensen (27)

Alex Khokhlachev (11)

Tadeas Galansky (7)

Vladislav Namestnikov (6)

Mika Partanen (2)

No surprise here as Landeskog has a year under his belt in the OHL. The fact that the rest are rookies, and some GM's stayed away from selecting 3 imports because they didn't know them well enough hurt some player. But i expect Landeskog to stay near the top of this category all season. It also indicates that Niklas Jensen is the real deal and comes as advertised. And with Khokhlachev and Namestnikov in the picture, this could become a tight year long battle.

Top Forward

Matt Puempel (42)

Brandon Saad (31)

Lucas Lessio (13)

Boone Jenner (8)

Daniel Catenacci (7)

Garrett Meurs (5)

Again no surprise here, but i thought the race would be a little tighter with rookie of the year Matt Puempel still holding down top spot. Similar to my rankings, but again, Saad and Lessio were not on my list having not played in the OHL last season. I must admit though, it would have been an interesting race between Puempel and Landeskog had i not included a top import category.

Top Defenseman

Scott Harrington (38)

Dougie Hamilton (30)

Ryan Murphy (28)

Stuart Percy (6)

I must admit the result here is very surprising to me with super d-man Ryan Murphy coming in third. I like Scott Harrington a lot, but was shocked that he came in first. It's also the tightest race of any of the categories, with only 4 defensemen league wide receiving any votes. Also surprising was the fact that neither Murphy or Hamilton received at least 1 vote from every GM. Also, in my opinion, there was a homer vote here (no comment on who) which, otherwise, would have made this a virtual 3 way tie. This will be the race to watch all season, and may not be decided until the draft floor in Minnesota in June 2011.

Scott Harrington

Scott Harrington, London Knights

Scott is a big strong defenseman who scored 1 goal and 14 points in 55 games. Harrington was an amazing plus 25 as a rookie. Harrington was noticed a year prior to his OHL draft eligibility by Orr Hockey Group and is now represented by them.

He’s loaded with skill, an excellent skater who can rush the puck or make that stretch pass. His only fault in that is that he needs to know when to “go with it” and when to pinch. He can get caught up ice when making a poor judgement offensively and lacks the overall speed to recover.

He is excellent defensively and overall, ahead of kids his age in development at every stage so far.

Scouts were high on Harrington prior to the OHL priority draft, with many predicting he would be a top 5 pick. But Harrington made it clear he was going to take the US College route, but the Knights gambled and won, selecting him 19th overall.

He can play in all situations and I suspect that he will be coach Hunter’s go to guy in 10/11. I think he will handle it well and with the year under his belt, will show that he is one of the top d-men next season.