Vancouver 2019 Was Not Kind to the OHL

The word was out before National Hockey League teams descended on Vancouver for the 2019 Draft that the Ontario Hockey League class was, for a lack of a better term, a weak class.

But, did anyone expect this?

Since the NHL adopted the seven round draft back at the 2005 Draft, no draft has produced as few OHL’ers as has 2019. Just 25 players were selected from the O this year. The 2006 draft was a close (?) second worse class with 29. That 2006 class produced six first rounders as opposed to four this year.

What’s worse is only one draft since 2005, the 2007, Is the only draft that produced fewer first round picks with three. That class still produced 25 players drafted from the OHL.

Twenty-five is just above half of what the best drafts from the OHL have produced – forty-eight in both 2012 and 2016.

The Carolina Hurricanes, Florida Panthers and New Jersey Devils went OHL heavy with three selections each from the O.

2020 looks to be a lesser class overall then 2019 was, but there is some quality coming from the OHL, so we at least have that to look for.

Here’s a look at the drafts from 2005 to 2019 and the number of OHL players selected in each round.