OHL’s Draft Eligible Statistical Leaders as of December

Everyone saw it coming, or at least should have. At least we here at OHL Writers were paying attention in October. There’s a new king at the top of the pack among the Ontario Hockey League’s players eligible for the 2020 National Hockey League Draft.

That player: Marco Rossi of the Ottawa 67’s.

Rossi leads in just about every offensive category. First in goals, assists, points, tops in faceoff winning percentage and a whopping plus/minus of +41, well ahead of his counterparts. Rossi also possesses the longest goal scoring streak, assist streak and point streak of the season.

Someone is sure to mention this: Quinton Byfield of the Sudbury Wolves, who has been at the top of the lists and projected as the second overall pick at the NHL Draft has missed time while at Team Canada’s Camp and the 2020 World Junior Championships.

Sure, that is a fact. But Rossi has missed time himself, albeit for a suspension and has played in 4 fewer games then Byfield.

This is not an attempt to make a case for Rossi to be ranked ahead of Byfield. Central Scouting has him ranked in the first round as does many others. Where in the first round is anyone’s guess right now.

One thing we do know for sure is the NHL GM’s shy away from pick a 5’9” forward such as Rossi too early. Over the years, they haven’t learned that these smaller guys can excel at the NHL level. Maybe, just maybe, they’ve learned from watching Alex DeBrincat and Rossi gets selected where he deserves to be.

Let’s not hold our breaths though.

Here are the statistical leaders at the end of December. While we take great care in compiling stats, always refer to the OHL Website for official stats.