Draft Eligible Forward of the Month – Quentin Musty – Sudbury Wolves
For the second consecutive month, Quentin Musty is our draft eligible forward of the Month. The Sudbury Wolves star netted 3 goals and 17 assists in 10 games during the month of December. He was held pointless in just one game – December 30 against the North Bay Battalion. He had 5 multi point games including a 1 goal, 6 assist effort against the Niagara IceDogs on December 4.
Also considered was Colton Smith of the Windsor Spitfires. Smith appeared in 11 games during December, notching 7 goals to go along with 8 helpers. Smith was kept off the score sheet 3 times and 6 of his 8 other games were multi point games.
Draft Eligible Defenceman of the Month – Beau Akey – Barrie Colts
Among defencemen, Beau Akey got our nod. Akey posted 12 points in 10 games with points in 8 of those 10 games. He had 4 multi-point games including 2-point efforts against the Sarnia Sting on December 4, Oshawa Generals on December 11 and Sudbury Wolves on December 13. He posted a 3-point effort with a goal and 2 assists on December 30 against the Owen Sound Attack.
Also considered was Sudbury Wolves defender Matthew Mania. Mania appeared in 10 games for the Wolves in December scoring twice and assisting on 10 others. It’s his consistency that impressed the most with points in 7 of his 10 games including a 3-point night against the Niagara IceDogs on December 4 and 2-oint nights against the Barrie Colts on December 10 and Oshawa Generals on December 18.
Draft Eligible Goaltender of the Month – Joey Costanzo – Windsor Spitfires
Our choice for draft eligible goaltender of the month is Joey Costanzo of the Windsor Spitfires. Costanzo started 4 games for the Spits in December winning all 4 contests. He also came in relief for one game stopping all 6 shots he faced in a period. Altogether he stopped 132 of 142 shots he faced for a .930 save-percentage while posting a 2.33 goals-against-average.
So, I am not going to break down NHL Central Scouting’s rankings in its entirety, just those Ontario Hockey League players ranked (or not ranked). After all, this sight is all about the OHL, right?
Let’s begin in the blue paint. One name that we have been pushing on OHL Writers for most of the season is Patrick Leaver of the Oshawa Generals. We selected Leaver as our Draft Eligible Goaltender of the Year at the end of the regular season. Central scouting showed him a lot of love on their final list as Leaver had the highest jump among ranked OHL netminders climbing 13 spots from 29 on the midterm rankings to 16 on the final rankings.
Leaver wasn’t the only netminder with a massive jump. Niagara IceDogs Josh Rosenzweig went from unranked on the midterm list to 22 on the final list.
Of course, when you have risers, they must be accompanied by fallers and the OHL had their share. BrettBrochu of the London Knights dropped 15 spots from 16 to 31. DomDiVincentiis of the North Bay Battalion dropped 10 spots from 14 to 24.
When it comes to skaters, we have been big fans of ChristianKyrou of the Erie Otters since about the drop of the puck this season. We gave him serious consideration as our Draft Eligible Defenceman of the Year. In the annual OHL Coach’s Poll he was voted the most improved player in the Western Conference and the Most Underrated Player in the Western Conference as well as the second-best Offensive Defenceman in the Western Conference. Among draft eligible defencemen, he finished first in goals, second in points and third in assists. Central Scouting (finally) moved him up a whopping 131 spots from 179 to 48.
But that wasn’t the biggest jump. MatthewMaggio of the Windsor Spitfires jumped 149 spots from being not ranked (there were 251 players ranked on the midterm rankings so we used 252 as Maggio was not ranked) all the way up to 103 on the final rankings. Among draft eligible players, Maggio finished second in goals, assists and points. He was our runner up to Draft Eligible Forward of the Year. In the Coach’s Poll, he finished just ahead of Kyrou as the most improved player in the Western Conference and tied for third as the Hardest Worker in the Western Conference.
But the highest jump belonged to AmadeusLombardi of the Flint Firebirds who moved up from not being ranked all the way to 94 on the final rankings. I can’t understand how he was not ranked on their midterm ranking, but they got this right.
Another player that deserves mentioning is DavidGoyette of the Sudbury Wolves who moved up 22 spots from 35 to 13. It’s a massive jump in its own right as that puts Goyette in the bottom third of the first round instead of middle second. And that’s a much-deserved spot for him. He deserves first round consideration.
Two of the biggest fallers are Ruslan Gazizov and Colton Smith, both of the London Knights who dropped from 62 to 149 and 129 to being not ranked respectively. For Comparison’s sake, Bob McKenzie had Gazizov at 15 and Smith as an honorable mention on his midterm rankings (only 80 players were ranked).
I do think that Central Scouting got a couple of Guelph Storm prospects correctly. For most of the season, Matthew Poitras was ranked ahead of Danny Zhilkin on a lot of lists. Poitras was ranked 23 on the midterm rankings and drops to 45 while Zhilkin was ranked 27 and drops to 35. We’re not saying we agree with the overall ranking, but that Zhilkin is rightfully ranked ahead of Poitras and we’ve been saying that for some time.
Vsevolod Gaidamak of the Ottawa 67’s was the highest ranked player on Central Scouting’s midterm rankings to fall off the chart on their final ranking. He went from 121 to being not ranked.
Nice to see a little love for James Hardie of the Mississauga Steelheads who moved up 56 spots from 204 to 148. But we are also surprised to see Tucker Robertson drop 53 spots from 109 to 162.
If you are looking for our final list, it usually comes out after the Memorial Cup. Until then, here is NHL Central Scouting’s rankings with their midterm and final ranking shown:
OHL Writers 