OHL Coaches Poll - My Ballot (2020)

Sometime in the next two weeks, the OHL will release the results of their annual Coaches Poll, where the league's bench bosses vote on a number of categories within their own Conference. As is the annual tradition, below you can find my own opinion on how the results should look.

One thing worth noting though. OHL teams are only allowed to submit the name of one player per category for the ballot, thus on the results you won't notice any teams having more than one player per category. On my ballot, you'll see that I don't follow that rule (and never have), as the intention of this from my end is to highlight the very best of the league without that restriction. So this works as both a prediction, and also a fake ballot if I were indeed an OHL coach (which I am obviously not).

It goes without saying that these are not the results and below is strictly my opinion. As mentioned, the results should be released soon.

As is the case every year, some of these categories were really hard to narrow down; a testament to the talent level in the Ontario Hockey League. So if your favourite player isn't listed...my apologies.

Most Underrated Player

East

1. Ty Tullio

2. Mitchell Hoelscher

3. Cole Schwindt, Bradey Johnson, & Ivan Lodnia

West

1. Connor Corcoran

2. Barret Kirwin

3. Riley McCourt, Chad Yetman, & Brett Brochu

Most Improved Player

East

1. Jack Quinn

2. Tyson Foerster

3. Cole Schwindt

West

1. Nico Daws

2. Luke Evangelista

3. Robert Calisti, Daniil Chayka, & Jacob Ingham

Smartest Player

East

1. Marco Rossi

2. Shane Wright

3. Arthur Kaliyev, Austen Keating, Nick Robertson, & Tyson Foerster

West

1. Cole Perfetti

2. Jamie Drysdale

3. Ty Dellandrea & Connor McMichael

Hardest Worker

East 

1. Zayde Wisdom

2. Keean Washkurak

3. Brett Neumann, Kyle MacLean, & Isaac Nurse

West

1. Aidan Dudas

2. Cedric Ralph

3. Riley Damiani, Damien Giroux, & Barret Kirwan

Best Playmaker

East

1. Akil Thomas & Marco Rossi

2. Jan Jenik & Semyon Der Arguchintsev

3. Philip Tomasino & Quinton Byfield

West

1. Ryan Merkley

2. Cole Perfetti

3. Ryan Suzuki & Ty Dellandrea, & Cam Hillis

Most Dangerous in the Goal Area

East

1. Arthur Kaliyev

2. Nick Robertson

3. Quinton Byfield, Jack Quinn, & Brett Neumann

West

1. Jonathan Yantsis

2. Pavel Gogolev

3. Connor McMichael

Best Skater

East

1. Brett Neumann

2. Thomas Harley

3. Philip Tomasino, Brandon Coe, Keean Washkurak, & Joseph Garreffa

West

1. Jamie Drysdale

2. Liam Foudy

3. Jean Luc Foudy, Jacob Perreault, Robert Calisti, & Adam McMaster

Best Shot

East

1. Nick Robertson

2. Arthur Kaliyev

3. Jack Quinn & Tyson Foerster

West

1. Pavel Gogolev

2. Connor McMichael

3. Cole Perfetti, Jonathan Yantsis & Egor Afansyev

Hardest Shot

East

1. Arthur Kaliyev

2. Nick Robertson & Tyson Foerster

3. Noel Hoefenmayer

West

1. Tyler Tucker

2. Eric Hjorth & Hunter Skinner

3. Brady Lyle & Alec Regula

Best Stickhandler

East

1. Akil Thomas & Nick Robertson

2. Quinton Byfield & Jan Jenik

3. Philip Tomasino, Joseph Garreffa, Marco Rossi, Ivan Lodnia & Jan Mysak

West

1. Ryan Merkley

2. Cole Perfetti

3. Riley Damiani, Jacob Perreault, & Antonio Stranges

Best on Faceoffs

East

1. Zach Gallant

2. Brett Neumann

3. Cole Schwindt, Max Grondin, & Akil Thomas

West

1. Ty Dellandrea

2. Jason Willms

3. Ryan McGregor & Cam Hillis

Best Body Checker

East 

1. Navrin Mutter

2. Kevin Bahl & Merrick Rippon

3. Zach Gallant & John Parker Jones

West

1. Arber Xhekaj

2. Kelton Hatcher & Jamieson Rees

3. Fedor Gordeev & Tyler Tucker

Best Shot Blocker

East

1. Kevin Bahl & Nikita Okhotyuk

2. Mitchell Brewer

3. Cole Schwindt & Hudson Wilson

West

1. Luke Boka

2. Ryan O’Rourke

3. Alec Regula, Fedor Gordeev, Mark Woolley & Sean Josling

Best Defensive Forward

East 

1. Marco Rossi

2. Zach Gallant

3. Kyle MacLean, Mitchell Hoelscher, Cole Schwindt, & Bradey Johnson

West

1. Damien Giroux

2. Ty Dellandrea & Aidan Dudas

3. Ryan McGregor & Jason Willms

Best Penalty Killer

East

1. Nick Robertson

2. Kevin Bahl

3. Luke Moncada & Keean Washkurak

West

1. Aidan Dudas

2. Liam Foudy 

3. Greg Meireles, Damien Giroux, & Sean Josling

Best Offensive Defenseman

East

1. Noel Hoefenmayer

2. Thomas Harley

3. Declan Chisholm

West

1. Ryan Merkley

2. Jamie Drysdale

3. Riley McCourt & Brady Lyle

Best Defensive Defenseman

East

1. Kevin Bahl & Nikita Okhotyuk

2. Hudson Wilson

3. Mitchell Brewer & Brandt Clarke

West

1. Markus Phillips & Alec Regula

2. Michael Vukojevic & Tyler Tucker

3. Fedor Gordeev & Connor Corcoran

Best Puck Handling Goalie

East

1. Kai Edmonds

2. Zach Roy

3. Hunter Jones

West

1. Anthony Popovich & Nico Daws

2. Jacob Ingham

3. Daniel Murphy

Best Shootout Shooter

East

1. Ivan Lodnia

2. Francesco Arcuri

3. Quinton Byfield, Shane Wright, & Tag Bertuzzi

West

1. Cole Perfetti

2. Riley Damiani & Pavel Gogolev

3. Ty Dellandrea & Antonio Stranges

Best Shootout Goalie

East

1. Kai Edmonds

2. Tucker Tynan

3. Cedrick Andree

West

1. Jacob Ingham

2. Ben Gaudreau

3. Nico Daws