OHL Coaches Poll - My Ballot (2022)

Sometime soon, 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 (and back after a year off), 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. In particular, how do you pick the most improved players in the league after not playing for a year and every team having multiple worthy candidates! So if your favourite player isn't listed...my apologies.

 

Most Underrated Player
East
1. Patrick Leaver
2. Mitchell Russell
3. Gavin White

West
1. Ty Voit
2. Matthew Maggio
3. Luke Cavallin

Most Improved Player
East
1. Luca Del Bel Belluz
2. Mack Guzda
3. Arber Xhekaj & Jordan Frasca & Tucker Robertson

West
1. Wyatt Johnston
2. Christian Kyrou
3. Sean McGurn & Josh Bloom & Ty Voit

Smartest Player
East
1. Shane Wright
2. Brandt Clarke
3. Mason McTavish & Ty Tullio & Jack Beck

West
1. Wyatt Johnston
2. Luke Evangelista
3. Rory Kerins & Tye Kartye

Hardest Worker
East
1. Tucker Robertson
2. Declan McDonnell
3. Jack Beck, Ty Tullio & Zayde Wisdom

West
1. Brennan Othmann
2. Tanner Dickinson
3. Wyatt Johnston & Joseph Serpa & Brayden Guy

Best Playmaker
East
1. Shane Wright
2. Brandt Clarke
3. David Goyette & Logan Morrison

West
1. Wyatt Johnston
2. Luke Evangelista
3. Pavel Mintyukov & Rory Kerins

Most Dangerous in the Goal Area
East
1. Mason McTavish
2. Daniil Gushchin
3. James Hardie & Jordan Frasca

West
1. Tye Kartye
2. Luke Evangelista
3. Brennan Othmann & Will Cuylle

Best Skater
East
1. Brandon Coe
2. JR Avon
3. David Goyette, Gavin White & Owen Beck

West
1. Antonio Stranges
2. Ty Voit & Connor Lockhart
3. Tanner Dickinson & Robert Calisti

Best Shot
East
1. Matvey Petrov
2. James Hardie
3. Shane Wright & Mason McTavish

West
1. Brennan Othmann
2. Luke Evangelista
3. Robert Calisti & Christian Kyrou

Hardest Shot
East
1. Ty Nelson
2. Mason McTavish
3. Nathan Staois

West
1. Brennan Othmann
2. Robert Calisti & Christian Kyrou
3. Roman Schmidt

Best Stickhandler
East
1. Lucas Edmonds
2. Brandon Coe
3. Brandt Clarke & Daniil Gushchin

West
1. Luke Evangelista
2. Ty Voit
3. Wyatt Johnston & Pavel Mintyukov

Best on Faceoffs
East
1. Owen Beck
2. Mason McTavish
3. Tucker Robertson & Brett Harrison

West
1. Rory Kerins
2. Danny Zhilkin
3. Cody Morgan

Best Body Checker
East
1. Arber Xhekaj
2. Tyler Boucher
3. Nathan Poole, Liam Arnsby, & Artem Guryev

West
1. Navrin Mutter
2. Will Cuylle
3. Ryan O’Rourke, Coulson Pitre & Andrew Perrott

Best Shot Blocker
East
1. Colton Kammerer
2. David Jesus
3. Shawn Spearing & Ty Nelson & Ethan Del Mastro

West
1. Mark Woolley
2. Ryan O’Rourke
3. Andrew Perrott, Roman Schmidt, & Ashton Reesor

Best Defensive Forward
East
1. Mason McTavish & Jack Beck
2. Declan McDonnell
3. Jordan Frasca & Liam Arnsby

West
1. Wyatt Johnston
2. Sean McGurn
3. Daniel D’Amato

Best Penalty Killer
East
1. Ethan Del Mastro
2.Tucker Robertson
3. Vinzenz Rohrer

West
1. Josh Bloom
2. Daniel D’Amato
3. Brett Brochu & Luke Cavallin

Best Offensive Defenseman
East
1. Brandt Clarke
2. Ty Nelson
3. Nathan Staios, Gavin White, & Lleyton Moore

West
1. Pavel Mintyukov
2. Jack Thompson & Robert Calisti
3. Christian Kyrou & Louka Henault

Best Defensive Defenseman
East
1. Ethan Del Mastro
2. Arber Xhekaj
3. Nathan Allensen

West
1. Ryan O’Rourke
2. Andrew Perrott
3. Mark Woolley

Best Puck Handling Goalie
East
1. Josh Rosenzweig
2. Patrick Leaver
3. Marco Costantini

West
1. Brett Brochu
2. Ben Gaudreau
3. Luke Cavallin

Best Shootout Shooter
East
1. Shane Wright
2. George Diaco
3. Daniil Guschin

West
1. Daniel D’Amico
2. Ty Voit
3. Antonio Stranges

Best Shootout Goalie
East
1. Leevi Merilainen
2. Patrick Leaver
3. Mack Guzda

West
1. Brett Brochu
2. Ben Gaudreau
3. Andrew Oke