Sunday Top 10 - Players Who are Exceeding Expectations

Since last week's Top 10 examined those players underachieving so far this season, I thought it might only be fitting to talk about those players who are playing incredibly well. However, not are they playing well, but they are exceeding the expectations that many had for them going into the season. The list is a real mixed bag that includes some overagers finally taking that step forward, draft eligible players maturing quicker than expected, and one free agent who was possibly even a long shot to make his team.

10. Jordan Skellett - Saginaw Spirit
The Saginaw Spirit are right in the thick of things in the Western Conference standings (to the surprise to this blogger) and Skellett has been a big reason. Carried offensively last year by two star overagers (Chris Chappell and Jack Combs), the Spirit have continued to get a strong improvement in production from their overagers this season. Once picked off the scrap heap in Erie, Skellett provided secondary scoring for Saginaw last season. But he's never been close to a point per game player in the league. Well, he currently sits third in the league in scoring and is on pace to double his production from last season. Skellett has always been a very capable playmaker, but now he's getting the ice time, and confidence to take his game to the next level.

9. Bobby Mignardi - Owen Sound Attack
When the Kingston Frontenacs made the move to acquire Tyler Beskorowany, a lot of Kingston fans were worried that the Fronts fixed one hole, by opening up a bigger one. Mignardi was a guy who had a disappointing 2008-09 season (like most of Kingston), and it was probably time for a change of scenery. Boy has that change helped. Frontenacs fans might have been right to worry that Mignardi had more in him. He currently sits 6th in goal scoring in the league with 15 and has been huge for an Owen Sound team who's needed his production in the face of consistency problems from the rest of their offensive forwards.

8. Alex Friesen - Niagara IceDogs
Even though he's gone kind of cold recently, Friesen has still been outstanding for the Dogs this season. Perhaps his coming out party was last season's playoffs when Friesen was one of Niagara's best players, and coming into this season there were some expectations that he could raise his game. But for a player who scored 11 goals last year, and who showed a lot of offensive frustration, I don't think the expectations were THAT high. Friesen was at one point in the top 10 of OHL scoring and has already surpassed his goal totals of last year. His speed and energy make him a very valuable offensive player in this league and as a 1991 born player, this could only be the tip of the iceberg.

7. Troy Passingham - Windsor Spitfires
Passingham played sparingly in the QMJHL the past two seasons, spending the majority of last year with the Vaughn Vipers of the OPJHL. Picked off the scrap heap and invited to training camp, Passingham earned the back up job behind Josh Unice to start the season. But as Unice struggled, Passingham provided a steady and calm presence in the net that was much needed for a team with high expectations. Then Unice got injured and Passingham was given the starter's role. He's been solid the entire season for Windsor and is providing much the same Andrew Engelage did last season. He's not losing games for Windsor and he's making the stops when he needs too. It remains to be seen whether the Spits will go out and get another goaltender, but Passingham has at the very least provided way more than was expected of him.

6. Anthony Luciani - Erie Otters
While the Erie Otters have struggled a bit without the likes of Ryan O'Reilly and Jaroslav Janus (who recently returned), it'd be tough to argue that they wouldn't be even worse off without Anthony Luciani. He had 14 points all of last season. This year, Luciani already has 14 goals and has often provided to a spark to an Erie team that's vastly needed it. It seems the rest of the Erie offense has finally started to come to life around him, which can mean things could get even better for him.

5. Tony DeHart - Oshawa Generals
Originally acquired by Oshawa in 2008 for a 6th round pick, DeHart is another player who was acquired without much fan fare. If you would have guessed that a "De" named defenseman would be leading the Generals, you would have likely guessed Calvin de Haan. But DeHart has been tremendous all season long for an Oshawa team that seems to be improved from last season (save their recent 7 game slide). He's provided leadership and excellent play at both ends of the ice and currently sits 6th in the league among defenseman scoring.

4. Matthew Tipoff - Belleville Bulls
The Belleville Bulls may be struggling through a rebuilding season, and they may have one of the worst goals per game in the league, but one player who hasn't struggled for them is Tipoff. An energy guy who had to be disappointed he went undrafted last year, Tipoff has completely brought his game to another level this season. He's currently in the top 10 of league scoring and has only been held pointless in three games this year. He's also a good 13 points ahead of the next Belleville forward in scoring. If only the rest of the Bulls younger forwards had taken that kind of a step forward.

3. Devante Smith-Pelly - Mississauga St. Michael's Majors
Smith-Pelly finished 11th in team scoring last year as a rookie, but did play a key energy line role for the Majors. Obviously, as a former first rounder, there were some expectations for Smith-Pelly to increase his production with increased ice time. But I can't say I thought he had this type of offensive production in him, at least this fast. But he's now leading arguably the best team in the East in goals, points, and +/-. Since being placed on the first line with Casey Cizikas and William Wallen (at least most of the time), Smith-Pelly has been on fire with 16 points in his last 9 games. This has to bode well for his NHL draft aspirations.

2. Taylor Beck - Guelph Storm
Last season, the consensus seemed to be that Beck was the complimentary player among the Guelph Storm's offensive players. A hard worker, but one with skating issues, Beck experienced some inconsistency in his offensive game. But with Matt Kennedy, Peter Holland, and Michael Latta experiencing injury troubles and consistency issues of their own, it's been Beck who has taken the team on his back offensively. Currently sitting 6th in league scoring with 31 points, Beck is 15 points ahead of the closest Storm player. Maybe we had it all wrong, maybe Beck was the true offensive star of the bunch? I definitely did not expect him to have the type of production he has this season.

1. Tyler Seguin - Plymouth Whalers
You had to have seen this one coming...right? Yes, he was an OHL first rounder, and yes he probably should have won the OHL Rookie of the Year last season. But I heard many a people claim that he was riding the coattails of his linemates Matt Caria and Chris Terry. And I heard quite a few question as to how he would do without them this season. Turns out, maybe Terry and Caria were riding Seguin's coattails. He currently sits 2nd in league scoring with 36 points and has thrust himself into the picture for first overall in 2010, despite being largely underrated by the mass population last year. With the amount of injuries the Whalers have suffered at forward, it's amazing that he's been able to do what he's been doing without a whole heck of a lot of help.

Honorable Mention:
I Did it, I did it! I made it through a top 10 without cheating the rules and including more than 10 players in my actual top 10. That being said, I think there are some players who need to have their names mentioned too (and in no particular order). Colts center Taylor Carnevale has been excellent for the team thus far, providing scoring and excellent penalty killing to one of the strongest teams in the East. His emergence has really helped to give the Colts a balanced offensive attack and the second best offense in the OHL. Owen Sound Attack defenseman Geoffrey Schemitsch has been arguably the league's best rookie this season. A walk on free agent, the expectations on Schemitsch were obviously small, but he currently finds himself top 10 in defenseman scoring and has been a calming presence to an inconsistent Attack defense. I didn't include him on this list because as a rookie, I felt like maybe it opened the door to including too many rookies on this list who obviously had small expectations going into the season. Mississauga St. Michaels Majors goaltender Chris Carrozzi has been outstanding this year, leading the league in goals against average and currently second in save percentage. Many people wrote the OHL veteran and NHL draft selection off this season, expecting him to give way to talented youngster J.P. Anderson. But he's forced a platoon situation yet again, one that even sees him getting the majority of starts. Who knows what happens as the season goes on, but Carrozzi is definitely playing the best hockey of his career when many expected him to be the back up. Finally, Windsor Spitfires defenseman Mark Cundari has been outstanding this season. Always a solid two way defender, Cundari's offensive game has improved dramatically this year and he's playing with a ton of confidence right now. He currently sits 5th in defenseman scoring and could even be forcing his way into contention for the Canadian World Junior team. As much as I've always liked Cundari, I would have never guessed that.

So...Hats off to all those players starting the season well and keep it up! Anyone you think I missed that deserves to be mentioned, then hit up the comments section and let me know!

Thoughts on Oshawa and Belleville from October 14

Nothing like some good ol' Wednesday night OHL action and tonight I was able to catch the Oshawa Generals take on the Belleville Bulls on the Olympic ice surface at the Yardmen Arena.

First time I've seen Belleville this year and the second time I've seen Oshawa. It was a pretty entertaining game, albeit a bit of a sloppy one. The Generals went on to win the game by a score of 5-3 and have now entered into a tie with Kingston and Peterborough for first in the East Division. This was a huge win for Oshawa as they were without their best player, Calvin de Haan, as he was at home due to the death in the family. Oshawa has a really interesting team this year. They've got a lot of heart and spunk. They play the game very hard and they really attack the puck in your end. With no real true offensive stars, they are getting scoring from a collection of players (9 already with 3 or more goals). More interestingly, the Gens have been finding success without good goaltending. With Michael Zador posting back to back good games, perhaps they've found the answer and can really start to go on a bit of a run.

As for Belleville, as expected by many, I think it's going to be a really long year for them. I've read that George Burnett wanted to give it to around the quarter mark of the season before he started to make moves regarding the teams direction this season (for example the trading of players like Shawn Lalonde). Were getting close to around that area and I think Burnett has to be getting a sense that this year might be a bit of a write off. Nothing to be embarrassed or ashamed about. The high and low runs in the standings from year to year is a natural occurrence in the OHL. The biggest problem for Belleville has been the lack of progress from their younger players. With the exception of a few (Silar, Grubauer, Tipoff), the younger players (1991 and 1992 players) who needed to play larger roles this season have failed in doing so. Stephen Johnston, Luke Judson, Andy Bathgate, Brett Mackie, Cody Alcock, and Scott Howe have combined for a total of 7 goals this year. This has been the biggest reason for the Bulls anemic offense this year (second last in goals per game at 2.8). In a sense, this has to be concerning for Bulls fans because these will be the same players expected to lead the team back to prominence next year. If they fail to show progression this year, who's to say next year will be any different? Maybe these guys just aren't very good. Perhaps early to be making an assumption like that, but Bulls fans, would you be lying if you said that hadn't crossed your mind?

Alright on to the player reports...

Oshawa Generals






Scott Valentine (ANA)
I like what I see from Valentine again. I like his fearless and aggressive play in the defensive end. He needs to be careful with taking himself out of position going for the hit, but he has the skating ability to generally recover. He did a phenomenal job on defense on two occasions. One where the speedy Brett Mackie tried to fly by him down the wing. Valentine stayed with him all the way, guided him to the boards and absolutely obliterated him to the ground, forcing a turnover. On the second play, he recovered from a mistake on the powerplay where he overhandled the puck and turned it over at the line. But he hurried back, caught up to the puck carrier just passed the redline and eliminated him from the puck turning play back up ice for the Generals. This saved a breakaway and showed great determination and skating ability. I also like the way he plays offensively. Quietly but effectively. He's capable of moving the puck up ice, although I'm not sure he's comfortable rushing it up. I like his potential as a quality rugged NHL defenseman. He finished with 2 assists tonight.

Tony DeHart (2010, but 1990 born)
DeHart's point streak to start the season was broken, but he didn't play poorly. Without his DE-fensive partner (see what I did there) Calvin de Haan, he still logged a ton of ice time. He's not really a noticeable guy on the ice and I mean that as a compliment. He doesn't really make mistakes defensively, he's smart with the puck and he does a really good job of quarterbacking the powerplay. He's not going to wow you with an end to end rush, and he's not going to level a guy with a bone crushing hit. He seems to just play a very quiet, but effective game from the back end. With good size, perhaps his level headed game earns him some NHL glares.

Daniel Pachis (2010, but 1991 born)
Once a first round OHL selection in 2007 (by Saginaw), Pachis was considered to have a lot of promise in this league. But then he injured his knee in the 2008 playoffs and missed the majority of last season. Now he's playing for Oshawa and is getting a lot of playing time. As his confidence slowly returns, I think he's going to develop into a dangerous player in this league. Pachis was very strong tonight. Set up 2 goals beautifully tonight and nearly a third. On the first one, he split the Bulls line of defense (skating by Shawn Lalonde, no easy task), and got a shot on net that generated a juicy rebound for Alain Berger, who put it home. On the second goal, he received a pass from Scott Valentine as he skated in full stride, got knocked off the puck but managed to make a beautiful one hand pass to Nick Esposto for the one time goal. On the play that didn't create a goal, he turned Bjorn Krupp inside out on his way to the net and created a scoring chance in close that couldn't be buried. He really seems to have a knack for creativity and playmaking. I'm interested to see how he develops this year after missing so much time in crucial development periods. He finished with 2 assists.

Christian Thomas (2010)
The last time I saw him play I stated that I didn't think he had the goal scoring touch that his father did. I lied. His first goal tonight was a pure goal scorer's goal. Flying down the wing, using the defender as a screen and absolutely roofed a laser of a wrist shot just under the bar. A great shot. Thomas was very solid all night. He's little, but he's got a great center of balance and is really hard to push off the puck. He's always got that motor running too. More and more, he's starting to become a dangerous player every time he's on the ice. Thomas finished with that goal.

Michael Zador (TBL)
After a real tough start to the season, Zador has been lights out lately. In his last three games, he's got a 3-0 record with a .948 SV% and a 1.67 GAA. I'm hoping this is the beginning of a great stretch for Zador, and a great season. He has been inconsistent in the past though. Outside of a really terrible goal by Michael Curtis (on a dump shot from the blueline that went up his stick and into the net), Zador was quite solid tonight. He's a very athletic goaltender who moves very well laterally and is able to make the acrobatic save. He's definitely a pure butterfly goaltender who likes to make the save from his knees. He has some things he needs to work on though at the technical level, and perhaps they help to explain his consistency problems. He gives out a lot of juicy rebounds, of which the Gens defense did a great job of clearing. He needs to do a better job of controlling the puck with his pads and taking it into his body. He also tends to flop a little bit. On the Matt Tipoff goal, Zador was baited to go down with a shot hesitation and Tipoff put it over top of him while he was laying on the ice. There is definitely potential there with Zador though. He made 34 of 37 saves for the victory.

Belleville Bulls







Bjorn Krupp (MIN)
I wasn't surprised to see Krupp fail to get drafted in 2009. I was surprised when he received a contract from the Minnesota Wild at their training camp. I'm sorry, but if this guy's last name wasn't Krupp, he'd be getting no attention (and this coming from a guy who was a huge fan of Uwe growing up). There are three dozen available defenseman in the OHL who are better than Krupp, yet do not have the opportunity he's been presented with. In the first period he coughed the puck up twice in his own zone trying to make a pass over the blueline, and he also got turned inside out by Daniel Pachis on a rush as he got caught playing the puck and not the man. Now granted he settled down in the second and third periods, but he's playing on the third defensive pairing of a rebuilding team and he's got a team low -11 rating. If he's going to continue to struggle with the puck, he's going to have to do a better job of playing defense and taking the man. I just don't see it, but to each their own (or Wild's own since it's obvious 29 other teams didn't see it either).

Shawn Lalonde (CHI)
Do you want the positive or the negative first? How about I combine them? On the positive, few defenders in the OHL can rush the puck up ice like Lalonde. His skating ability and confidence with the puck is tremendous. The thing I've always really liked about Lalonde's game is that he actually makes something of his rushes. It always bugs me when defenders (with Lalonde's skill set) bring the puck effortlessly up ice, but then just dump it in rather than continue over the blueline and help set up shop in the offensive zone. Lalonde has the confidence to continue his rushes. On the negative side, he needs to do it less. It feels like every time he carries the puck up ice, it's like he has to make something of it even if he has to force it. And when he does gain access to the offensive zone, he doesn't return fast enough to the defensive end. He needs to be a lot smarter in making these decisions and realize he's a defender first and foremost. On the positive, his shot from the back end is lethal and creates many scoring chances. On the powerplay especially, he does a tremendous job of getting open to unleash it. Two of Belleville's goals were scored off of Lalonde's point shots tonight. On the negative, he needs to make better decisions with the puck, especially on the powerplay. Because of poor passes or forced attempts, Lalonde's sloppiness led to 3 shorthanded odd man rushes during the game. Luckily enough, none led to goals, however one did lead to a forced penalty by Lalonde in order to prevent a goal and this negated a Bulls powerplay. On the positive, he can be an very effective one on one defender, especially using his speed to stay with forwards. On the negative, he rarely puts himself in position to play defense. On Daniel Pachis' first rush where he broke through the Bulls defensive line, Lalonde was caught standing there watching. Then he failed to hurry back to the zone to pick up the trailer and Alain Berger put in a rebound. Now don't get me wrong, I like Lalonde as a player and a prospect. I think he's just trying to do too much right now with so much talent leaving Belleville this year.

Andy Bathgate (PIT)
Completely invisible in a bad way. Had a hard time handling passes, was failing to win battles in the corners, seemed tentative to enter danger areas. On one occasion he failed to take a pass out of the defensive end, almost because it looked like he was afraid of getting hit (since it was a bit of a suicide pass). But it led to a turnover and a scoring chance for Oshawa. After having trouble with injuries, is it possible he's playing tentative in fear of getting injured again? I generally liked what I saw from him last year, but in tonight's game (and from what I've heard all year) he was quite brutal.

Steven Strong (2011)
A 4th round pick of Belleville in 2009, I liked Strong's game tonight. An averaged sized defenseman, he showed no fear on the ice. He threw a couple nice hits and played a generally very strong defensive game. He looks like he can move the puck up ice too and made smart decisions with the puck. Wasn't really a guy I went into the game looking for, but came out noticing. The only player to finish with a plus rating for Belleville.

Stephen Silas (2010)
If I hadn't made it clear by listing him in my early top 10 for 2010 (as part of my top 30), I'm a big fan of this kid's game. I almost felt bad for him tonight as Lalonde's carelessness with the puck led to several odd man rushes against him, including a 2 on 0 that he had to break up. I think he's the complete package. Defensively, he's very sound positionally. He's not the biggest, but he manages to win all his battles in the corner by gaining position on forwards and getting the puck out. I also like that he's willing to use his body from time to time. He'll catch you with your head down every once in a while, which tells me has a bit of a mean streak. Once he gets stronger, I could see him developing that more at the defensive end. Offensively, he makes the smart play, whether it be a pass or a pinch. I think his pairing with Lalonde has somewhat limited his offensive capabilities in that he's not getting to rush the puck as much as he's capable of. This kid is a star.

Matthew Tipoff (2010, but 1990 born)
About the only Bulls forward creating offense tonight (and pretty much all season it seems). And as he should be, as a late 1990 born playing in his fourth season. If only all of Belleville's forwards had taken the step forward that Tipoff has. He buzzes around the ice, uses speed down the wing to take the puck to the net. He's willing to go to the net for a loose puck and he shows patience and skill with the puck on his stick. Scored a nice goal by out waiting Michael Zador to the ice and putting the puck over top of him. I wonder if he becomes a trade piece for the Bulls, should they decide to fully rebuild. He finished with a goal and an assist.

Philipp Grubauer (2010)
Was impressed by Grubauer tonight. I think he's made some great strides this year and does seem to be playing well. His defense left him hung out to try a lot tonight and he did a good job to keep them in the game. First goal he didn't have a chance on (Thomas'); perfect shot. Second goal was a redirect off his defenseman's back; no chance. Third goal was a juicy rebound off a two on one, but it was an awkward save and his defenseman (Lalonde) didn't pick up the trailer on the play; again no chance really. Fourth goal, a one timer off that beautiful pass by Pachis. That's four goals which he had little chance to stop. He did a good job of controlling his rebounds. He attacks the shooter and challenges them at the top of the blue ice. He's athletic and can go post to post with the splits. I like him and hope that playing on a poor team doesn't hurt his draft standing too much. He stopped 34 of 38 shots and took the loss.

Anyone have any thoughts on the game?