OHL Coaches Poll - My Ballot (2019)

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 this week or next.

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. Lucas Chiodo

2. Shane Bulitka

3. Giovanni Vallati & Hudson Wilson

West

1. Mac Hollowell

2. Riley Damiani

3. Liam Hawel & Cedric Ralph

Most Improved Player

East

1. Cedrick Andree

2. Thomas Harley

3. Tyler Tucker & Tye Felhaber

West

1. Jonathan Yantsis

2. Connor McMichael

3. Nate Schnarr, Keeghan Howdeshell, & Mitch Eliot

Smartest Player

East

1. Jason Robertson

2. Arthur Kaliyev

3. Tye Felhaber

West

1. Nick Suzuki

2. Morgan Frost

3. Kevin Hancock

Hardest Worker

East

1. Anthony Salinitri & Brett Neumann

2. Tye Felhaber & Kyle Maksimovich

3. Matej Pekar & Shane Bulitka

West

1. Keeghan Howdeshell, Barrett Hayton & Mac Hollowell

2. Mackenzie Entwistle, Cedric Ralph, & Damien Giroux

3. Riley Damiani, Franco Spoviero & Alex Formenton

Best Playmaker

East

1. Akil Thomas

2. Ryan Merkley

3. Austen Keating & Ryan Suzuki

West

1. Morgan Frost

2. Nick Suzuki

3. Evan Bouchard

Most Dangerous in the Goal Area

East

1. Tye Felhaber

2. Jason Robertson

3. Justin Brazeau

West

1. Owen Tippett & Isaac Ratcliffe

2. Morgan Frost

3. Keeghan Howdeshell & Jonathan Yantsis

Best Skater

East

1. Ryan Merkley

2. Quinton Byfield

3. Philip Tomasino

West

1. Alex Formenton 

2. Mac Hollowell, Liam Foudy & Adam Boqvist 

3. Ryan McLeod & Bode Wilde

Best Shot

East

1. Arthur Kaliyev

2. Tye Felhaber

3. Jason Robertson & Kirill Maksimov & Brandon Saigeon

West

1. Owen Tippett

2. Isaac Ratcliffe

3. Evan Bouchard & Mac Hollowell

Hardest Shot

East

1. Nic Mattinen

2. Brandon Saigeon

3. Matt Brassard & Tyler Tucker

West

1. Evan Bouchard

2. Isaac Ratcliffe

3. Bode Wilde

Best Stickhandler

East

1. Akil Thomas

2. Sasha Chmelevski

3. Ryan Suzuki & Nick Robertson

West

1. Morgan Frost

2. Nick Suzuki

3. Riley Damiani & Antonio Stranges

Best on Faceoffs

East

1. Jason Willms

2. Zach Gallant

3. Sasha Chmelevski & Adam Ruzicka

West

1. Billy Moskal & Kevin Hancock

2. Ty Dellandrea

3. Nick Suzuki

Best Body Checker

East

1. Tyler Tucker

2. Navrin Mutter

3. Merrick Rippon

West

1. Fedor Gordeev & Dmitri Samorukov

2. Kelton Hatcher

3. Justin Murray & William Lochead

Best Shot Blocker

East

1. Kevin Bahl

2. Mitchell Brewer

3. Nic Mattinen & Jack Studnicka

West

1. Alec Regula

2. Fedor Gordeev

3. Ryan McGregor & Sean Josling

Best Defensive Forward

East

1. Ben Jones & Jack Studnicka

2. Anthony Salinitri & Kyle MacLean

3. Zach Gallant

West

1. Barrett Hayton

2. Ryan McGregor

3. Alex Formenton & Mackenzie Entwistle

Best Penalty Killer

East

1. Anthony Salinitri

2. Ben Jones & Jack Studnicka

3. Drake Pilon

West

1. Ryan McGregor

2. Barrett Hayton & Keeghan Howdeshell

3. Kevin Hancock & Liam Foudy & Alec Regula

Best Offensive Defenseman

East

1. Ryan Merkley

2. Thomas Harley

3. Noel Hoefenmayer & Matt Brassard

West

1. Evan Bouchard & Adam Boqvist

2. Mac Hollowell

3. Bode Wilde & Sean Durzi

Best Defensive Defenseman

East

1. Kevin Bahl & Hudson Wilson

2. Nicolas Mattinen

3. Drew Hunter & Cole Candella

West

1. Alec Regula

2. Justin Murray

3. Markus Phillips & Jacob LeGuerrier

Best Puck Handling Goalie

East

1. Kyle Keyser

2. Michael Dipietro

3. Zachary Roy

West

1. Matthew Villalta

2. Joseph Raaymakers

3. Luke Richardson

Best Shootout Shooter

East

1. Matthew Strome

2. Cole Carter

3. Brandon Saigeon & Kyle Maksimovich

West

1. Antonio Stranges

2. Morgan Frost

3. Gera Poddubnyi

Best Shootout Goalie

East

1. Ukka-Pekka Luukkonen

2. Kyle Keyser & Michael Dipietro

3. Stephen Dhillon & Jacob Ingham

West

1. Ivan Prosvetov

2. Joseph Raaymakers

3. Daniel Murphy

Feel free to chime in with your own ballots in the comments section.