Sunday, March 12, 2023

OHL Coaches Poll - My Ballot (2023)

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, 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. Ryan Gagnier
2. Connor Punnett
3. Paul Christopoulous & Brady Stonehouse

West
1. Matthew Poitras
2. Gavin Hayes
3. Jacob Maillet

Most Improved Player
East
1. Nick Lardis
2. Jacob Frasca
3. Luca Pinelli/Jack Matier

West
1. Rodwin Dionicio/Oliver Peer/Jacob Maillet
2. Braeden Bowman
3. Denver Barkey

Smartest Player
East
1. Brandt Clarke
2. Logan Morrison
3. Tucker Robertson & Calum Ritchie

West
1. Shane Wright
2. Ty Voit
3. Colby Barlow & Matthew Poitras

Hardest Worker
East 
1. Tucker Robertson
2. Liam Arnsby
3. Luca Pinelli/Brady Stonehouse/Vinzenz Rohrer

West
1. Braeden Kressler
2. Colby Barlow
3. Sean McGurn/Denver Barkey

Best Playmaker
East
1. Brandt Clarke
2. Logan Morrison/Pavel Mintyukov
3. Kyle Jackson

West
1. Ty Voit
2. Shane Wright
3. Christian Kyrou/Matthew Poitras

Most Dangerous in the Goal Area
East
1. Brennan Othmann
2. James Hardie
3. Kyle McDonald/Nick Lardis

West
1. Matthew Maggio
2. Colby Barlow
3. Sasha Pastujov/Nolan Burke

Best Skater
East
1. Nick DeGrazia
2. JR Avon/Gavin White
3. Nick Lardis/Jorian Donovan

West
1. Amadeus Lombardi
2. Christian Kyrou
3. Spencer Sova/Danny Zhilkin/Isaiah George

Best Shot
East
1. Ty Nelson/Brennan Othmann
2. James Hardie
3. Nick Lardis

West
1. Matthew Maggio
2. Colby Barlow
3. Christian Kyrou & Francesco Pinelli

Hardest Shot
East
1. Ty Nelson
2. Brennan Othmann
3. James Hardie

West
1. Colby Barlow
2. Francesco Arcuri
3. Michael Renwick/Logan Mailloux

Best Stickhandler
East
1. Brandt Clarke
2. David Goyette/Quentin Musty
3. Owen Beck

West
1. Amadeus Lombardi
2. Ty Voit
3. Matthew Maggio/George Diaco

Best on Faceoffs
East
1. Owen Beck/Tucker Robertson
2. Cameron Tolnai
3. Ryan Gagnier

West
1. Danny Zhilkin
2. Sean McGurn
3. Nolan Burke

Best Body Checker
East 
1. Connor Punnett
2. Tyler Boucher
3. Brennan Othmann/Liam Arnsby/Quinton Burns

West
1. Cameron Morton
2. Ryan McGuire
3. Coulson Pitre/Ethan Del Mastro

Best Shot Blocker
East
1. Shawn Spearing
2. Connor Punnett/Artur Cholach
3. Jack Matier/Paul Christopoulous

West
1. Cameron Morton
2. Michael Renwick
3. Andrew Gibson/Roman Schmidt

Best Defensive Forward
East 
1. Liam Arnsby
2. Vinzenz Rohrer/Jack Beck
3. Ryan Gagnier/Owen Beck

West
1. Marko Sikic
2. Cooper Walker
3. Matyas Sapovaliv

Best Penalty Killer
East
1. Josh Bloom/Liam Arnsby
2. Jack Matier
3. Avery Hayes

West
1. Sean McGurn
2. Ethan Del Mastro
3. Francesco Pinelli/Braeden Kressler/Cooper Walker

Best Offensive Defenseman
East
1. Pavel Mintyukov
2. Brandt Clarke
3. Ty Nelson

West
1. Christian Kyrou
2. Logan Mailloux
3. Dmitry Kuzmin/Zayne Parekh

Best Defensive Defenseman
East
1. Jack Matier
2. Artur Cholach
3. Shawn Spearing/Artyom Grushnikov

West
1. Ethan Del Mastro
2. Oliver Bonk
3. Michael Renwick

Best Puck Handling Goalie
East
1. Josh Rosenzweig
2. Max Donoso
3. Alessio Beglieri/Nate Krawchuk

West
1. Brett Brochu
2. Ben Gaudreau
3. Tristan Lennox/Joey Costanzo

Best Shootout Shooter
East
1. James Hardie
2. Logan Morrison
3. Ryan Gagnier

West
1. George Diaco
2. Bryce McConnell-Barker
3. Sasha Pastujov

Best Shootout Goalie
East
1. Collin MacKenzie
2. Dominic DiVincentiis
3. Anson Thornton

West
1. Brett Brochu
2. Ben Gaudreau
3. Patrick Leaver/Carter George