Cuylle should have to sit out season if he doesn’t report to Petes

The Peterborough Petes held their development camp last weekend.

Nearly 50 hockey players, many Petes draft selections and some free agents, played in a series of intra-squad games. The Petes also had off-ice sessions for the players and parents on a number of topics related to playing major junior hockey in the city.

Two of the team’s top three 2018 Priority Selection selections were no-shows.

First selection, third overall, Will Cuylle, drafted from the Toronto Marlies AAA minor midget team, had told Peterborough before the draft he would not report, and he didn’t.

Jack Bar, son of former Petes player, Mark Bar, had announced before the draft he was likely heading to Harvard University in Boston to play NCAA hockey.

The Petes selected him anyway hoping if he changed his mind or the Harvard offer fell through and, with his Peterborough connection, he might reconsider.

That was not the scenario with Cuylle. It apparently was common knowledge that he would consider the OHL if the team or teams of his choosing drafted him or traded for him. The OHL allow teams to trade their firstround selection during a short window of days just prior to the opening of training camps in August.

The son of former Petes player Tie Domi, Max Domi, was drafted by Kingston in 2011, then said he would not report, claiming he was heading to a U.S. college. Kingston traded him to London and low and behold he changed his mind and reported.

In 2007 NHL’er Matt Duchene of Haliburton was playing midget hockey for Central Ontario Wolves in Lindsay. He was projected to be a top pick and the Petes had much interest in him. Duchene had other plans. He told all teams he was taking the U.S. college route. The Petes passed on him as did a number of teams. Finally, Brampton took him. And like Domi, Duchene changed his mind and played in Brampton.

In recent years many more top midget players have played the “I will not report” card, an inordinate number of players from the Toronto area refusing to report to most teams in the OHL’s East Division including the Petes.

Amazingly the two top NHL draft choices in the last 15 years, Sidney Crosby and Connor McDavid, openly announced before their respective drafts into junior hockey, they would go where selected. Both were drafted far away from the large city teams of their leagues or their homes; Crosby to Rimouski, McDavid to Erie.

McDavid when asked if he ever considered not reporting said, “It’s just wrong, to be honest. You put yourself ahead of the game and it can never be like that.”

This disturbing trend possibly started with Eric Lindros. He refused to report to the OHL Soo Greyhounds when drafted in 1989 and the NHL Quebec Nordiques when they selected him in 1991.

One former Petes and NHL player at the camp last weekend feels the Petes should not trade Cuylle if he doesn’t show at training camp.

“Let him sit,” he said.

If the Petes refused all trade offers for Cuylle, they would miss out on some quality players and draft picks in return but still receive a compensatory firstround pick next season if they allowed Cuylle to re-enter the draft.

Cuylle would then have to play next season at a level not as conducive for his development as the OHL and it would also send a message most teams are reluctant to do.

It also begs the question, when the best two drafts in recent years, McDavid and Crosby, go where drafted, who do these current entitled players think they are?