Out with the old . . .
OHL PREVIEW Turnover aplenty as league readies for new season Teams struggle to plug holes left by departing players
Gone are the OHL’s marquee names — the Jeff Carters, Mike Richards, Corey Perrys and Patrick O’Sullivans — all graduating to the pro ranks.
What’s left in the league for the 2005-06 campaign are names like Sudbury’s Benoit Pouliot, Brampton’s Wojtek Wolski and Owen Sound’s Bobby Ryan, though when — or even whether — they’ll be returned to junior by their NHL clubs remains to be seen. “We want to move as many players as we can on to the next level,” said Brampton Battalion head coach and GM Stan Butler. “ You’d like them to play until they’re 19 but that doesn’t always happen.”
That means this season may be a little leaner in terms of name recognition, a fact of life when dealing with a developmental league.
Butler will have to address a large hole if the Colorado Avalanche decide to keep leading scorer Wolski. Brampton has also lost captain Ryan Oulahen, who signed with the Detroit Red Wings. Free- agent find Taylor Raszka, who had previously played in Plymouth and Saginaw, Slovakian import Michal Klejna and Aaron Snow have been impressive in camp. The Oshawa Generals welcome phenom John Tavares, expected to be the saviour of the struggling franchise. Tavares, whose 15th birthday is today, has lived up to his “ exceptional player” status in training camp.
“ He’s fitting in pretty nicely, to tell you the truth,” Generals head coach Randy Ladouceur said. “ He’s feeling very comfortable out there and he certainly doesn’t look out of place.”
For most of training camp, Tavares has been on a line with third- year veteran Cal Clutterbuck and sophomore Justin Allen, and Ladouceur says he expects that combination to start the season. The turnover entering this campaign was especially tough on the Mississauga IceDogs. Last season’s top team in the Central Division lost leading scorer O’Sullivan (90 points), Tom Zanoski ( 50 points), and John Hecimovic ( 44 points) to graduation. But adding to their woes was the off- season departure of top defender Adam Abraham, who decided to pursue a baseball scholarship with the University of Michigan. The native of Grosse Point Park, Mich., was drafted in the 34th round of the 2005 major league draft by the Florida Marlins.
“ It’s unfortunate for us, but we wish him all the best,” said IceDogs head coach Greg Gilbert. “ But it created a hole in our back end and now we’re trying to address that.” With captain and top defenceman Nathan McIver and stalwart Dale Good moving on, the Toronto St. Michael’s Majors are missing two key pieces from last year’s squad. St. Mike’s will start the season with two overagers in winger Cory Vitarelli and defenceman Chris Cunningham until winger Jeff Larsh has recovered from knee surgery that’s expected to keep him sidelined until mid- October.
“I feel we’re fairly deep up front, so we’re waiting for Larsh,” Majors head coach Bud Stefanski said. “ Where we do need some help is on the back end. . . . But at this point in time we’ll go with what we have.”