Why Phil Varone Should Be a 2009 First-Round Draft Pick

He of course played 20-22 minutes that night.

You also had Daniel Erlich, the Knights’ 5’6”, 155 lbs mighty-mite, whose only goal in the game seemed to be to go from end-to-end with the puck and see how many times he could be stripped.

He of course played 19+ minutes and was usually sent onto the ice in key situations ahead of Varone.

On the other hand, you had Varone. When the Knights were down 4-2, he was one of only two players who kept their intensity up, and had say, four more of the guys done the same, they might not have lost the game, seeing as Tavares was on a mission that night. 

When the game got tight in the third period, Varone again picked up his level of play, forechecking like a mad man, using his speed on the backcheck to stop Guelph rushes.  The 5’10", 187 lbs Varone played like a 6’2”, 215 lbs speed demon, doing everything he could to disrupt Guelph’s transitional and offensive game.

Oh, and he personally created several scoring chances, both for himself and for his teammates, with his playmaking and his ability to create turnovers.

I remember going home that night & being disgusted with the rankings lists that I’d read to that point.  Kadri being ranked so high, Varone being shown no love whatsoever. Am I even watching the same games as the rest of these guys? 

Because it was a regular season game, which aren’t as tight as a playoff game, Kadri (of course playing w/Tavares) got three assists and second star to Tavares.

But if that had been a playoff game, Kadri probably would’ve been knocked out cold by a star headhunter by the middle of the second period, and Varone would’ve been the one to have the three points.

Milan Lucic.

Fast-forward again to the two round of the '08-'09 OHL Playoffs: London vs Saginaw. I would sincerely hope that you won’t be shocked to know that one Phil Varone led the Knights in scoring in the first round of the playoffs, with five goals and 10 points in the Knights’ five game victory over a game Erie squad. 

You could tell during the first 10 minutes of this game that Varone was pressing – over-thinking.  He was feeling the pressure of his first round successes, and was skating in quicksand as a result. 

But while most guys would blow a whole period, or even a full game getting caught up in the mind game that follows such pressure, Varone came out for his third shift, half-way through the first period, and had obviously had enough. 

Along the left wing boards and with the Saginaw defenseman pinching in, Varone took what can only be described as a garbage breakout pass that left him prone to getting smoked, spun around, and banked the puck off the boards and between the skates of the pinching D. 

This quick-thinking play left the light-scoring Jared Knight in a race for the puck with the other Saginaw defensemen. Knight shocked him with his speed, stripping the D-man of the puck the second he took possession of it, and beat an obviously caught-off-guard Saginaw goalie Ed Pasquale glove side, half-way up the net. 

The goal personified playoff-hockey: Varone makes a clever-as-hell play and takes a hit to make a play, and Knight out-skates and out-battles a defensemen to score a goal. 

Varone played the exact same kind of stellar game that I saw him play in mid-January, and ended up with a goal and two (first) assists, the other one another head-shaker. I almost felt bad for the guy I was there with, as I couldn’t stop singing Varone’s praises. 

Kadri, who had two goals and two assists (he somehow got credit for the back-end assist on the Knights’ first goal, even though it was a defenseman who passed it to Varone), was named first star. 

Varone was named third star. 

And I would have LOVED to have talked with every scout in attendance at that game about who played better. Because while Kadri’s game was much, much-improved over his January outing, anyone forgetting the names and looking solely at both players’ individual performances could not say that Kadri out-played Varone. 

If anything, they were equals. 

While Kadri showed he could finish plays under the bright lights, Varone showed that he could create plays, play tight defense, provide a strong forecheck, finish his checks, be strong on the puck, and finish plays. 

After scoring in the third period, Varone drifted over to the glass, pumped both of his arms, and turned to the crowd, looking at my section with the biggest look of pure joy you could ever imagine.

Varone currently leads the Knights in playoff scoring, with eight goals and 16 points in nine games, along with 15 PIM (almost doubling his regular season pace as the play gets more physical), and is running away with the +/- lead with a tremendous +13.

The Boston Bruins have made a killing at the NHL Entry Draft in recent years, coming away with second-round draft picks who were capable of stepping into the NHL with little or no seasoning, and immediately playing at a high level. This in and of itself is proof that the rankings are wrought with mistakes.

In a few years from now, whichever team drafts Varone, likely in the second round after his dominant playoff performance thus far, will dress him for his first NHL game.  Then his 10th.

Then his first playoff game. And after that game, the rest of the hockey world will find out what Varone’s team has known for a long time:

Phil Varone should’ve been a first-round draft pick.

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