OHL and WHL Dominate First Round of NHL Draft

When hoping to make a career out of the sport you love, you must step into the most competitive amateur and junior leagues to catch the attention of scouts.

At the first round of the NHL draft on Friday, the WHL and OHL proved to be the two leagues the scouts and pro teams are most impressed with.

The OHL was well represented from the beginning of the night with three of their players (Hall, Seguin, and Gudbranson) picked in the top three draft spots. The WHL was right behind them with the No. 4 through No. 6 picks (Johansen, Niederreiter, and Connolly).

It wasn’t until pick No. 9 by the Minnesota Wild that teams stepped out of the apparent comfort zone of the two above leagues when they picked a European player. Overall, 16 out of the 30 players drafted in the first round were from OHL and WHL teams. 

The Portland Winterhawks proved to be the most “popular” drafting pool with two of its players drafted in the first five first round picks. 

Center Ryan Johansen was picked up by the Bluejackets in the No. 4 spot.  He was ranked No. 10 by Central Scouting in the final rankings. 

Right wing Nino Niederreiter was picked by the Islanders in the No. 5 spot after a No. 12 final ranking by Central Scouting.  He is the highest drafted Swiss in league history.

There were also 11 American players drafted in the first round. That is the highest number of Americans picked in the first round ever.

Watson (drafted to Predators) played for Peterborough in the OHL and was drafted 18th. He helped Team USA win the gold medal at the 2010 Under-18 World Championships in Belarus.

The late pick surprise Etem (ranked No. 8 by Central Scouting) played for Medicine Hat in the WHL and was picked by his home state Ducks. Many people thought he would be picked earlier than 29th.

The closest league to record draft pick numbers like the OHL and WHL was the USHL with four players. The WHL had seven drafted, and the OHL had nine drafted.

It will be interesting to see if the two leagues keep ahead of the rest of the pack in the next six rounds. The leagues are throwing out some extremely talented young players and it is paying off for everyone involved with them.