2020 OHL Priority Selection – Draft Preview
This Saturday – April 4th – is the 2020 OHL Priority draft. While the draft has been online for many years, many of the draft’s key touch points will be affected by the Coronavirus. There will be no draft show (normally broadcast by Terry Doyle covering the first three rounds of the draft), no team hosted press conferences, and all league officials and team personnel will be working remotely.
As for the hockey side, barring any further trades on the draft floor the main piece effecting next year’s roster will come in the form of the first round pick – 13th overall.
Fortunately, Oshawa has held a strong record of key acquisitions through the draft, especially in the first round. The last few first rounders have been key additions to the roster.
Last year, Brett Harrison was selected with the 16th overall pick. Harrison went on to have one of the best rookie seasons in recent Gens history, recording 21 goals in 58 games. He was the first Gens rookie to crack the 20-goal mark since Nicklas Jensen and Lucas Lessio in 2011 and the first rookie since John Tavares to crack that mark entirely before his 17th birthday. He will be a massive part of the next Generals squad.
In 2018, Ty Tullio came home in the 11th overall spot. While he didn’t crack the 20 goal mark like Harrison, he still carried his fair share of the weight offensively in a deep forward corps – posting 42 points in 60 outings. He took the reins this season as one of the top contributors offensively breaking a point-per-game pace with 66 points in 62 games. He is poised to break out even further next season – after finding his NHL home at the draft this summer.
Before that, Mitch Brewer was selected 15th in 2017. He remains a rock-solid shutdown defenseman and key piece of the Generals leadership group. And in 2016, Danil Antropov was the pick. Antropov was another leader who contributed in secondary scoring for 208 games in a Gens sweater, before being shipped to Saginaw this season.
The rest of the picks on Saturday will be coming in the later rounds of the draft, where a few gems have been uncovered in the Roger Hunt era. In 2013 – the early years of Hunt’s time in Generals’ hockey ops – he had a hand in bringing in two late picks that made a difference for years in Oshawa. Jeremy Brodeur in the 8th round, 154th overall, and Kenny Huether in the 9th round, 179th overall. The two were part of the 2015 Memorial Cup championship and saw their roles expand afterwards. Huether stuck around for 252 games in a Generals’ sweater posting two 50+ point seasons. Brodeur backed Ken Appleby to the championship and took over as the crease commander for the next two seasons posting over .900 save percentage in each of his three seasons with the team, maxing out with a .917 in his final campaign.
More recently in 2017, Tye McSorley was picked in the 11th round, 214th overall. McSorley cracked the lineup this season and was a spark plug – giving the team a jolt of energy with a big hit when needed. In 2018, David Jesus came from the 12th round and became a top-four defender. Even in 2019, 7th rounder Riley Pitt cracked the Gens D-corps – filling in for Nico Gross who was in the Czech Republic for the World Juniors – and he didn’t look out of place. Pitt was one of four players in the 2019 draft to play in more than five games after being drafted in the seventh round or after.
OHL Priority Selection presented by Real Canadian Superstore will take place beginning at 9:00 a.m tomorrow as we welcome new players to the Generals organization. Over the 15 draft rounds of the day, the Gens currently hold 13 picks, with the first round selection coming at 13th overall.
Here’s a look at the Generals picks as of April 3, 2020:
Follow along with every selection that the Generals make throughout the day on our website, on Twitter at @Oshawa_Generals, Facebook at OshawaGeneralsOHL, and Instagram at @oshawageneralsohl
For a full look at the OHL Draft Preview Guide can be found here.
A list of each selection made in the 2020 OHL Priority Selection can be found here.
Ontario Hockey League Prospect information can be found here.
Follow live on the OHL Youtube here
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