OHL Super Sophomores
Ryan Spooner was the youngest player in the 53-year history of the Peterborough Petes to score 30 goals as an Ontario Hockey League rookie last season.
That’s a remarkable feat considering names such as Steve Yzerman, Eric Staal, Jordan Staal and older stars like Mickey Redmond, Rick MacLeish and Danny Grant have donned the maroon and white jersey during that history.
The Kanata native wasn’t the only scoring star to produce an outstanding rookie campaign. The Plymouth Whalers Tyler Seguin, Sudbury Wolves John McFarland, the first overall pick in the 2008 OHL Priority Selection, the Kitchener Rangers Jeff Skinner and Ottawa 67’s Tyler Toffoli are others in the class of super sophomores.
Spooner’s 30 goals topped all 16-year-old freshman last season and it didn’t take him long to earn top line and power play ice-time under Petes’ head coach Ken McRae.
“We know he can score and dance on ice,” said McRae, of the Petes’ first-round, fifth overall draft pick. “He is a great one-on-one player. He’s very deceptive speed-wise. A lot of guys might look at him and think he’s not really, really fast, but he’s quick in and out of holes and slides by guys down the wall. We’ve all seen his great inside-outside move. He’s very deceptive as a player. He’s only going to get better as he gets stronger.”
Spooner said prior to his rookie year he wasn’t putting any expectations upon himself other than working as hard as he could. He came in with a reputation as an offensively-gifted player, he recorded 53 goals and 97 points in 52 games for the Ottawa Senators minor midgets in 2007-08, but the Petes’ staff didn’t want to put pressure on him.
“Obviously, I didn’t expect to score 30 goals,” said Spooner, who added 28 assists for 58 points in 62 games. “I didn’t even expect to score 10. I was just told I was supposed to come in here and work hard and not get frustrated if I didn’t put the puck in the net. I got lots of opportunities from the coaching staff and got power play time and played with some awesome linemates. That really helped me last year. I got lots of guidance from the older guys.”
Spooner is fully aware the expectations will be higher this year, his National Hockey League draft season.
“I know what to expect this year and I want to improve on what I did last year,” he said.
McFarland, at six-foot, one-inches and 195 pounds, will be highly coveted by NHL scouts.
Wolves General Manager Mike Foligno has little doubt McFarland will one day patrol a top line spot in the big league.
“He’s always been one of the best players for his age all through his hockey career,” Foligno said. “He’s shown at the international level in under-17 and under-18 tournaments that he’s among the best in his age in the world. If he continues to develop I see no reason why he wouldn’t one day be a top line player in the NHL.”
Foligno says McFarland, who had 21 goals and 52 points in 58 games last season, possesses dynamic offensive skills, good size and is working on rounding out his game.
“It’s his release,” said Foligno. “He has such a quick release and great speed. It’s not just his release but he has a heavy, heavy shot as well. We’re working with him on the defensive side of the game and he’s getting more time on our special teams particularly the penalty kill.”
While Spooner topped all 1992-born players in goals, Seguin led the crop in points with 21 goals and 46 assists for 67 points in 61 games.
Whalers’ coach/GM Mike Vellucci expected Seguin to put up points, but he said his first-round draft pick did more than that.
“I don’t think we expected him to be so dominating,” said Vellucci. “What I liked about him most is he was always moving and constantly hustling. He’s a real tenacious player. The only surprise I’d say is how he dominated. He dominated games at times and for a 16-year-old that’s quite a feat.”
He said Seguin has so many strengths it’s hard to highlight one.
“I think it’s the whole package,” he said. “Sometimes you get a one-dimensional guy who is a goal scorer or who has speed. With him it’s the whole package. It’s his speed and his size and he’s just tenacious. He’s constantly playing around the puck and digging. He’s not playing on the perimeter, he goes into all the tough areas and he’s responsible defensively. He’s a very intelligent player.”
Toffoli made an instant impact on the 67’s roster where General Manager Brian Kilrea, who coached Toffoli last season before retiring from the bench, usually brings rookies along slowly.
“He played so well we put him at times on the first line and second line and allowed him to play power play,” Kilrea said. “He’s just so creative and so smart that he didn’t need to adjust to the league. He came in and contributed. We knew we could put him on late in the games, in overtime and shootouts because he was that good and responsible at both ends of the rink.”
The six-foot, 181-pound Toffoli recorded 17 goals and 46 points in 54 games and this year Kilrea expects him to compete for the team’s scoring lead with players like Anthony Nigro and Ryan Martindale.
“He’s a natural scorer who can play a hard-nosed game. In tight, hard-nosed games he didn’t back away from anybody. He’s a good hockey player who has hockey sense which belied his age,” said Kilrea.
As the Rangers rebuilt following a 2008 OHL championship and Memorial Cup final appearance, they turned to Skinner as one of the building blocks. He didn’t disappoint as a rookie accumulating 27 goals and 51 points in 63 games.
“The timing was really good for Jeff’s career,” said Rangers coach/GM Steve Spott. “We were in a position where we were able to give an underage forward an opportunity they maybe normally wouldn’t get at this level. He took advantage of his opportunity. He played on a top line last year and kept his job which tells you a lot about his talent level and his character.”
Spott says Skinner possesses a lot of natural ability.
“He has an uncanny ability to score which is something I don’t think any coach can take credit for,” Spott said. “He’s able to get open and has a tremendous release. He has a tenacity about him that he wants to be a difference maker when he’s on the ice. The last guy we had like that was Mike Richards. Those kids are special when you have them and you have to appreciate them because they do make the difference in a hockey game.”
Spott expects Skinner to hear his name called early at the NHL draft.
“I see a lot of Mark Recchi in him or Bryan Trottier. He’s just a very, very capable two-way centreman who is strong and able to play in all situations because of his hockey intelligence. I’d like to think he’s in the top 30 of his draft class.” said Spott.
Photo by Terry Wilson/OHL Images
Note – this story originally published in the Prospects World Junior Preview Magazine
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