The voting is underway for the Ontario Hockey League’s Red Tilson Trophy
Members of the OHL Media contingent across the province vote on the award which goes to the Most Outstanding Player in the Ontario Hockey League during the regular season.
Each team has one nominee and from the 20 candidates, the media is asked to pick a first, second and third choice with corresponding point values attached for those 3 selections
Who would you vote for ?
Tyler Toffoli or Jason Akeson ?
Toffoli, an LA Kings draft pick, led the OHL in goals scored, while Akeson, an undrafted player who recently signed as a free agent with the Philadelphia Flyers, established a Kitchener record for assists in a season.
Casey Cizikas, the key player for the OHL’s overall champion St Mike’s Majors ?
Or Christian Thomas of Oshawa, who bypassed the 50 goal plateau to join his famous father, Steve, as the only father-son duo in history to score 50 goals in an OHL season ?
By the way, Captain Garrett Wilson is the Attack nominee.
Wilson would be a tremendous choice, but ironically, to most voters he’s steady & solid rather than flashy & spectacular, and in this derby, that will count against him.
My selections in 1-2-3 order are Sarnia’s Nail Yakupov, Ryan Ellis from Windsor and Ryan Strome of the Niagara IceDogs
I know, I know, Yakupov was on a non-playoff team, but using my definition of outstanding, this guy is it and you should get your tickets to see Sarnia next year, because I doubt he’ll be there long.
Ellis has been at Windsor for the long term playing in his 4th year.
One night I specifically tracked the number of shifts he took in the 2nd Period of a game and counted 26 out of 39, which equated to about 40 minutes.
On 2 of the 13 shifts he didn’t play, the opposition scored
And Strome, I just thought he was dominant from a variety of factors from start to finish this year.
Right or wrong, those are my Red Tilson candidates
I’m Fred Wallace