I was watching the NHL Final 4 a week or so ago; LA-Phoenix, New York-New Jersey and on back to back nights I decided to do a mathematical study of the construction of the 4 teams and the path their players took to get to the Conference Semifinals.
Each team could dress 20 players per game, therefore 80 players made up the case study.
Of the 80 players making up the Kings, Coyotes, Rangers and Devils, 20 of them were Ontario Hockey League grads.
Twenty of 80 players dressed, 25 percent of the players involved, came from the OHL, which seems staggeringly high to me.
Then this; 17 of those 20 OHL grads in the Final Four last played for a Western Conference team in the OHL; That’s 85 percent of the OHL grads which seems REALLY high to me.
Only Marc Staal, Rotislav Klesla & Taylor Pyatt played their entire OHL career in the Eastern Conference. I guess I could add Raffi Torres to the list, but he’s not dressed due to suspension.
Of course, the OHL East will claim that their number should be elevated further based on Michael Del Zotto, Dan Girardi & David Clarkson starting their OHL days in the East before they were dealt to Midwest Division teams.
And speaking of the Midwest Division; of the 20 OHL grads in the Conference Finals, a dozen, or 60 percent of the OHL’ers in the study, spent some time, like Trevor Lewis, or all of their time, like Brad Richardson, in the Midwest.
Finally, let’s look at the numbers from various perspectives.
The OHL has to be happy contributing 25 percent of the players to the NHL Final 4, and the Western Conference and Midwest Division numbers are amazing and understandably, there’s much to be proud of for the teams in those groupings.
But to me, the wedge between West and East, using this case study, illustrates what I view as a significant problem in the Ontario Hockey League, not a cause for celebration.
I’m Fred Wallace