The reverberations continue in the wake of the Ontario Hockey League’s crackdown on the Windsor Spitfires.
Last Friday, the Spitfires were fined $ 400,000 and lost multiple high draft picks for violations of the benefits and recruitment policy.
Good for the OHL.
In truth, since the arrival of the Enforcement Program some 3 years ago, I derided the OHL’s ” watchdog “, saying it was as effective as ” Duke “, Jed Clampett’s bloodhound on the ” Beverly Hillbillies. ” Toothless. Useless.
In light of this, and overlooking Windsor’s denial of the charges for the moment, I stand corrected.
And I’m happy to be corrected if in the long run, it evens the playing field and makes the OHL about hockey acumen and not about the size of the bank account.
To my mind, Windsor isn’t the only offender. You’re naive to think they are. They’re just the club who have been fined and stripped of draft picks.
Not that long ago, an ex-OHL General Manager whose team had a fairly high pick in a Priority Selection, related he was interested in a highly touted American player.
The agent/advisor for the player told the GM, he could draft the player, and the player would report, but……………..the asking price was $ 50,000……. per season.
The former GM in question had no reason to fabricate this story since he’d landed nicely on his feet elsewhere in hockey, he simply was using it as an example of how muddy the waters in the OHL recruiting game were, and likely still are.
The player in question ? Well, he was drafted by an OHL team, refused to report to the team that drafted him, was dealt once, and word was he was on the block again at the trade deadline last season.
Sometimes you don’t get much for your 50 grand.
I’m Fred Wallace