The Ontario Hockey League has made it official, with the announcement of a new player draft, focusing on those playing Major Midget in the province.
Officially, it will be called the Under-18 Priority Selection, which will take place on Saturday, April 8. Eventually you will see the shift away from the "Major Midget" term, in favour of the "Under-18" title.
There are 66 major midget teams in Ontario, with roughly 600 players eligible for the draft.
Head Coach of the Lambton Jr. Sting Major Midgets Jonathan Taylor says the move gives young players more options, and makes it more appealing to stay in minor hockey for another year.
"It's great if you develop a little bit later, come on back, play Major Midget where you're going to get in all situations and have a chance to succeed," says Taylor. "Kids need ice time to develop, this way they can get it in a program that is supported by the OHL, uses OHL facilities, and will hopefully get them to the next level."
Mark Davis, OHL scout and head coach of the GOJHL's Sarnia Legionnaires, still believes if a kid is good enough to be playing junior, that's where he should be.
He says currently, finding a future OHLer who's undrafted playing major midget is easier said than done.
"It's really hit or miss, you can get lucky with a guy here and there, but it's really the luck of the draw," says Davis.
Davis admits in the long run, the new draft could help keep more talented players in midget. He says if the player is good enough, scouts will find them.
"Why deny a kid from playing junior because he might not be drafted? If an undrafted guy is playing junior hockey and is good enough, we can just invite him to camp anyway," he says.
Young hockey players have more options now than ever before. Whether its various junior leagues, or major midget, there is a lot of research that goes into deciding where to play. More often than not, moving up too quickly could have adverse effects on development. On the contrary, not challenging yourself and playing down to your competition won't help much either.
This is something former Sting Daniel Broussard is quite familiar with.
The OHL's director of player recruitment played a year of Major Midget himself before spending four years in the OHL. He admits it was a tough decision at the time, but it was the right choice for his development.
"When I was drafted to Sarnia in 2007, I was going to be a sixth, seventh defenceman on the depth chart," says Broussard. "It was they year they had Stamkos so they were going on a bit of a run so I went to go play Major Midget hockey which wasn't nearly as common back then. So I played Midget and got more ice, played power play, PK, and got as much ice as I possibly could and I was in the OHL the next season."
Broussard doesn't see there being much of a ripple effect with junior hockey teams, and says the Ontario Hockey Association was on board with the idea.
Troy Lajeunesse celebrates a goal against Mississauga in a 4-1 Sting win. October 18, 2015. Photo by Metcalfe Photography.
It isn't exactly unlike before, when players passed over in the draft would have an opportunity to be scooped up as a reentry.
Looking at last year, there were five Ontario-born players who were taken as reentries, three of which have signed OHL Standard Player Agreements (SPA). All three of those players spent their 16-year-old season playing junior hockey.
There were two players selected as reentries playing Major Midget, both are playing in the CCHL this season.
Sarnia's Sean Josling is one example of an undrafted player who played Major Midget with the North York Rangers and signed as a Free Agent with an OHL club. Anthony Cirelli did the same with Oshawa in 2014. Both would likely have been taken in the Under-18 draft had it existed at the time.
Troy Lajeunesse played a year of Junior B before the Sting signed him as a free agent. Brock Perry played a year of Major Midget, then a year with the Sarnia Legionnaires before graduating to the CHL this season.
