No bodychecking in the OHL this season & prospects update

How will this new rule affect New York Rangers prospects?

When the Ontario Hockey League (OHL), one of the three major junior leagues in Canada, resumes play, bodychecking will not be allowed in league play this season.  According to the Associated Press, Lisa MacLeod, Ontario’s Minister of Sport  said that “removing purposeful physical contact is a necessity for all sports in the province to slow the spread of COVID-19.”   Three New York Rangers prospects will be affected by this decision.

The decision came just after the OHL announced that they plan on resuming play on February 4, 2021.   They had originally set a target day of December 1.   This decision comes from the Ontario government and it’s unclear how the OHL will embrace this ruling.  The league said that they will follow the advice of scientific studies as they work on getting back in action.

The OHL’s official reaction to the anouncement by the Ontario Government was “Until such time as we arrive at an agreed upon Return to Play protocol with the Government of Ontario, the League will have no further comment on the matter of body contact.”

McLeod’s announcement came about after the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League (QMJHL) had resumed play with disruptions to their schedule due to the coronavirus.  There are also questions about the definition of “purposeful” physical contact.  That seems to indicate that some body contact will be allowed.

There’s still a lot of uncertainty about the new season as three teams in the OHL are not in Ontario and are in the United States.  The  Flint Firebirds, Saginaw Spirit and Erie Otters will have to abide by any quarantine regulations in place by the Canadian federal government so it is unclear if they will be even able to play.

Rangers prospects in the OHL

The Rangers have three prospects who are supposed to play in the OHL.   Left wing Will Cuylle was a second round pick in the draft this year and plays for the Windsor Spitfires.  Center Evan Vierling play for the Barrie Colts after being selected in the fifth round of the Entry Draft this month.   Hunter Skinner is a defenseman for the London Knights who was a fourth round pick in 2019.

Some observers feel that playing without bodychecking will hurt their development while an argument can be made that playing without it will help them develop other parts of their game.  If the Rangers feel that it will be detrimental to their development, they could sign the players to Entry Level Contracts and they could play in the AHL or they could try to relocate them to teams in other leagues or even Europe.

Perhaps the biggest issue if there is no bodychecking will be in the evaluation of players eligible for the 2021 draft.   That is certainly going to be an issue for scouts moving forward.

European action

Here’s a quick recap of how Rangers prospects in Europe fared over the last two days starting with the KHL.

Friday, Vitali Kravtsov was scoreless in Traktor’s 5-1 win over Dinamo Riga in the KHL.  It was Traktor’s fourth straight win and seventh in their last eight. Kravtsov had 14:06 minutes of ice time on 17 shifts and had three shots on goal and drew one penalty.

Thursday, Yegor Rykov was scratched from CSKA’s3-2  win over Spartak in overtime.

In Finland, it was a return to action for an injured prospect.   Lauri Pajuniemi was back in action for TPS as they beat KooKoo 2-1.  He had missed seven games with a leg injury and came back to assist on the first TPS goal by Timur Ibragimov seven minutes into the third period, the game tying goal.  It was Pajuniemi’s first point of the season in his third game.  He also took his first penalty of the season, a third period tripping penalty.

If you speak Finnish, he was interviewed before the game.

Also in Liiga action, Leevi Aaltonen and KalPa beat Jukurit. He played 9:54 and had one shot on goal.  KalPa is on  a roll with six wins in seven games.

In the Mestis League in Finland , TUTO Hockey beat Vantaa 4-3 and it was another big game for Tarmo Reunanen as he had two assists.  On Thursday, TUTO defeated FPS and Reunanen had three assists giving him five helpers in two games and a total of two goals and six assists in seven games.

Friday he played 23:14, second most among TUTO players and had an amazing 12 shots on goal.  Thursday, he had to serve a ten minute misconduct penalty for checking from behind.  It was his first penalty minutes of the season.

In Sweden, there were some games on Thursday and Friday.

In the SHL, Karl Henriksson and Frölunda won Thursday over Örebro, 3-1.  Henriksson didn’t score, but was +1 on the game and had one shot on goal in 13:49 minutes of ice time.

In the Allsvenskan League in Sweden, goalie prospect Olof Lindbom was on the winning side of a 4-3 score as he stopped 16 of 19 shots as Mora defeated Almtuna.   He has now won three of four starts with his only loss coming in overtime.

In Swedish junior action, AIK lost to MODO 1-09 in a shootout.  Ranger draft pick center Oliver Tärnström missed on his one shootout attempt.

On Thursday, Leksand’s game at Brynäs was postponed due to COVID-19 so Calle Själin didn’t play.  Neither did Nils Lundkvist and Adam Edström who were supposed to face each other when Luleå was due to play Rögle.

Adam Huska’s Slovakian team has had two straight games postponed due to the coronavirus.