North American prospect update: Ohio State wins the Big 10; playoffs are on their way

Last week Toronto Maple Leafs prospects Ryan O’Connell and Dakota Joshua and the Ohio State Buckeyes won their first regular season Big 10 championship with a 3-3 tie against Michigan. This gives the Buckeyes the #1 seed in the Big 10 Conference playoffs, and a great chance to make it to the NCAA tournament.

In today’s post we’ll take a look at the playoff hopes for each of our prospects.

Ontario Hockey League
#11 - Mac Hollowell (D) - 59GP - 23G - 49A - 72Pts
X - Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds
40-16-6-1 / 3rd in Western Conference

The Greyhounds let first place slip away from them with some recent losses. With six games remaining in the schedule they are two points behind the Saginaw Spirit in points for the West Division, but have one less win. The Spirit are red hot right now going 8-1-0-1 in their last ten games, making it hard for the Greyhounds to catch them for the division lead.

Mac Hollowell is third overall in Greyhounds scoring with 72 points- Morgan Frost leads with 107 points, Keeghan Howdeshell has 73 - and is the scoring leader for defenders in the OHL, with a five point lead over Bode Wilde.

#29 - Fedor Gordeev (D) - 57GP - 5G - 22A - 27Pts
X - Guelph Storm
36-16-6-4 / 4th in Western Conference

The Guelph Storm are probably the lowest rated favourite that we’ve seen in a long time. After their explosive deadline deals the Storm have been the talk of the town. Their place in the standings was past improvement by early January, so they’ll have a tough row to hoe as the lowest seeded home ice team with a possible (probable) second round match up against the London Knights.

For Gordeev, things have been probably the best he could hope for. He’s not producing offensively, but has settled into a better role for him. Fewer minutes, a stronger overall defensive corps, doesn’t have to try and carry the team on his shoulders.

#19 - Semyon Der-Arguchintsev (C) - 56GP - 6G - 34A - 40Pts
Peterborough Petes
29-30-1-2 / 6th in Eastern Conference

The Petes are cannon fodder for a stronger top of the Eastern Conference, with their likely opponents being the Oshawa Generals, Niagara IceDogs, or Sudbury Wolves. No matter the opponent, there’s an early Spring in Peterborough’s future.

SDA’s post draft season hasn't been what most people would have hoped; he’s currently 11 points behind his draft year totals. Was it nerves of performing under more eyes as a Maple Leafs draft pick? Was it the Petes trading away his friend Pavel Gogolev? Someone smarter than me probably knows, but maybe we’ll see him with the Marlies by the end of the month.

#19 - Ryan McGregor (F) - 57GP - 24G - 48A - 72Pts
Sarnia Sting
26-30-5-2 / 7th in Western Conference

The Sting are in a similar situation as the Petes, just hanging around waiting to be beat down by a much better team at the top of the Conference. There’s still a small chance the Erie Otters could go on a hot streak and knock the Sting out, but it’s not likely to happen.

This season McGregor has taken advantage of being the Sting’s Captain and top line centre.  He’s already doubled last season’s career high in points - 32 - and could hit 80 before the season is over. He’s another player who should get an Amateur Try-Out contract from the Marlies, and with their lack of centre depth, he could make an impact.

Western Hockey League

#18 - Riley Stotts (C) - 58GP - 19G - 37A - 56Pts
Calgary Hitmen
36-22-5-1 / 3rd in Central Division

The Hitmen haven’t officially clinched their playoff spot yet, but with an eight point lead over the next team, it’s just a technicality at this point. The Central Division is pretty close so it’s possible the Hitmen could emerge the victors and take on the Prince Albert Raiders in the conference final.

As for Stotts himself, he’s on the verge of being a point per game player in the WHL for the first time, and has had a very strong season for his post draft year (Semyon). Don’t get your hopes up to see him with the Marlies, as the Hitmen may last longer in their post-season.

#18 - Filip Kral (D) - 42GP - 7G - 23A - 30Pts
X - Spokane Chiefs
35-20-2-5 / 3rd in US Division

The Chiefs sit in the third in their division, which is probably where they’ll stay. They’re five points back of second and five points ahead of the first wild card spot.

Kral was sidelined for a third of the season with injury, but has rebounded well with 30 points since then. His totals won’t be his pre-draft year, but his point per game average will.

#33 - Ian Scott (G) - 45GP - .931sv% - 1.9GAA - 6SO
XY - Prince Albert Raiders
51-9-2-2 / 1st in East Division

The Raiders have been the top ranked team in the CHL all season, and have all but won the Scotty Munro Memorial Trophy as regular season champions for the first time since the 1984-85 season.

Scott has had an amazing season, one that included a goal that helped him tie the WHL record for Most Goals by a Goaltender. He had one goal, but his name goes in the record books with other great goaltenders like Chris Osgood and Olaf Kolzig.

Quebec Major Junior Hockey League

#33 - Zachary Bouthillier (G) - 38GP - .881sv% - 4.17GAA
Saint John Sea Dogs - Eliminated
12-45-2-3 / 9th in Eastern Conference

The Sea Dogs were unofficially eliminated from the playoffs a long time ago, but it’s been made official. In case you’re wondering, the 10th place team in the Eastern Conference is the 2018 Memorial Cup champion Acadie-Bathurst Titan, who have just nine wins.

Bouthillier’s season is thankfully over in just two weeks. He is not a goalie to judge on numbers, as they went down after being traded to Saint John. Hopefully the Marlies toss him an ATO on March 17th to get him into a more successful locker room for a bit.

USHL

#14 - JD Greenway (D) - 45GP - 6G - 21A - 27Pts
Dubuque Fighting Saints
22-19-3-4 / 5th in Eastern Conference

The USHL regular season goes until the end of March, so we’re a ways away from the playoffs. The Saints have the chance to get home ice for the first round, but it will be a fight.

For Greenway, it hasn’t been a great season. He’s eighth in team scoring, and has under 30 points. Even thoguh he’s the highest scoring defender on the team, for an overage player, that isn’t too great, but Greenway is using the season in the USHL to get his game back before starting over at the University of Maine next season.

NCAA

#31 - Joseph Woll (G) - 31GP - .917sv% - 2.39GAA
Boston College Eagles - 7th in Hockey East
Conference: 10-10-3 / Overall: 11-19-3

The Eagles aren’t great at hockey this year, with offense being the problem as Woll’s numbers haven’t changed much from last season. 7th right now puts them in a first round match up against second place Northeastern. Playoffs start next weekend for the Eagles, and if they try hard enough they could take sixth place from Maine. They shouldn’t as Providence is actually a little better than Northeastern.

For Joseph Woll it’s been an okay season personally. He’s keeping his numbers steady in college, but the WJC was a lot worse than last year both numbers wise and USA dropped to Bronze from Gold.

#8 - Dakota Joshua (F) / Ryan O’Connell (D)
30GP - 9G - 13A - 22Pts / 29GP - 1G - 1A - 2Pts
Ohio State Buckeyes - 1st in Big10
Conference: 13-7-4 / Overall: 20-9-5

The Buckeyes won the regular season championship, and are getting this weekend off as the lesser teams begin the playoffs. They’ll play the lowest seeded team who emerges victorious from this weekends playoffs. I’m sure they’re rooting for Michigan State to upsets Notre Dame, as the Fighting Irish beat the Buckeyes 3-2 in overtime in last years Big10 finals.

Player wise, Joshua hasn’t been an offensive powerhouse but has stayed a steady contributor for the Buckeyes, and ended the season as their #3 scorer at 22 points in 30 games. Ryan O’Connell wasn’t the lowest scoring player at just two points, but the freshman could learn a lot and gain experience if the Buckeyes go all the way to the Frozen Four in Buffalo this spring.

It’s almost the greatest part of the hockey season, and I just want everyone's regular season to end already.

Prospects stats