The last vestiges of the pandemic that has dominated junior hockey over much of the past three seasons took place in Montreal at the 2022 NHL Draft on Thursday and Friday.
Players, especially those in the Ontario Hockey League, who have had their careers dominated by COVID cancellations and then pandemic protocols were picked by NHL teams over two days at Bell Centre. It was the first in-person selection process since 2019 in Vancouver.
Barrie Colts forward Hunter Haight was selected by the Minnesota Wild in the second round (47th overall), capping a rookie OHL season that had been delayed a year by the cancelled campaign of 2020-21.
Haight looked a combination of elated and relieved as he did his round of media interviews at the lectern.
“I’d agree with that,” said Haight, when asked if his selection was about his ability both on the ice but also being able to recover from not playing last season. “I think it had a lot to do with confidence and finding my game and getting comfortable.”
Indeed. The Colts first-round selection (eighth overall) in the 2020 OHL Priority Selection was always expected to be in the conversation to be drafted by an NHL club.
TSN Director of Scouting Craig Button had him on his pre-season list to go in the first round. But internet rankings and scouting polls only give insight into that moment in time; they especially didn’t account for what players of Haight’s bracket had to endure by not being able to play in the league as a 16-year-old.
“There was a lot of time spent in the basement doing Zoom calls for school and doing what I could like shoot packs,” recalled Haight, “It was a huge adjustment (getting back) this season (but) it was for everybody in the OHL.”
Did he expect it to be the Wild?
“I had a great conversation with them at the combine and I did get an indication (in Montreal) that it could be them.”
Haight was the lone Colt picked this year. Fellow Colts rookie and Haight’s frequent linemate, Beau Jelsma, had an outside shot to be selected but his name was not called by the time the proceedings ended on Friday afternoon.
Local product James Hardie of the Mississauga Steelheads, who had already twice gone through the draft, also went unselected. He’ll now try and secure a free agent contract as an OHL overage player in much the same way Barrie native Mitchell Russell achieved this season when he signed with the San Jose Sharks (see below) while playing for the North Bay Battalion.
Speaking of the Steelheads, it was interesting to see who was picked just before Haight’s selection. The Steelheads eliminated the Colts in six games in the first round of this year’s playoffs. That series had something of a proxy competition going on at the same time with Steelheads centres Owen Beck and Luca Del Bel Belluz slotted in about the same area of the draft as Haight.
In the end, Beck went 33rd overall to Montreal and Del Bel Belluz 44th to Columbus, three picks before Haight.
Haight says he’s confident the Colts will be an improved squad with the hockey world, at all levels, fingers crossed, about to embark on its first on-time start in the fall.
“We’ve picked up a goalie and I’m looking forward to it,” referencing the Colts recently acquiring Anson Thornton, who is a draft pick of the Arizona Coyotes. “I’ve had great conversations with Marty (Williamson) and the staff there and it’s just really exciting.”
The annual gathering of the NHL community was stunned to learn of the death of Bryan Marchment on Wednesday. The former NHL defenceman was a scout for the San Jose Sharks; he was found unresponsive in his hotel room on Wednesday morning after missing the club’s scouting meetings.
As fate would have it, one of Marchment’s last acts as a Sharks scout was to ensure his team signed Russell.
“Mush loved him,” said Sharks scouting director Tim Burke, “he really pushed hard for us to sign him….we had to wait (for the overage signing window on March 1) but he really went to bat for him and we are glad now that he did. There were a few trips to North Bay to see him.”
“He’s going to be a good one for us.”
