OHL Report: Brampton Battalion

The Brampton Battalion continue to be among the top teams in the Eastern Conference of the OHL. McKeen's correspondent Marcus Guido, has notes on a pair of Battalion defencemen eligible for the 2012 NHL Entry Draft that are making strong contributions.

Marcus McIvor (2012), D, Brampton Battalion

A big reason why the Battalion has the fewest goals against in the OHL .. he's possibly the team's best shutdown defenceman and usually plays against top forwards .. has good size at 6-foot-1 and 203 pounds .. can deliver crushing hits .. very hard to beat one-on-one .. he always plays the body, not the puck .. eliminates opposition's scoring chances by taking streaking players wide and into the boards with relative ease .. doesn't let opposing forwards gain position in front of his goaltender .. never hesitates sacrificing his body to block shots .. has good first-step quickness and is capable of carrying the puck from his own end into the offensive zone if he's given enough room .. however, he lacks a good outlet pass and doesn't have the best vision in the offensive zone .. there also isn't much to his offensive game .. not a great puck-distributor and has a fairly slow release on his wrister .. has a booming slapshot he likes to unload when he is given time on the powerplay .. though his offensive game has holes, he has the potential to be an effective stay-at-home defender in the NHL.

Dylan Blujus (2012), D, Brampton Battalion

At 193 pounds, Blujus still has room to grow into his 6-foot-3 frame .. he stays very calm in his own zone and always elects to make simple, safe plays .. possesses great vision looking up the ice, which gives him a clean stretch pass he frequently uses to start the rush .. the Battalion heavily rely on him to provide offence from the blueline .. he's the only defenceman used on their primary powerplay unit .. has a good shot from the point he manages to get through traffic and will frequently go to the crease with his stick down looking for rebounds .. has a long reach that makes him an effective stick-checker .. can sometimes use his stick when he should use his body .. occasionally, he plays too passively on puckhandlers giving them too much space going to the net or too much time to think .. needs to play his man more aggressively to become a better two-way defenceman.