OHL: Steadfast McGrath

The OHL’s Kitchener Rangers have dressed fifteen newly draft-eligible youngsters this season. We report on nine of them including Evan McGrath, Boris Valabik and Devereaux Heshmatpour.

Patrick Davis (2005) LW

12/14/2003 - Good smooth skater outruns people to the puck .. very swift on his turns with an excellent first step and a soft stride .. good size, but plays very finesse and does not use the body a lot .. upper body strength is lacking and needs to be stronger on the puck .. very quick hands which enable him to get to loose pucks faster than others .. a good reach which he uses to steal pucks from unsuspecting opponents .. a definite opportunist who can create and finish, but has not shown the ability to make plays by himself .. has an intriguing range, behind a raw exterior. - JD

Paul McFarland (2004) LW/C

12/14/2003 - An appealing forward as far as instincts and hard work .. an impressive role player who is a relentless backchecker .. blue-collar, but is a solid skater and is very strong on the puck .. excellent at cycling the puck along the boards and very hard to knock off it .. sucks up those loose pucks like a vacuum .. strong lower body and an above-average stickhandler .. wrist shot is crisp, but does not have great hands and creativity .. good energy player and a regular on the penalty kill. - JD

12/05/2003 - Skates with a very wide, low to the ground stride .. good acceleration into his top speed although his top speed is rather average .. has a quick first step laterally .. extremely strong on the puck .. solid faceoff man won four face-offs in a row during a third period stretch .. plays very physical, finishes his checks and is a good forechecker .. excellent work ethic. - DF

Evan McGrath (2004) C

12/14/2003 - Big solid player with skills, but somewhat unspectacular makeup .. solid defensively and ties up his mean well along the boards .. fights for the puck relentlessly .. an excellent, powerful skater with explosive acceleration .. a superb stickhandler, but needs to clear space better for himself with his body .. nifty passer in traffic and reads the play well .. doesn’t attack the net as hard as we’d prefer and could be a bit more selfish .. plays a fairly safe mode and rarely makes dumb plays and does not overhandle the puck .. has not shown he can finish consistently, but might explode in the second half à la Mike Richards last year. - JD

Craig Voakes (2004) C

12/14/2003 - Forechecks hard and has an impressive first step burst .. nice, crisp wristshot .. shows good hustle, but lacks sufficient size and can be contained physically .. needs to be stronger on the puck .. a solid, crafty playmaker with creativity and vision .. gets powerplay duty. - JD

12/05/2003 - excellent skating ability, very agile with a quick first step in all directions .. good acceleration, two steps and he is near his top speed .. has above-average top speed .. showed off his ability to sidestep a check with a quick move in reverse .. handles the puck well through traffic, has good hand-eye coordination and is quick with his stick .. is able to take a puck quickly away from opponents .. good playmaking instincts, can spot an open man through traffic .. a tireless worker, is a constant forechecking threat .. keeps a solid position in the defensive zone and works very hard for his team .. a defensively responsible center .. reliable faceoff man, was counted on to take several key draws .. needs to put on some lower body strength to become a bigger force heading to the net. - DF

Peter Franchin (2004) C

12/05/2003 - Showed good overall speed .. quick first step forwards and laterally.. fast, agile feet .. showed some good puckhandling ability and a solid passing game .. very patient and made some smart plays with the puck .. showed a solid work ethic and was best using his size along the boards. - DF

Boris Valabik (2004) D

12/14/2003 - Huge, imposing blueliner has above-average mobility for his size .. has a good understanding of his duties, positioning is solid, but the timing of his hits is slightly off sometimes .. brazen with the willingness to use his size to stifle opposing attackers .. effective in front of his own net, a big immovable object .. needs work on clearing the zone .. we like his poise and he skates backwards well, although he struggles to maintain good balance on his turns .. gets on the nerves of his opponents with his hard-nosed play, yet still manages to stay cool and composed, a very pro-like quality .. must work vigorously on his puck control, especially on receiving. - JD

Carlo DiRienzo (2004) G

12/05/2003 - Butterfly goalie is very fast in the majority of his movements .. moves extremely well laterally .. plays very aggressively and usually right on the edge of his crease .. goes down often but gets himself up and back into his stance easily.. plays very aggressively on the angles .. likes to play the puck a lot and does it well most of the time .. very good at controlling rebounds .. extremely quick glove hand. - DF

Devereaux Heshmatpour (2005) D

12/14/2003 - Imposing rearguard with a thick upper body .. despite exciting raw potential, he’s currently a non-factor with the Rangers, not playing a whole lot .. rookie is not very in sync with the speed of the OHL game, struggles to keep up and looks frustrated with his limited icetime .. good skater for his size, but lacks immediate quickness, especially on his turns .. positioning is not great, looks completely lost as if with no place to go .. has meanness, but does not know how to use his size well enough to apply it .. error-prone, but he’ll cut down on that once he develops poise. - JD

Chris Gravelding (2006) D

12/14/2003 - Late ‘87-born blueliner is slowly earning Peter DeBoer’s confidence with his up-beat play, but has much growing to do .. has a sharp first step, gets to pucks quickly .. follows the flow of the game well and positions himself promptly .. gets outmuscled big-time, but works hard on the backcheck .. stays with his man well and is tough to beat to the outside .. makes safe informed decisions .. turned 16 on the seventh of December, thus his poise is impressive to say the least. - JD