The first name called in the 2018 OHL Draft will be Quinton Byfield to the Sudbury Wolves. Mark my words.
Quinton Byfield is the best player in the OHL draft and by a good margin. That’s not to say there isn’t other talent. The top picks all have a chance to make a major impact on the teams they play for, perhaps change a team, but this guy can change a franchise.
Now, Wolves fans have a right to be questioning the hype. They’re familiar with the likes of John McFarland and David Levin, although I would strongly argue the latter will make a big impact impact on this team in the next season or two.
And with the Wolves, there is always the big draft question: Will the prospect actually say yes to coming here?
The answer to that is a yes, a definite yes.
This isn’t like a cleaning product that works 99.9 per cent of the time. One well-respected scout around the OHL told me Byfield is going to report to the Wolves, 100 per cent.
The Pack hosted the teen phenom over the Easter weekend.
They brought him to Science North, where a screen let him know: “Wolves Hockey Welcomes #55 To Greater Sudbury.”
They brought him to the Vale Cavern, where they played him a video of all his accomplishments. By all accounts, he loved his time in the Nickel City.
The folks at OHL Insiders shared a different perspective. Byfield going to Sudbury would be huge for Wolves fans and the city, they say, but also it would be “good news for fans of the Ontario Hockey League, as well as the system that was designed to have the best player go and play for the team that finished last. Lately with these prospects having so many options and so much leverage, that hasn’t always been the case. So for fans of the OHL as a whole, if Byfield goes to Sudbury 1st overall, it’s great to see the system working like it was intended.”
Also, when you start to look at the draft board, someone is eventually going to have to take him.
It would go Sudbury, Flint, Peterborough, Erie, then Saginaw.
Out of those, Sudbury seems like a pretty good place to play, a team that has division rivals in Barrie, Mississauga and Niagara Falls, communities that are close to his home. Not only that, it presents a pretty good opportunity to show what kind of a player he is, jumping right onto the top two lines immediately.
And what would the Wolves be getting?
“He’s as good as advertised,” said Mark Seidel of NA Central Scouting. “Big and strong, can make plays and can skate.”
Byfield was recently named the OMHA Minor Midget Player of the Year for the York-Simcoe Express, putting up 92 points in just 34 games.
He’s listed as 6-4 and 203 pounds on EliteProspects.com, and he’s only 15 years old.
He has the same point production as players like Steven Stamkos and John Tavares when they were his age, and from all the interviews we have watched, he is just as humble and ego-free.
Wolves General Manager Rob Papineau said on Thursday he is excited for the draft and when asked if they know who they’re picking he said “we have a pretty good idea that’s for sure.”
The Wolves will announce the first overall pick in the 2018 Ontario Hockey League Priority Selection and winner of the Jack Ferguson Award tomorrow (Saturday, Apil 7) at noon.
Expect the name to be Byfield. Expect No. 55 jerseys on sale soon.
