Scouting sets London success

By Randy Russon
January 10, 2017
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Okay, so maybe the London Knights do have a cash war chest that exceeds what most Ontario Hockey League teams have. But it’s also the ability of the Knights to scout and sign free agents and later trade them for value that sets the perennial OHL contenders and defending Memorial Cup champions apart from the rest.

Emptying a full cupboard stocked from previous deals, the Knights gave up a whopping 13 draft picks on Monday to bring three star players to London — forwards Dante Salituro (Ottawa 67’s) and Mitchell Stephens (Saginaw Spirit) and defenseman Mitch Vande Sompel (Oshawa Generals.)

It’s how the Knights have been able to acquire excess draft picks and later parlay them for star players is what is impressive about how London hockey boss Dale Hunter and his staff do business.

Consider five players who the Knights have dealt away for high draft picks within the last calendar year and how London was able to get those skaters in the first place.

In five separate transactions, original free-agent forwards Ryan Valentini, Kole Sherwood and C.J. Yakimowicz, free-agent defenseman Chris Martenet and former 10th-round pick defender Aiden Jamieson yielded the Knights a total return that included four second-round picks, two third-round picks, a sixth-round pick and the aforementioned Salituro, who netted 82 goals for Ottawa over the past two seasons, playoffs included.

Now that is what can be called effective scouting, making use of assets and advanced planning.

And the above examples of being able to get major returns on players who were either free agents or a late-round draft pick — and later selling them off — are just some of what makes London the long-time OHL powerhouse that it continues to be.

Not that the Knights trade off all of the free-agent finds that they manage to sign and bring to London.

One free agent standout who remains in London is goalie Tyler Parsons, the un-drafted OHL phenom and second-round National Hockey League draft pick of the Calgary Flames who, after leading the Knights to the 2016 Memorial Cup title, merely back-stopped Team U.S.A. to a gold-medial triumph over Team Canada at the recent World Junior Hockey Championships.