Plymouth Whalers’ 2011 year in review
By Matt Mackinder –
The Plymouth Whalers continued to make waves in the Ontario Hockey League during the 2011 calendar year with a variety of player transactions, making the OHL playoffs for the 20th straight year and gaining and retaining NHL prospects.
Just another typical year for one of the OHL’s benchmark franchises.
10 – Trade winds blow through Plymouth
Never one to shy away from the trade market, Plymouth coach-GM Mike Vellucci made three trades at January’s OHL trade deadline and then made three more during August and September.
First, in January, the Whalers picked up defenseman Curtis Crombeen from Owen Sound for defenseman Jay Gilbert and forward Michael Whaley was obtained from Windsor. Then in August, overager Andy Bathgate came over from Belleville and Plymouth sent defenseman Max Iafrate, its first-round pick in 2010, to Kitchener. October saw longtime forward RJ Mahalak sent to Sarnia.
9 – Dempsey taken in first round of OHL draft
Back in May, the Whalers drafted forward Mitchell Dempsey 11th overall in the OHL draft out of the Cambridge Hawks organization.
Dempsey, just 16, is already 6-foot-3 and 205 pounds and tallied 38 goals last season in the Ontario Minor Midget ranks.
He patterns his game after Columbus star Rick Nash, who himself was an OHL first-round pick by London back in 2000.
8 – Whalers make post-season for 20th straight season
Aside form their inaugural season of 1990-1991, the Whalers have qualified for post-season play every year since – an OHL record.
This past spring, Plymouth upset Kitchener and eventual second-overall NHL draft pick Gabriel Landeskog in the first round before getting bounced in the second round by Owen Sound as the Attack marched to the OHL championship.
Plymouth won the OHL title in 1995 and 2007.
7 – Devane back for overage season
As the season began, Vellucci had Mahalak, Bathgate and captain Beau Schmitz penciled in as the Whalers’ three overage players.
When Toronto assigned forward Jamie Devane back to Plymouth, Vellucci suddenly had a slew of OAs that was quickly solved by the Mahalak trade to Sarnia.
Devane, now in his fourth season in Plymouth, was named an alternate captain and adds the prototypical power forward presence to the lineup.
6 – Seguin wins Stanley Cup, Hackett makes NHL debut
Sure, James Neal, Stephen Weiss and James Wisniewski get NHL attention as former Whalers now excelling in the NHL, and rightfully so.
Last June, Tyler Seguin (2008-10) hoisted the Stanley Cup with Boston after the Bruins tabbed the former Plymouth first-rounder with the second pick of the 2010 NHL draft.
Then earlier this month, ex-Plymouth goalie Matt Hackett (2006-10) made his NHL debut with Minnesota and earned the win and a shutout against San Jose after relieving Josh Harding two minutes into the game.
Neal (Pittsburgh), Weiss (Florida) and Seguin also led their respective teams in scoring as of Dec. 7. Wisniewski signed a six-year deal with Columbus back in July.
5 – Brown, Livingston sign free agent NHL deals
All three of the 2010-11 overage players are playing this season on NHL contracts.
Just one, forward Robbie Czarnik, signed with the team that drafted him (Los Angeles), while the other two signed NHL deals as free agents.
Forwards Tyler Brown (Philadelphia) and James Livingston (San Jose) proved that hard work does indeed pay off. Livingston was originally drafted by St. Louis in 2008, but didn’t sign. Brown came to the Whalers via the 2007 OHL draft as a late-round pick and the speedster quickly turned heads over his time in Plymouth.
4 – Aleardi suspended for taking banned substance
In what has become a somewhat-common theme in sports these days, Plymouth forward Alex Aleardi was suspended eight games last season for testing positive for methylhexaneamine, a stimulant that the World Anti-Doping Association added to its banned substance list in 2009.
It’s believed Aleardi, one of a small handful of CHL players suspended last season for the violation, took the substance as part of a tainted supplement.
3 – Miller spurns NCAA, signs with Whalers
When J.T. Miller was drafted by the Whalers early in the 2009 OHL draft, he chose not to play in the OHL and instead played the next two seasons with the U.S. National Team Development Program in Ann Arbor. He also committed to the University of North Dakota and was taken in the first round last June by the New York Rangers.
Miller quickly signed with the Rangers, thus negating his NCAA eligibility, and was sent to Plymouth, where he was been one of the team’s best players the first three months of the season.
2 – Emergence of Heard, Wedgewood, Levi
Mitchell Heard, Scott Wedgewood and Austin Levi all fill their roles on the Whalers to a ‘T’ and all take care of business with or without the fanfare.
Heard was undrafted in the OHL and made the Whalers as a free agent in 2009. He has been nothing short of consistent and received a long look at the Maple Leafs’ camp this past summer.
Wedgewood, a New Jersey prospect, has emerged as a front-line OHL goalie and is one of four goaltenders vying to play for Canada at the upcoming World Junior Championship in Edmonton and Calgary.
Carolina draft pick Levi is also a candidate to play for the U.S. at the World Juniors and goes about his defensive game with a quiet dominance.
1 – Noesen, Rakell become NHL first-rounders
Forwards Stefan Noesen and Rickard Rakell were both drafted in the first round last June at the NHL draft in St. Paul, Minn.
Noesen went 21st overall to Ottawa and Rakell was the last pick of the opening round (30th overall) by Anaheim.
Later in the draft, Colorado nabbed forward Garrett Meurs in the fifth round and Carolina selected goaltender Matt Mahalak in the sixth round.
Noesen, who had a breakout ’10-11 season with 34 goals and 72 points, and Rakell were the eighth and ninth players drafted in the first round while playing for the Whalers.