So who are the best draft picks in Guelph Storm history, by round?
Tuesday night’s post-game conversation with George Burnett about Luka Profaca’s OHL debut got me thinking about that.
To paraphrase, Burnett pointed out that the team thinks they got a pretty good deal in the eighth round when they drafted Profaca this year, and early indications are they certainly might have.
Not a lot of players from the second half of the draft have had much of an impact on the Storm over the years.
I started to wonder about other late-round picks that have made the team.
The prime example, of course, is Ryan Callahan, a 15th rounder in 2001, due in part to injury, size and talk of going the NCAA route.
But also due to the fact that 15 years ago it was still possible to find those hidden gems playing on teams that didn’t get a lot of attention, in Callahan’s case a junior B team in Rochester, N.Y.
That just rarely happens any more.
A total of 292 players were selected ahead of Callahan in that year’s draft, the year the Storm picked Matt Puntureri in the first round. Callahan would outscore Puntureri by 148 goals in a Storm uniform.
If Profaca goes on to have a long career with the Storm, he would be a steal as an eighth rounder, but he has some company in that round, namely all-time great Kevin Dallman.
So who are the best Storm players, by round, ever drafted? (I get it, it's subjective, but not as difficult to pick as you might think).
Guelph has taken a number of fliers on future NHLers in the past: Kevin Shattenkirk, MIke York, Alex Tuch, Kyle Palmieri, Connor Carrick, Matt Hunwick, Marty Reasoner and Sean Haggerty could all have been Storm players.
As for those that actually showed up in the Royal City, here's a round-by-round, here’s the top picks of the past. Of course, not all rounds had players that went on to have stellar careers.
Discuss among yourselves.
Round 1. Jeff O’Neill (‘92): Honourable mentions: Drew Doughty (‘05), Dan Paille (‘00), Brian Willsie (‘95).
Round 2. Dustin Brown (‘00): Honourable mentions: Taylor Beck (;07), Scott Kosmachuk (‘10), Kent McDonell (‘96).
Round 3. Chris Hajt (‘94): Honourable mentions: Todd Norman (‘93), Brock McGinn (‘00).
Round 4. Tyler Bertuzzi (‘11): Honourable mentions: Zack Mitchell (‘09), Ryan Risidore (‘93), Dwayne Hay (‘94), Josh Godfrey (‘04).
Round 5. Kevin Mitchell ('97): Honourable mention: Nick Bootland (‘95).
Round 6. Tyler Carroll (‘06): Honourable mentions: Joe Gerbe (‘96), Kyle Rhodes (‘13), Jeff Cowan (‘93).
Round 7. Danny Taylor (‘02): Honourable mention: Regan Stocco (‘92), Cedric Ralph (‘15).
Round 8. Kevin Dallman (‘98): Chris Madden (‘96); Garrett Sparks (‘09).
Round 9. Rumun Ndur (‘92): Honourable mention: James MacEwan (‘13).
Round 10. Craig Anderson (‘98): Honourable mention: Jason Jackman (‘94), Mike Vellinga (‘95).
Round 11. Joel Cort (‘94).
Round 12. Darryl McArthur (‘95).
Round 13. Bradley Van Schubert (‘13).
Round 14. Adam Dennis (‘01).
Round 15. Ryan Callahan: Honourable mention: Duane Harmer.
