Players of the Ontario Hockey League have an expiry date; there are only five seasons between being old enough to get drafted and being too old to play in the league. This creates a high turnover rate since the better player’s only play four seasons before turning pro and only a handful of sixteen-year-olds play their first season; the average player is gone after only three seasons. For this reason, teams must focus on re-building properly during the draft and player development with good coaches in order to experience success.
Most junior hockey teams that win consistently do so by re-building around a core group of players every three to four years apart. This is the OHL “Circle of Life” teams that win one year, lose the next while they re-build, and then those players develop and win again. By gathering a core group of talent with players around the same age, you have more players in their prime playing together.
Fans in Belleville were lucky enough to witness this pattern develop on a team that won three of four division titles, plus had a playoff winning percentage of .661, played in eleven playoff series, three Conference Finals appearances, one OHL final appearance and a Memorial Cup appearance. These successful teams were built around the core of similar aged players that the Bulls acquired born in 1988 and 1989.
The 1988’s were acquired at the 2004 OHL draft when the Bulls selected Matt Beleskey, Shawn Matthias and Nick Pageau. General Manager George Burnett than made a mid-season trade with the Plymouth Whalers to add Cory Tanaka to the young core. The 1989’s were all obtained the following season in what might be the greatest Bulls draft class of all-time with Bryan Cameron, Mike Murphy, P.K. Subban and Eric Tangradi. The Bulls gathered eight players that all had long junior careers with the same team and reached their potential at the same time.
Any junior team with eight players in their prime is going to be competitive and if a team makes the right moves for role players, they could easily go from a competitive team to a championship team. The expiry date has now passed on all eight of those players careers in Belleville but once again, they are gathering talent.
The core of the current Bulls are made up of eight players with 1992 and 1993 birthdays and many of them can draw comparisons to the previous core of Bulls that were so successful.
The first group of the new core are the players born in 1992. Even though the Bulls have eight players in this category at this point, only Stephen Silas, Alex Aleardi, Julian Luciani and Braeden Corbeth have emerged as core players (playing regularly in all situations).
Stephen Silas has already developed into a polished “Power Play Quarterback” with over 60 percent of his points on the Power Play this season. Silas’s all-round game, focus and efficiency with the puck will make him the key to the Bulls transition game, an important role filled by P.K. Subban, Nigel Williams and Shawn Lalonde on past teams.
Alex Aleardi has proven to be a regular contributor offensively, including the fact that Aleardi has more points as a Bull (30 Points in 36 Games) than the veteran he was traded for Matt Tipoff has as a Ranger (28 Points in 40 Games).
Julian Luciani looks very similar to former Bull Nick Pageau, both players are very steady every night, can be physical in tougher games and never look out of place in any situation. In addition, Luciani has looked more and more confident with the puck; in September, he would play the puck every two to three seconds and now, he’s showing enough composure to see some Power Play time.
The final 1992, Braeden Corbeth could be the big breakout player in the Bulls’ near future. Corebeth could be the “Cory Tanaka” of the new core. With Corebeth’s speed he could become an elite penalty killer and he is motivated every shift making him ideal for star defensive forward. Corebeth, much like Tanaka, is offensively talented enough to not look out of place on the team’s top lines and seems to have instant chemistry with whoever he plays alongside.
The second group of the new core is made up of the players born in 1993 that are all developing well ahead of schedule due to the Bulls commitment to the youth movement this season. They have all seen a significant amount of playing time and have learned how to balance the pressures of both hockey and school (as of my last conversation with Bulls Educational Consultant, Peggy Burris, she was pleased to announce that there isn’t a single Bull failing any class or course at either High School or Post-Secondary Education).
The Bulls selected four players in the 2009 OHL draft that made the team immediately in Tyson Teichmann, Michael Curtis, Steven Strong and Alex Basso. The Bulls were also able to add Austen Brassard to the group in another mid-season trade to complement an already talented group of 1993’s.
Tyson Teichmann, much like Mike Murphy, is an undersized flexible goaltender with exceptional post to post speed. The “X-Factor” between Murphy and Teichmann is how mentally tough Murphy was throughout his career. Murphy played very confidently on the top of the crease, challenging shooters and covering up every puck he could reach; which is why he had to often dive across the net to make the dramatic saves. Teichmann is just as good of an athlete as Mike Murphy; all he needs to do is add that type of confidence and mental toughness to his game.
Austen Brassard, in his rookie season, looks like he is going to be a great power forward comparable to a Shawn Matthias or Eric Tangradi. Like both former Bulls, Brassard loves to handle the puck in high traffic areas, uses his big body to shield the puck from defenders along the boards, can play physical and has a very powerful shot. Later in their careers, both Matthias and Tangradi became elite players by improving their body position around the crease and finding ways to find shooting space in the offensive zone; look for that to be the next step in Brassard’s development.
Michael Curtis can already be labelled as an “intelligent” hockey player. Most of his goals have been a result of him being in great position at the right time; you can put him on the ice in any situation and you know he is not going to hurt the team. Smart, hard-working players like Curtis have a high upside because they are always willing work with the coaching staff to get better; in his first season Curtis has already improved his face-offs and penalty killing. Michael Curtis also has the “Matt Beleskey” factor which is that tendency to make a big play when the team needs momentum. Curtis is the type of player that will block an important shot, win a key face-off, stand-up for his teammates, play his best with the game on the line and is a natural leader by example much like Beleskey.
Alex Basso, on some nights, looks eerily similar to P.K. Subban during his rookie season. Both players love to carry the puck up ice, have the agility to make defenders look helpless at times and have a powerful yet sometimes wild shot. Subban’s advantage over Basso was how aggressively he played in the defensive end. Subban engaged every player in his radius always forcing the play and went after every loose puck like it was his to lose. Basso needs to add that aggressive dedication to his game to reach Subban’s level, but already looks like he will become a strong offensive defenseman.
The final piece of the of the 1993’s is Steven Strong who is a steady and reliable defenseman who is calm handling the puck in his own zone without creating turnovers much like former Bulls Geoff Killing and Marc Cantin (who were also big parts of the Bulls Playoff teams). Much like both Killing and Cantin, they needed to play smaller roles at the beginning of their careers with little ice time in their rookie campaigns. Both Killing and Cantin jumped from being the Bulls fifth or sixth defenseman to playing nearly thirty-five minutes a night and becoming team leaders when they totally dedicated themselves to team success and defensive play. Steven Strong is capable of making that same step and although he isn’t as big as Killing or Cantin, he could be more of a physical force already showing the ability to make big hits at this level.
Whether the Bulls make the playoffs or not, I will still look at this as a successful season. The previous Belleville Bulls core of players were eliminated in the first round of the playoffs in both 2005 and 2006 and it was because they failed together that they developed a hatred for losing and became a more competitive team. This new core group of Bulls have had to deal with the frustration of losing, recovering from injuries and the nightly battle of avoiding being a healthy scratch (a growing pain for all young players). Most teams get closer when battling adversity and it’s how they turn the corner together that defines them as a team.
The previous Bulls core and the new core both have many similarities. In 2006, the Bulls helped complement their core by adding a talented First Round pick in Shawn Lalonde. Now four years later, the Bulls have a core of eight talented players and a top pick in the upcoming OHL draft. Bulls’ fans might not be getting excited about the playoffs, but they should be getting excited about the draft.
To all the Bulls fans, I say enjoy your long summer because things are about to come full circle and you will probably be busy for the next couple of March’s and April’s.
