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Health & Fitness

Plymouth Whalers' Scouts Look for Late Round Gems in OHL Priority Selection

The 2014 Ontario Hockey League Priority Selection happens online throughout the 20 OHL cities starting Saturday at 9 am.

Find out what's happening in Plymouth-Cantonwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

In addition, we will be updating www.plymouthwhalers.com on Saturday with coverage of the Plymouth selections through the day.

The OHL Draft is the annual final exam for the General Managers, Scouting Directors and scouts throughout the league. 

Find out what's happening in Plymouth-Cantonwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

Plymouth scouts started arriving in the area on Thursday for meetings with Plymouth General Manager Mike Vellucci and Assistant General Manager Brian Sommariva in preparation of Saturday's Priority Selection.

While the Whalers have had their share of excellent first round selections - Tyler Seguin, Pat Peake, Bryan Berard, Beau Schmitz and Garrett Meurs come to mind - players who develop in the later rounds often make a draft class special and can help a team for several years afterwards.

On May 3, 2011, we introduced you to several later round selections  that helped the Whalers.  

Here are some other recent later round selections:

CONNOR CHATHAM: Taken by Plymouth in the fifth round (88th overall) of the 2011 Draft, Chatham came to the Whalers at the beginning of last season and scored 13 goals with 18 assists for 31 points in 57 games.  He also added three goals in the recent playoff series against Guelph.

Chatham is a big man with skill and is of great interest to NHL scouts.            

NHL Central Scouting had this assessment of Chatham in 2011 when the Whalers selected him:

"Chatham possesses a very good and attractive collection of physical tools. He has legitimate size, he is an above average skater and he possesses a real good stick, especially his ability to finish. He has a very smooth and effective stride, and when he is moving his feet he shows some real high end speed and quickness. He uses his speed to skate up and down his wing, working himself into the open ice while supporting the play.”

RYAN HARTMAN: Taken by the Whalers in the fifth round (95th overall) of the 2010 OHL Draft, Hartman developed into a first round pick for the Chicago Blackhawks.  He's the Whalers current leading career scorer with 48 goals and 65 assists for 113 points in 108 games over the last two seasons.  Hartman has represented the United States in the last two World Junior Championships.

The question is - will he be back in a Plymouth uniform in 2014-15?

ALEX NEDELJKOVIC:  Selected by the Whalers in the sixth round (120th overall) of the 2012 OHL Priority Selection, Plymouth fans appreciate Nedeljkovic's value.  He was named Plymouth Most Valuable Player this season in both the regular season and the playoffs and is the Whalers' nomination for OHL MVP.

LIAM DUNDA, ALEX DiCARLO and TYLER SENSKY:  All three were taken by Plymouth in the 2013 OHL Priority Selection - Dunda in sixth round, DiCarlo in the seventh and Sensky in the 12th round - and all have a good chance of contributing to the success of the Whalers next year and down the road.

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