F Nicolas Whitehead - Ottawa 67’s, OHL (2025 Draft)

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GermanSpitfire

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In simple terms, Whitehead is a very smart playmaking forward that uses his speed and playmaking to consistently create scoring chances for his team. Whitehead is an excellent skater that uses his speed and explosiveness to keep defenders on their toes. He regularly makes incredibly intelligent plays that’ll leave you wondering how he saw that lane - it’s as if he has eyes in the back of head. Although these types of creative plays work at the level he plays now - I doubt it’ll continues to be successful as he progresses moving forward.



Definitely potential NTDP player moving forward and a kid that’ll be fun to watch improve.



Nifty play:

 
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clevelandcane

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Dec 30, 2011
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I saw him a few times. I see him as a poor man's James Hagens. Creative with the puck and a solid goal scorer. Glad to see some think so highly of him.
 

NTDP

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Dec 20, 2010
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I saw him a few times. I see him as a poor man's James Hagens. Creative with the puck and a solid goal scorer. Glad to see some think so highly of him.
In watching the Select 15's this past summer I thought Whitehead was by a smidge the best player there by the end of camp the way he played in the last couple games. Some good talent in the 07 birth year.
 
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clevelandcane

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Dec 30, 2011
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In watching the Select 15's this past summer I thought Whitehead was by a smidge the best player there by the end of camp the way he played in the last couple games. Some good talent in the 07 birth year.
Is that the selects in Amherst? Is it worth attending for multiple days and travelling - just from Cleveland
 

NTDP

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Is that the selects in Amherst? Is it worth attending for multiple days and travelling - just from Cleveland

Yeah the Amherst event. The drive isn’t bad and the hockey is good. I watched the 15s on HockeyTV but I attend the 17s live for Saturday and Sunday every year. I think it’s a camp that’s not talked about enough. They compete hard and it’s fun to see some kids you haven’t seen before that can catch your eye. Plus competing for a spot on the Hlinka.

When you see NHL central scouting there you know it’s worth it. Lol.
 
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clevelandcane

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Dec 30, 2011
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Is that the selects in Amherst? Is it worth attending for multiple days and travelling - just from Cleveland

Yeah the Amherst event. The drive isn’t bad and the hockey is good. I watched the 15s on HockeyTV but I attend the 17s live for Saturday and Sunday every year. I think it’s a camp that’s not talked about enough. They compete hard and it’s fun to see some kids you haven’t seen before that can catch your eye. Plus competing for a spot on the Hlinka.

When you see NHL central scouting there you know it’s worth it. Lol.
Good to know. I'll have to consider it.
 

sigx15

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Jan 31, 2010
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Kept waiting to hear him sign a tender with a USHL team after he didn’t make the NTDP and now I know why he didn’t. Signs with Ottawa 67s. Good pickup for them

 

Postulates

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Jun 7, 2022
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Ya I hear ya. Is he a dual or strictly Canadian? I thought dual and if so, seems like he'd play for CAN if good enough.
Likely Dual? Probably Canadian Grandparents from the Ottawa area

He couldn't have competed at the USA selects or the Evaluation Camp as anything other than a dual or USA citizen
 
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Pavel Buchnevich

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Dec 8, 2013
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He's good, but yeah there are always players like this that are good offensively. Potentially top 13 or 14 in pure junior hockey offensive ability for American 2007 borns, but they aren't going to pick 8 of the same player, so Whitehead likely missed out. The description above that he's a poor man's Hagens is accurate, although it should be taken literally. Hagens will be top 2 at worst in 2025, and Whitehead isn't like some lock to be drafted. Good luck to him in the OHL. Will be interesting to see if he makes it back to Team USA at the Hlinka next summer.
 

Jersey Fan 12

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Played 53 of 68 games for Ottawa and none in the CHL playoffs. Was that simply due to his age or were there injury or other factors?
 

NordiquesForeva

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Played 53 of 68 games for Ottawa and none in the CHL playoffs. Was that simply due to his age or were there injury or other factors?

Age/experience level were the factors that kept him out of Ottawa's lineup in the playoffs. He was healthy. The ~15 games or so that he missed during the regular season were mostly games down the stretch in which Cameron, Ottawa's head coach, scratched him to get more physicality/experience into the lineup as the team struggled to secure home ice in the 1st round (ultimately finishing 6th).

I think its fair to say that most 67s fans would have preferred to have seen Whitehead see some ice time in the playoffs, even spot duty on the 4th line in lieu of some veterans who were banged up. He's an electric skater and showed flashes of creativity with the puck in limited ice time throughout the season, but ultimately needs to get bigger and stronger. Getting some playoff reps, even in a limited capacity, would have been beneficial.
 

Hinterland

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Age/experience level were the factors that kept him out of Ottawa's lineup in the playoffs. He was healthy. The ~15 games or so that he missed during the regular season were mostly games down the stretch in which Cameron, Ottawa's head coach, scratched him to get more physicality/experience into the lineup as the team struggled to secure home ice in the 1st round (ultimately finishing 6th).

I think its fair to say that most 67s fans would have preferred to have seen Whitehead see some ice time in the playoffs, even spot duty on the 4th line in lieu of some veterans who were banged up. He's an electric skater and showed flashes of creativity with the puck in limited ice time throughout the season, but ultimately needs to get bigger and stronger. Getting some playoff reps, even in a limited capacity, would have been beneficial.
Agreed. I think Cameron went a bit too far with playing veterans. Many of them were clearly injured and he still kept on riding them. Stonehouse and Gardiner were playing through severe shoulder injuries. Gardiner seemed barely able to take faceoffs. Yet still Cameron kept on playing him. On the other side, all of the young guys barely played. Just three 06 born regulars in the playoffs, no 07 borns. The lone 06 born kids getting regular shifts in playoff games were Henry Mews/Frankie Marrelli (top prospects for the 2024 NHL draft and regulars in 22/23 already) on defense and import forward Kimi Körbler (late birthday, potentially interesting prospect for the 2025 NHL draft) upfront.

Whitehead wasn't the only promising prospect mostly watching playoffs from the press box. I'm pretty high on Kaleb Dietsch and Chase Yanni as well but they never really seemed to be options for Cameron. I like Cameron as a coach and I understand his reasons but what he did was clearly not working and, with such promising options available, he, at some point, should have changed things up and not just accept defeat. If it goes wrong then at least your future corps does gain valuable experience. Ottawa did win playoff games even with injured players in the lineup but they were never a factor and since there were no signs of improvement whatsoever Cameron should have changed things up and played the kids.
 
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