How Does London Do It?

[dirty12]

If that’s actually the case, why did London waste a pair of 2nd round picks on them instead of just waiting and drafting them in the 14th or 15th round?

I guess the Firebirds, Steelheads, Spirit, even the Petes have been selecting players with little chance of reporting in rounds 2-4 since 2018 at least; so players like Mailloux and Stranges falling to London is less frequent.

 

[Hamilton Bulldogs]

They've only won one title since the Bulldogs (2) arrived, so this aint on us.

 

[Otto]

They've only won one title since the Bulldogs (2) arrived, so this aint on us.

Brantford hasn't won any titles

 

[Savard18]

They've only won one title since the Bulldogs (2) arrived, so this aint on us.

Two actually I think. London won in 2015-16 the first year they were in Hamilton. Right?

 

[Maxxim1]

The Knights drafted many US players who did not report. Most recently William Moore, James Hagens and Frankie Nazar. Prior to that there were lots more.
The secret with the Knights is that they usually don't dress any 16 year olds other than their first round pick. Players like Wm. Nicholl, Jared Woolley, Oliver Bonk, Easton Cowen, Jacob Julien, and Logan Mailoux all spent their first year in Jr. B. They all got lots of ice and had no pressure to produce in their first year. When they did come up they all made an impact.

 

[donjohnson]

THIRTEENTH (13) teams in the league passed on Kasper Halttunen in the 2022 import draft and decided instead to go with no-talent hacks like Kim Gruber and something called a Tom Purdeller. What did “recruiting” have to do with those mistakes? Answer: absolutely ZERO.

You obviously don't understand how this league works...teams didn't pass on Halttunen, they skipped him because he wouldn't report to them so they drafted someone they knew he would get.

Saginaw drafted Igor Chernyshov at #56 in this year's draft. You're telling me that 55 of the 60 GM's in the CHL were too dumb to draft the #33 overall pick in this year's NHL draft??? Of course not, Saginaw likely has a relationship with the agent and the agent probably told teams he was only going to come to Saginaw.

That's how it worked for years in the OHL draft...players said they were going NCAA only and then London would pick them in the 20's and suddenly they're on the opening day roster. At least now teams can draft those guys and get a compensatory pick if they don't report but how did that work for Niagara...Dickinson still ended up on the Knights and Niagara can't figure themselves out even with getting all those picks.

The fact is, the desirable teams/coaches have an inherent advantage in this league and London is a desirable town and the Knights staff do a fantastic job (no matter how much it bothers me) so it's a no-brainer how they keep reloading every year.