If one does not know the CHL is the name of the highest tier of junior hockey in North America. The CHL is made up of three leagues, the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League (QMJHL or the Q) the Ontario Hockey League (OHL or the O) and the Western Hockey League (WHL). Each league has its own draft but when it comes to players from outside of North America every team from the two leagues have the opportunity to draft two import players, with 60 teams playing in the three leagues there is a chance for 120 players to be drafted. However, teams do not always use both their draft picks.
In the past Hungarian hockey fans never really needed to get excited about the draft because since the draft was installed a grand total of two players have been drafted. In 1998 Levente Szuper was drafted in the second round by the Ottawa 67’s of the OHL and János Hári in the first round by the Montreal Juniors of the Q in 2010. Szuper won the Memorial Cup with the 67’s as the CHL champions and also had the best goals against average among rookie goalies before being drafted by the Calgary Flames.
Hári’s stint in Canada was not as successful as Szuper’s, in which he battled both illness and injuries and spent 23 games in Montreal before moving to Rouyn-Noranda Huskies for 23 games. Hári came back to Europe eventually.
Aside from Szuper and Hári there have been three other players who have pulled on the Hungarian national team colors as well playing in the highest Canadian junior league, Frank Kovács, Omar Ennaffati and Tyler Metcalfe.
Kovács played for the Regina Pats in the WHL, been drafted by the Minnesota North Stars before coming over to Europe where he would end up playing for Székesfehérvár.
Ennaffati who was known for his hotheadedness when he played for Székesfehérvár, Ferencváros, and the Budapest Stars, started his career with the North Bay Centennials and later played for the Mississauga IceDogs.
Metcalfe who just re-signed with Miskolc for the 2014-15 season was a first round draft pick by the Seattle Thunderbirds of the WHL, Metcalfe has also played for Székesfehérvár in the past as well as DAB.
There are a number of Hungarian players that hope to put their names next to the aforementioned ones on Wednesday.
Among these group of players the one to keep an eye on the most and has the best chance of being drafted is Csanád Erdély, he has caught the eye of not only the scouts from junior teams and big name clubs through Europe but NHL scouts as well. A couple of other names to look for in the two round import draft is Roland Vokla, Tamás Láday Erik Keresztury, and Vilmos Galló. Since the league is for players 16-20 year olds ideally, these 18-year-old Hungarians would hope to be drafted by an NHL team after the upcoming season or get a minor league offer after their second season.
Hungarians look to be playing in the highest level junior hockey in the United States as well for the 2014-2015 season, in the USHL and the NAHL.
Krisztián Nagy spent part of last season with the Minot Minotauros and looks to be back with another team for next season before moving on to the NCAA. The USHL should have János Hári’s younger brother, Norbert Hári looking to put pucks in the back of the net but because of a technicality he is not eligible to play for the Hungarian national team only the Swedish.
With the great success that the Hungarian U20 and U18 teams have had this past season and the amount of talent that will be following them in the next few years, look for the the top junior leagues in the U.S. and Canada to have Hungarian players carving up their ice sheets for years to come.
Words: Szabolcs Závodszky @Zavodszky
Photo: László Mudra & aberdeennews.com