Michael McCarron picks London Knights over Michigan Broncos

Michael McCarron has made it official.

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He will play with the defending Ontario Hockey League champion London Knights.

Mark Hunter, Knights' general manager, has also made it official. He?s like the relentless cat stalking his prey. He may not always get what he?s hunting but it won?t be for lack of preparation or trying.

McCarron, a big, strapping winger became a late first-round pick of the Montreal Canadiens in last month?s National Hockey League draft.

His OHL rights are owned by the Knights. McCarron was debating whether he would play in London or for Andy Murray at Western Michigan University.

In the end, the Knights managed to land yet another top prospect headed to an NCAA school.

In this case, Hunter had good luck on his side.

McCarron was ranked 35th among North American skaters by Central Scouting, a second-round rating in the draft. If he had been drafted in the second round, he might not have been offered an immediate contract with the Canadiens. That would have left McCarron?s options open. Once he signed with Montreal, he became ineligible to play NCAA hockey.

McCarron told a Montreal newspaper that getting a contract with Montreal was the deciding factor in whether he played junior hockey or played in the NCAA.

Despite the good fortune, Hunter adheres to the adage ?I will prepare and some day my chance will come.?

Hunter has been watching McCarron since long before the Michigan native became eligible for the draft. Hunter wanted to land McCarron in that draft but the big man let it be known he wanted to play in the NCAA and with the United States national development team program.

OHL teams usually wait until later rounds to take players in that situation though their potential and talent dictates they should go much higher.

In that 2011draft the Knights got Bo Horvat in the first round, Ian Jenkins, a goaltender who a month later died tragically, Jacob Jammes, Miles Liberati, Remi Elie, Kyle Platzer and Corey Pawley.

The Belleville Bulls beat the Knights to McCarron, taking him as a sixth-round pick.

McCarron stayed in the States.

?I wanted McCarron but I missed on him,? Hunter said. ?I was really upset, so upset that I missed him that I couldn?t sleep that night.?

But this is where hard work and preparation pay off. Hunter wasn?t about to forget McCarron. In June, 2012 Hunter traded a bunch of draft choices to Belleville for his rights. No guarantees but at least it gave the Knights a chance of getting McCarron to play here.

Hunter says he talked to McCarron before the NHL draft but had no contact with him before he signed with the Canadiens. Hunter did talk to McCarron?s agent though

?I had no idea what he was going to do,? Hunter said. ?I know that you don?t get players that are that big that have good hands, come around every day.

?He?s a piece of the puzzle.?.

In preparation for his role as head coach of the Canadian under-18 team, Knights? coach Dale Hunter has watched films of McCarron with the American team.

?He?s a power forward with soft hands,? said Mark Hunter, ?really soft hands for a big man.?

McCarron doesn?t mind dropping the gloves either.

Big men normally take a longer to develop. Scouts who have watched McCarron say he?s made giant strides in his game.

The Knights could use a big power along the lines of a Tom Wilson with Plymouth or Mark Scheifele of Barrie, a forward that?s difficult for opposing blueliners to handle.

With McCarron?s good hands, he might wind up with permanent residency in front of the opposing net on the power play.

But while there?s excitement at the prospect of a fifth, first-round NHL pick playing for the Knights this year, there?s a need for patience. The OHL is a far different than McCarron is used to. It?s going to take time to get adjusted.

With five first-round picks it would be easy to anoint this team as a team better than the 2011-12 and 2012-13 teams that made the Memorial Cup tournament.

They need the kind of good fortune that helped them out with McCarron.

The last time there was so much anticipation for a season was when the Knights had first pick overall Pat Kane and first-rounder Sam Gagner go to NHL training camp as 18-year-olds.

Neither of them came back.

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Source: http://www.habsworld.net/out.php?17548

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