F Antonio Stranges - London Knights, OHL (2020, 123rd, DAL)

[Starry Knight]

3 assists last night in a game where he played probably 8 minutes tops. Stranges has dazzling skating and puck skills, and he can carry a line as a 16-year-old, which is quite remarkable.

 

[AmericanDream]

reminds me of Sonny Milano...

 

[93LEAFS]

Anything is possible since this draft is so far away, but Bracco isn't even on the same spectrum of talent that Stranges is on.

I think people are forgetting how some talked about Bracco when he was breaking USNTDP records. And, I'm not saying this as a huge Bracco fan or anything despite him being my team's prospect (I personally think the odds are he'll end up being a high scoring import player in the NLA).

The big question with Stranges and Perfetti is if they are high-end enough skaters to be dynamic at the NHL level. That's one of the big things that separates someone like Bracco from guys like Clayton Keller and Mitch Marner (both are also better shooters and play with more aggression and pace).

 

[AmericanDream]

so far he has scored London's only goal tonight...

 

[Emt8]

He was definitely one of London’s most impactful players tonight. His line (Stranges-Dunkley-Evangelista) created several high percentage scoring opportunities. Stranges is going to be an offensive catalyst in the coming years for London.

 

[Pavel Buchnevich]

If he's so productive, why doesn't he move up to a higher line? Are London's other forwards that good?

 

[Emt8]

Appears as if he is dealing with a knee injury. I heard he went knee on knee with a Hamilton player on Friday night and was shaken up and today he took a seemingly innocent hit with a couple minutes left in the 3rd and went to the bench not putting much pressure on his left leg. I’m pretty sure he didn’t play another shift after. Hopefully it’s not too serious and he’s 100% by the start of the playoffs.

 

[OHLFan90]

Caitlin from the OHL Collective prepared this article.

The New Kids: Antonio Stranges is Next London Knights Star


Very informative article.

 

[JLT]

Here are his 2018-19 Season Highlights:

 

[wings5]

Here are his 2018-19 Season Highlights:

Think he will eventually have a Rob Schremp, Sam Gagner type impact in the O eventually, translation to the next level didn't work out great for the previously mentioned two. Hopefully Stranges can work on his deficiencies and become a good, effective player at the next level.

 

[William H Bonney]

He didn't make Team USA for the Hlinka.

Maybe Stranges isn't that good but I can't fathom how he's not good enough for USAH's - at best - U18 B team. And that's in a down birth year. Pretty hard to imagine anything is at play here other than payback for signing with the NTDP and then bailing to London, unless he's got some major character concerns or something.

He's publicly handling it with class:

 

[JiggsNY]

Yeah this is all but certainly a patented USAH grudge. Very stupid, when it comes time for the 02s at the WJC, USAH better be over this grudge, by all accounts he's one of the top, if not the top, USA 02s.

If they're gonna snub him like this, don't even invite him to the camp, its so blatant.

 

[OldScool]

He didn’t make the cut out of the Michigan satellite camp either and got an at large bid and made all star team so not sure you can say it’s a grudge....looks more like he didnt flat out perform well enough to make the team based the stats. He was just in the top 30 for scoring and didn’t register a point in 3 out 5 games. By that count he didn’t play his way onto the team which is picked by a different group of people vs the NTDP. Coaches are also looking for certain things when picking a team and like it or not there have been past issues with this player and evidently the risk isn’t worth the reward to take him. Team USA knows what they are doing and a lot goes into who/why they select certain players. Hype doesn’t equate to automatically making a team and it’s nice to see when players actually earn spots rather than have it handed to players based on hype/perception. Also a pretty good idea not to screw over USA hockey if you want to play in future tournaments with them.

 

[AmericanDream]

He didn’t make the cut out of the Michigan satellite camp either and got an at large bid and made all star team so not sure you can say it’s a grudge....looks more like he didnt flat out perform well enough to make the team based the stats. He was just in the top 30 for scoring and didn’t register a point in 3 out 5 games. By that count he didn’t play his way onto the team which is picked by a different group of people vs the NTDP. Coaches are also looking for certain things when picking a team and like it or not there have been past issues with this player and evidently the risk isn’t worth the reward to take him. Team USA knows what they are doing and a lot goes into who/why they select certain players. Hype doesn’t equate to automatically making a team and it’s nice to see when players actually earn spots rather than have it handed to players based on hype/perception. Also a pretty good idea not to screw over USA hockey if you want to play in future tournaments with them.

nobody liked what he did to the USNDP, but the kid showed up here- all USA Hockey had to do was simply not invite him period. there is absolutely zero reason why this kid doesn't make this team besides USA Hockey continues to be filled with assholes. they play their favorites and keep the good o'l boy network in tact. no matter how you explain it or attempt to say others earned it more, anyone with one good working eye can see this kid belonged here and he himself probably knew he wasn't going to get a fair shake. and I understand what you are saying and this isn't directed at you more so the circumstances that happened as we all can see he didn't light it up...but it isn't all about stats, and this is one of the more underwhelming groups we will be sending here that severely lacks talent and skill. there are 3 names left off this squad that should be here, hands down end of story for many.

 

[Pavel Buchnevich]

I've not seen most of the players on this Hlinka team, but I have seen Stranges play and this age group is recognized as very weak, so this obviously is not about Stranges not being good enough for the team. He's almost certainly a top 2-3 player from the tryouts.

Maybe he didn't play well enough in the tryouts, but that doesn't mean he's not good enough for the team. That could be their reasoning, but I think its likely more to do with him playing for London instead of the NTDP.

 

[OldScool]

Like I mentioned - they are looking to select the best team not essentially the best players. Sometimes a player doesn’t fit what they are looking for.

 

[William H Bonney]

He didn’t make the cut out of the Michigan satellite camp either and got an at large bid and made all star team so not sure you can say it’s a grudge....looks more like he didnt flat out perform well enough to make the team based the stats. He was just in the top 30 for scoring and didn’t register a point in 3 out 5 games. By that count he didn’t play his way onto the team which is picked by a different group of people vs the NTDP. Coaches are also looking for certain things when picking a team and like it or not there have been past issues with this player and evidently the risk isn’t worth the reward to take him. Team USA knows what they are doing and a lot goes into who/why they select certain players. Hype doesn’t equate to automatically making a team and it’s nice to see when players actually earn spots rather than have it handed to players based on hype/perception. Also a pretty good idea not to screw over USA hockey if you want to play in future tournaments with them.

Because you're spreading your misinformation here as well in the Hlinka thread, I'll include my response from that thread as well:

Schingoethe didn’t register a point in 5 games. NTDP offer was turned down after he didn’t get initial invite so not sure why that would be held against him. Stranges didn’t do much to separate himself either with 5 points. Add in other issues and you can see why USA didn’t pick them. Sometime you gotta give credit to other players who won spots and not blame it on some payback excuse. Bottom line is neither player dominated and played themselves on the team.

You're putting way too much value in points at a player development camp that barely resembles real hockey games. Is it possible that it's not payback by USAH? Sure, especially in the Schingoethe case. And with USAH, incompetence is usually a driving factor. But payback is not out of the question and that fact has been admitted by former USAH employees. Chris Peters said "Not ruling it out, but it's been less prevalent in recent years" about the Stranges omission possibly being about payback. A person more well connected than any of us to USAH said that.

But let's go with your points argument. There were 13 forwards that made the Hlinka team and Stranges had more points than 5 of them, and was tied with another 2 of them at 5 points. Since you've only offered points, I'm curious as to how those 7 forwards (54% of the roster) "won spots" and "played themselves on the team" despite not "dominat[ing]?" Or conversely why top camp scorers like Matt MacDonald (2nd), Jonny Meiers (tied for 3rd), Cameron Berg (tied for 4th), Matt DeBoer and Blake Humphrey (tied for 5th) didn't make the cut when they outscored nearly all the players on the Hlinka team? And Meiers, DeBoer, and Humphrey didn't even get into the All-Star game! Or what was Schingoethe doing in the All-Star game and still in the running for the Hlinka team after he didn't register a point in camp? His first 5 pointless games were fine but the 6th was a bridge too far? You ask that I "see why USA didn't pick them" based on points, yet one of them outscored/tied in scoring a majority of the Hlinka forwards and the other made it to the All-Star game despite not registering a point? That petition request in USAH's favor doesn't comport with the actual camp results.

It's good that guys can make the team based on great camp performances. That's the way it should be! But guys should also be evaluated, and possibly make the team, based on the totality of their performances and abilities, even if they have poor statistical camps like Schingoethe. If a guy like MacDonald statistically dominating the camp isn't enough to take him from off-the-radar to on the Hlinka team, why should 6 games of unstructured hockey override what Schingoethe did in 62 games in the USHL last year to take him off the team?

I'm not even a big "USAH holds grudges" guy. I think nearly every time someone claims USAH has an axe to grind against a player - think countless CHL cuts / snubs at the WJC - it's not a grudge but incompetence or player preference. I think that's the far more likely explanation for Schingoethe, even if the cut is still largely indefensible. But USAH has clearly demonstrated an axe to grind against players that sign with the NTDP and then bolt without honoring the contract. It's been well documented and admitted by those-in-the-know. And if USAH would leave off Stranges, a player that independent evaluators say would be the most talented, best NHL prospect, and best player on this team, for any reason other than retribution than they need to rethink their entire approach to the Hlinka, player development, and player selection, because that type of incompetence would be shocking.

 

[OldScool]

I am not spreading misinformation. I stated their stats. Maybe instead of some huge USA coverup that instead that these kids got outplayed by other kids? Is that possible?

 

[William H Bonney]

I am not spreading misinformation. I stated their stats. Maybe instead of some huge USA coverup that instead that these kids got outplayed by other kids? Is that possible?

Not when your stats argument doesn't comport with, you know, the actual stats of the players on the Hlinka team.

But yes, it's possible they were outplayed farcical hockey games at the U18 level. If true, why were they at the All-Star Game? And why would any hockey federation use 6 games to select a top U18 tournament team and not evaluate its player pool beyond those 6 games as well?

 

[OldScool]

Not when your stats argument doesn't comport with, you know, the actual stats of the players on the Hlinka team.

But yes, it's possible they were outplayed farcical hockey games at the U18 level. If true, why were they at the All-Star Game? And why would any hockey federation use 6 games to select a top U18 tournament team and not evaluate its player pool beyond those 6 games as well?

Maybe some kids don’t back check hard, maybe character issues, don’t play hard in dzone, soft on pucks...there are many factors that go into picking team.

 

[AmericanDream]

He didn’t make the cut out of the Michigan satellite camp either and got an at large bid and made all star team so not sure you can say it’s a grudge....looks more like he didnt flat out perform well enough to make the team based the stats. He was just in the top 30 for scoring and didn’t register a point in 3 out 5 games. By that count he didn’t play his way onto the team which is picked by a different group of people vs the NTDP. Coaches are also looking for certain things when picking a team and like it or not there have been past issues with this player and evidently the risk isn’t worth the reward to take him. Team USA knows what they are doing and a lot goes into who/why they select certain players. Hype doesn’t equate to automatically making a team and it’s nice to see when players actually earn spots rather than have it handed to players based on hype/perception. Also a pretty good idea not to screw over USA hockey if you want to play in future tournaments with them.

I am not spreading misinformation. I stated their stats. Maybe instead of some huge USA coverup that instead that these kids got outplayed by other kids? Is that possible?

hmmmmm....you tell us??

 

[William H Bonney]

Maybe some kids don’t back check hard, maybe character issues, don’t play hard in dzone, soft on pucks...there are many factors that go into picking team.

This literally has nothing to do with the questions I asked.

 

[OldScool]

This literally has nothing to do with the questions I asked.

Put it this way there are some players that no matter how talented they are you wouldn’t select them for a team you are building....there is a lot more than on ice stuff that goes into selection process. A lot more.

 

[William H Bonney]

Put it this way there are some players that no matter how talented they are you wouldn’t select them for a team you are building....there is a lot more than on ice stuff that goes into selection process. A lot more.

You know these aren't worthwhile insights, right? Everyone. Knows. This.

And yet again, it still doesn't comport with the facts. If such concerns were present, these players shouldn't have been in the All-Star Game. It's quite simple.

 

[AmericanDream]

Put it this way there are some players that no matter how talented they are you wouldn’t select them for a team you are building....there is a lot more than on ice stuff that goes into selection process. A lot more.

I think this was the same philosophy team USA had at the 2016 World Cup...worked out well for them there too..

This is a 2 week tournament, not a possible 4 year commitment, or 82 game schedule - you are really really reaching here when talking about the selection process for what essentially is a vacation trip in length.