Prospect Info: Scott Harrington | D | London (OHL) | Second Round, 54th overall

[shureshot66]

SCOTT HARRINGTON
NORTH AMERICAN SKATER
LONDON, OHL
FINAL RANK: 98 MIDTERM RANK: 67
POSITION: DEFENSEMAN SHOOTS: LEFT
HEIGHT: 6' 0" WEIGHT: 200
BORN: MARCH 10, 1993
BORN IN: KINGSTON, ON, CAN
DRAFTED: PIT (2ND ROUND / 54TH OVERALL)



Note: A 6-foot, 200-pound defensemen from the London Knights of the Ontario Hockey League (OHL). Harrington, 18, appeared in 67 games this past season for the Knights, collecting six goals, 16 assists and 22 points. Harrington, a Kingston, ON native, was teammates this past season with defenseman Reid McNeill, who was selected by Pittsburgh in the sixth round (170th overall) of the 2010 draft. In two seasons with the Knights, Harrington has recorded 36 points (7G-29A) and posted a plus-11 rating in 122 contests.

Sexton’s Take: “We like the way he plays. He’s a very good skate with good mobility. He sees the ice well and moves the puck. He has a big strong frame, needs to get stronger. He can play with an edge, but needs to do it more consistently. A more defensive focus than offense, but he’s not incompetent offensively.”

Click to read more...

 

[SkullSplitter]

Lol another d-man. People are gonna go *******

 

[SkullSplitter]

Time to change my avatr

 

[gdsmack267]

No way this kid was the best available. There were a bunch of decent forwards left that were better then this kid

 

[ColePens]

Damn, SS. You are fast! Great job you are doing with all of this.

 

[Burgs]

From Forecaster:

Scouting Report: A member of the 2009-10 OHL First All-Rookie Team, his offense has yet to develop as expected (36 points in 122 games with the Knights in two seasons)... has good size and excellent mobility from the back end, and he also reads plays very well... was rated 98th among North American skaters in Central Scouting's final rankings...

 

[scrappylilnobody]

Not unhappy, just don't know much about this kid at all.

You can tell that Shero once was apart of Nashville management.

 

[SirBrad]

Need moar d-man

 

[Jacob]

No way this kid was the best available. There were a bunch of decent forwards left that were better then this kid

lol, Godsmack

 

[ColePens]

From Forecaster:

If i'm in player development, everything I just read was great. That's the type of kid who becomes a huge player. Skill always looks sexier, but NHL players have those type of characteristics.

Not my favorite pick.. but I will believe in Shero until he proves otherwise.

 

[TheDudeAbides]

Yeah because we really needed another defensemen we have so few.......

 

[Captain Hook]

Pretty clear that Shero wants to make this organization a D-Man factory.

No thoughts on the pick beyond that. Haven't seen him play.

Here's an HF thread on him.

http://hfboards.com/showthread.php?t=808406

 

[On Vinyl]

Yeah because we really needed another defensemen we have so few.......

Especially a primarily defensive D-man who, from the scouting report, is great at nothing but just solid all around. Don't we have two guys like that in WBS right now?

 

[Get To Our Game]

From Ian:

Just interviewed new #Penguins player Scott Harrington. Linemate of Pens prospect Mark McNeil. Shutdown guy. Enjoys physical game.

From Brock, a great writer who covers the OHL extensively:

27. Scott Harrington - Defenseman - London Knights
Perhaps the player who fell the loudest from the OHL this season. Projected to be a first round pick at this time last year, Harrington is now finding himself in that mid round range after a rather disastrous season. I think it's the classic case of a prospect trying hard to be something he's not...or at least not ready to be yet. Now granted, I put a lot of blame on the Knights in this instance because it was they who failed to go out and get a quality puck moving defenseman and thrust Harrington into that role to start the year. When he's focusing on his defense, Harrington is a valuable defenseman. He's got the size, mobility and intensity to be a quality stay at home guy at the NHL level. But he's limited offensively (at the current moment). Through the first half of the season, he struggled trying to be the primary puck rusher and just didn't look comfortable in the role. Just the same, because he was trying to do too much offensively, it took away from his defensive game. It's not often that a defenseman is better defensively in his 16 year old season, but that was the case with Harrington. Next year will be huge for him. He needs to spend the first half of next year getting his confidence back and really focusing on becoming a premier, physical shut down defender.

http://ohlprospects.blogspot.com/2011/05/my-final-top-50-ohl-players-for-2011_16.html

Short Q&A and some more info:

1. You are viewed as a shutdown defenceman, but you're not the biggest guy (listed by London at 6-foot-1, 203 pounds). How confident are you that you can carry that role over to pro hockey?

"You just have to get stronger every off-season if you are going to compete at the next level against grown men. I feel I am a pretty good skater. That is my advantage. I try to model myself as a shutdown defenceman.

"... The biggest asset I bring to a team is just being hard to play against. My coaches have me against the other teams' top lines. That is something I enjoy doing, having the challenge of facing the other team's top scorers."

http://sports.yahoo.com/juniorhocke...with-Scott-Harrington?urn=juniorhockey-317535

 

[scrappylilnobody]

From what I have read, he was projected to be a first rounder very early but then dropped quite quickly. I have read the word "reclamation project" quite a few times.

 

[Sidney the Kidney]

Not sure how I feel about this pick. Ironically, if you told me we'd be taking Harrington in round 2 a year ago, I'd be stoked about it. This year, I'm fine with it, but just not as excited.

Harrington was outstanding as a 16 year old rookie, coming into the league and displaying the poise and defensive play of a veteran, with a hope that with more PP time his offensive game would develop to match his defense. But in his second year (this past year), his offensive game underwhelmed and his defense took a hit. His offense just didn't progress like folks thought it would. So people who watched the Knights closely wondered if he simply didn't have much of an offensive upside.

Good skater, good at moving the puck out of his zone, but not necessarily a great offensive game to compliment his defense. Defensively, he's positionally sound and will hit, but he won't be mistaken for a Duncan Siemens or Dylan McIlrath.

 

[On Vinyl]

From Ian:

Mark McNeil?

 

[Get To Our Game]

Mark McNeil?

Yeah, must have had this year's draft on his mind.

Should be Reid Mcneill, 6th round pick last year.

And he already corrected it.

@IanAltenbaugh My mistake, I meant Reid McNeill. Sorry for any confusion.

 

[Mr. T]

I like this pick. Not so much for the player, but for the extra day of histrionics here.

 

[YungDankShawty]

I probably would've liked this pick a lot if we didn't pick Morrow in the 1st, but oh well I think the Pens goal in the draft is just to make me very mad lol

 

[Skk82]

If a hockey lineup shifts to 6 forwards and 12 defenseman you'd have to think the Pens are one of the best positioned teams.

 

[Burgs]

It's unfortunate if Harrington gets all the hate and disappointment now. Not his fault Shero made a reach like that. I don't like the pick, not because of Harrington himself but because we took this sort of player at this point in the draft. Doesn't look like good value and it sure isn't an organizational need.

 

[eXile59]

I would loved to have Mario Lucia. Shero should be on an episode of Hoarders for hoarding defensemen.

 

[NastyNick]

Pens scouting team must have really liked him. I don't mind Shero going with D in the first two rounds. Its where his drafting has been the best IMO.

 

[eXile59]

It's unfortunate if Harrington gets all the hate and disappointment now. Not his fault Shero made a reach like that. I don't like the pick, not because of Harrington himself but because we took this sort of player at this point in the draft. Doesn't look like good value and it sure isn't an organizational need.

Yeah I think he reached on this one because we don't pick again to the 5th round. I was really excited about having a 2nd round pick this year and this was a pretty big let down.