I highly doubt Patrick Marleau would come back. Chris Osgood might for promotions but the city has changed so massively in just the past 5-10 years that people wouldn’t know who recent players are unless they lived in Kenton.
Chris Osgood is part Owner of the Saginaw OHL team, and he's got a cushy job with Fox Sports Detroit, despite the fact that he's not a good commentator. I don't see any way he comes to WA just because he played a handful of games as a T-bird.
It all depends on who is available. Drafting someone just based on where they played juniors isn’t what GM’s do.
True for the most part, but Holland had a penchant for players with MI connections:
- Abdelkader - Born Muskegon, MI played for MI St
- Larkin - Waterford, MI played for U of M
- Danny DeKeyser- Detroit, played for WMU (college free agent pickup)
- Luke Glendening - GR, MI, played for U of M (college free agent pickup)
- Luke Witkowski - Holland, MI, played for WMU (signed free agent, now with TBL)
- Matt Puempel - Windsor, Ont (across the river from Detroit), Acquired through trade
- Kaden Fulcher - Brigden, ONT (10 miles from MI), free agent camp invitee
- Oliwer Kaski - Pori, FIN, played at WMU, free agent signing from Liiga
- Also a bunch of AHL players from MI and ONT in Grand Rapids, but mainly to fill out he team
Noting that only 2 of them were draft picks, it's not a great draft strategy. However, local connection can attract UFAs, and it can be a good way to fill out the AHL team. This area doesn't have any good college hockey teams, and other than TJ, I'm not aware of any other good players from the area. TJ will be 38 when his current contract expires, not really sure I'd want him at that point.