Having a Seat Over There?: Bryson Cianfrone

Bryson Cianfrone of the Toronto Marlboros Minor Midget team was generally thought of as a first-round draft pick in the OHL Draft. He fell to Brampton in the third round. Bob Miller says that a "very valued source" told him the drop may have been due to a Michigan commitment.

The Marlies came from behind to win the OHL Cup against Max Domi's Don Mills Flyers. Cianfrone had 5-5--10 in 7 games, including a goal in the championship game. Domi had 1-1--2 in the finals, and 5-6--11 in the tournament.

They finished the season an incredible 69-3-4 and outscored their opponents by a 338-79 clip. Cianfrone had 45-51--96 in 69 games according to a scouting report. Here's what they said about him:

Cianfrone is a smart, smaller and skilled center who
plays a pretty effective two way game while producing offensively at a consistent
level. He is an excellent skater, displaying speed and quickness. Most
importantly, he tends to keep his feet moving at all times, preferring to and
showing the ability to play the game at a high speed. He plays a pretty intelligent
game, using his speed and quickness to support the play, getting
himself around the puck all times. He also has very good hands, showing
the ability to handle the puck and makes plays.

Pretty much everyone at Hockey's Future has raved about him. I saw lots of people complimenting his hockey IQ. He's also the captain of the team. One scout told THN there are concerns about his size (5'10", 167), but "all he does is score".

Here's one of those goals, in a game against JT Compher's team:


In the draft thread at Hockeys Future, people were commenting that Cianfrone must be US-bound to fall so far. Someone mentioned he was looking at Shattuck for next year, but who knows how accurate that is.

I'm sure we'll hear shortly if the commitment is confirmed or not.

In other OHL Draft news, Max Domi went 8th to Kingston. Kingston is managed by Doug Gilmour and coached by Todd Gill, both former Tie Domi teammates. Gilmour says he spoke with Max's parents recently and their "decision is to go elsewhere right now". Of course we've seen that before with Lessio, Marcantuoni, Campbell, etc. Gilmour also called Domi an "unbelievable player". He also told a reporter that he doesn't believe Domi will come in and play for Kingston this year. Definitely a situation worth watching. I'm still not getting my hopes up.

Other than that, it seems like it was a pretty good day if you're a Michigan fan. JT Compher went in the 11th round to Saginaw, Tyler Motte (10th) and Alex Talcott (13th) both went to Sarnia, and Evan Allen went to Windsor in the 15th round. Target Gabe Guertler went to the Soo in the 6th round.