OHL Stock Watch: Michael Misa off to exceptional start in NHL draft year

There is just one undefeated team remaining in the entire CHL, and yes, it is an Ontario Hockey League team.

Any guesses?

If you can believe it, the answer is the Niagara IceDogs. The league’s perennial bottom-feeders are off to a 4-0-0 start, boasting the OHL’s top powerplay (33.3%) and penalty kill (a staggering 93.8% success rate). 

The IceDogs’ hot start is not one that many saw coming, however this OHL scout did write about two weeks ago that this team could be playoff-bound this season. That was before they obliterated the previously undefeated Brampton Steelheads, the league’s best team, in one of the most lopsided games of the season so far. 

Niagara is not the only team that has exceeded expectations in the first two weeks of the season. But as more NHL prospects return from training camps, expect the competition around the league to ramp up. 

Stock Rising 📈

Michael Misa, C/LW, Saginaw Spirit (2025 NHL Draft)

Five games. Ten goals. 

That kind of production in the OHL is unheard of for anyone, let alone a 17-year old NHL draft-eligible prospect. Even for someone with Michael Misa’s reputation and pedigree. He leads the entire 2025 NHL Draft class and CHL in goals. It’s the most goals by any CHL exceptional status player through five games, and Misa’s 12 points are the second most by any CHL exceptional status player in the same span too.  

But Misa entered this season with something to prove. Could he be the first overall challenger that he had been projected to be three seasons ago? Well, he’s certainly delivered. In his first full season at centre, Saginaw Spirit forward rediscovered his dynamism, and his production has exploded. 

Most importantly, it hasn’t come at the expense of his off-puck play and defensive engagement. He’s arguably an even stronger off-puck player this season, consistently impacting the game at both ends of the ice. He is now the total package, everything an NHL team would want in a number one centre at the next level.

And certainly a prospect worthy of a top three pick next summer. Perhaps even higher. 

Kevin He, C/LW, Niagara IceDogs (Winnipeg Jets)

Kevin He is Him.

After scoring three goals and five points in his first three games of the season, He had a statement game last weekend, exploding for a hat trick and six points against the league’s best team, tying an IceDogs franchise record for most points in a single game. 

With six goals on the campaign, He now ranks second amongst OHL goalscorers, behind Misa. But his impact isn’t just felt on the scoresheet.  He buzzes around the ice, throwing thunderous hits, stealing pucks and forcing turnovers with stunning regularity. And with He leading the charge, Niagara now finds themselves atop the Eastern Conference - something that nobody saw coming just a month ago. 

Jack Ivankovic, G, Brampton Steelheads (2025 NHL Draft)

It’s been an eventful start to the season for Jack Ivankovic. The 17-year old netminder picked up a shutout in his first game of the season and then rattled off three more wins, including an impressive victory over the London Knights.

The Steelheads then rolled into Niagara undefeated, and Ivankovic was supposed to get the night off. But when backup Jacob Gibbons allowed four goals in a brutal first period, Ivankovic was thrust into action to start the second.

He would last just six minutes and four seconds between the pipes, making headlines for an entirely different reason: 

Ivankovic’s 0.936 save percentage is second-best in the entire league, and he’s made a case early on that he shouldn’t be ignored by NHL teams next summer when the draft rolls around – so long as he continues to play at this level (and hopefully not get into anymore fights).  

Ethan Belchetz, LW, Windsor Spitfires (2026 NHL Draft)

This section could have gone to the entire Spitfires team. Windsor skyrocketed to the top of the league standings in the first two weeks of play, and AJ Spellacy (Chicago Blackhawks) and Liam Greentree (Los Angeles Kings) have been particularly impressive since they returned from their respective NHL training camps.

However, in their absence, last spring’s first overall pick Ethan Belchetz stepped into a top line role and flourished. On a Spitfires team with ten players taller than 6-foot-2, Belchetz fits in seamlessly on this team. Then you have to remind yourself that the 6-foot-5, 226-lb behemoth is still just 16 years old.

Belchetz picked up two points in his first career OHL game on the first night of the season. He then followed that up with his first OHL hat trick, and a separate Gordie Howe hat trick two games later, picking up points on six of Windsor’s twelve goals against the Kitchener Rangers and earning OHL Rookie of the Week honours.

Belchetz’s four goals and two assists were the most by an OHL rookie in a single game since 2010, and he was the first Spitfires rookie to score four goals in a game since Taylor Hall in 2008. There’s still a long way to go until the 2026 NHL Draft rolls around, but Belchetz is already making a strong case to be the top OHLer in that draft class. 

Honourable Mentions: Jacob Battaglia (Calgary Flames), Kristian Epperson (2025 NHL Draft re-entry), Christopher Thibodeau (2025 NHL Draft re-entry), Tyler Hopkins (2025 NHL Draft), Owen Griffin (2025 NHL Draft), Beckham Edwards (2026 NHL Draft)

Stock Steady ↔️

Porter Martone, RW, Brampton Steelheads (2025 NHL Draft)

Porter Martone has done nothing but play up to the expectations that he will be a top two pick in the NHL Draft. The Brampton Steelheads power winger leads the entire league in scoring with 13 points in 5 games, and he’s formed formidable chemistry with new linemate Carson Rehkopf (Seattle Kraken). 

The important thing for Martone now is to maintain that consistency throughout the season. He was near-dominant for the first-half of his draft-minus-one season, but faded down the stretch. If he can do that, he will put himself in an excellent position to be a top pick in next summer’s draft. 

Malcolm Spence, LW, Erie Otters (2025 NHL Draft)

Like Martone, Malcolm Spence has hit the ground running in his NHL draft year – just in a different way. And with Matthew Schaefer out with mono until at least the end of the month, Spence has played a pivotal role for the Erie Otters early on.

Spence’s well-rounded, mature style won’t land him on scoresheets as often as Martone or Misa, but his shift-to-shift impact has been excellent to start the season. You could drop him into an NHL lineup tomorrow, and he’d probably blow his coaches away with his attention to detail, nonstop motor and effective defensive game. Everything he’s shown so far suggests that he’ll be a top-10 contender all season long. 

Stock Falling 📉

Caden Taylor, LW, Peterborough Petes (2025 NHL Draft)

Gone are the days where Caden Taylor scored at over a two points-per-game pace in the GTHL.  

The Peterborough Petes’ fate this season hinges significantly on the success of their 2007-born players. Taylor is not the only 2007-born player on the Petes this season, but he is their most high-profile name. He was a ninth overall pick in the OHL. He was the prospect that Peterborough targeted when they traded captain Donovan McCoy to Sudbury. 

But the prolific sniper, who once scored 58 times in 60 AAA games as a 15-year old, has struggled to translate his game to the OHL. Taylor has just one goal to show for in four games to start the year. His compete level and defensive work rate has been called into question several times already, and his mistakes have been costly. 

Now, the Petes are still rebuilding and play in an extremely competitive conference. But if Taylor continues to struggle, it feels like the Petes may find themselves in the same situation by the end of the season that they were in last year.