OHL: Former top pick McFarland hopes for happy ending with 67′s

John McFarland has one last chance to make some memories in major junior.

A year, two years, three years from now, the signed Florida Panthers draft pick will be somewhere in the pro game. The junior hockey ecosystem will refresh itself with new names and faces, like a high school. Presently, though, McFarland is labelled as the former first overall pick in the Ontario Hockey League priority selection draft who's merely had a good career instead of the fast-lane to the big league, like five players taken after him who are now in the NHL. Coming to the Eastern Conference-leading Ottawa 67's and being reunited with his old Toronto minor hockey running mate, Tyler Toffoli, offers a chance to overwrite some of that.

"This is something where success is not always going to be final at the end of the day," McFarland, 19, said Friday, when the 67's were edged 5-3 by the Peterborough Petes, their first loss in four games since he came over in a deadline deal from the retooling Saginaw Spirit.

"You can be first overall the one time, but someone's always after you. I'm on the other side of things now where I'm trying to catch someone else who might have been drafted higher and beat them out for a spot [in Florida's organization]. I don't mind that side, either."

McFarland's talent is the type that teases and tantalizes. The fact he hasn't translated it into more tangible results has led to after-the-fact claims he wasn't the best midget-aged player in Ontario in the winter of 2008 but merely the best player for the Sudbury Wolves to sign, who had the No. 1 choice. However, that's revisionism. McFarland was everyone's No. 1 pick, lightning-quick with a NHL shot.

Tyler Seguin and Jeff Skinner, who were also in that age group, each became 50-goal scorers in the OHL in short order and went directly to the big league at 18. Devante Smith-Pelly, who also played with McFarland and Toffoli on the Toronto Jr. Canadiens, debuted in the NHL this fall with the Anaheim Ducks.

McFarland, meantime, has had a bumpier road. Hockey Canada thought highly enough of him to bring him to the national junior team selection camp in 2009 when he was 17. That was during a year when he only managed 20 goals, albeit on a weak Wolves team.

Falling out of the first round entirely in 2010, when Florida drafted him 33rd overall, was a wake-up call. McFarland ended up being traded away by the Wolves a few months later to Saginaw. This season, he is averaging better than a point per game, including four in as many games while drawing second-line duty in Ottawa.

"I haven't dwelled too much about the past," he said. "There were times where I was disappointed in what might have happened, but like I said it's the past now, I haven't thought about it too much. I'm here now and I'm playing good hockey again.

"Falling in the draft was difficult at the time. It was something that I didn't see coming. At the same time, it was something that I think made me better. It kind of allowed me to find that extra drive that I needed.

"Saginaw kind of gave me a fresh start which I'm thankful for," he added. "They helped me find my game again. I think it [the draft] was something that was hard at the time but once it's done, it's done. You can't change it. Signing a contract [last spring] definitely helped me forget about it."

'It's his last chance'

Ottawa collectively had an off-game Friday. McFarland and his brand-new linemates, deadline acquisition Mike Cazzola and left wing Shane Prince, accounted for all three 67's goals. However, McFarland also gave the puck away for a game-turning short-handed goal in the second period. His ill-advised one-touch pass was cut off by Luke Hietkamp, who walked in to beat Petr Mrazek. That tied the game 2-all and gave the Petes life.

It was a rookie mistake. At the same time, the line was playing its first game together. It was also Friday the 13th. Beyond that, the proof for the McFarland move will come in April, not January.

"I think he just wants to win," Toffoli said. "It's his last chance. He won't be back in the O next year.

"He's really going to help our team and that's what most important," the Los Angeles Kings prospect added. "So far it's been really good. All the guys have been great to him and he's fit in really well."

The two minor hockey linemates could yet be reunited. For now 67's coach-GM Chris Byrne has Toffoli and gritty Dalton Smith flanking centre Sean Monahan.

"It's fun being on the same team with Tyler, he's one of the my best friends," McFarland says. "Hopefully we'll get some time together on the ice, I'm playing with two great players in Prince and Cazzola. The whole team's been great to me."

Toffoli, of course, is leading the OHL with 33 goals after topping the league with 57 last season and sharing the scoring title with 108 points. It's interesting to note that in their minor hockey days, McFarland was the finisher on their line and Toffoli often fed him the puck.

"I scored quite a few and he was always a great passer for me," McFarland says. "We both kind of helped each other back then. He always could find the net and always had a knack around it. It was just a matter of time until he showed it at this level."

That might go to show how young players' evolution is never certain. Now the two have a chance to lose the tag they can't win the big one. Toffoli, for all his individual feats, has had only 23 career playoff games, just one more than the Owen Sound Attack team played last spring. He noted his junior days would feel incomplete without a playoff run.

"We've had a good team for the past three years and it's unfortunate that we've only had short runs here. Hopefully this year is different."

How his new teams fares might not affect McFarland's future. He already earned a contract with the Panthers. Going out on a high note, though, might vindicate those who have believed in his game all along.

"It'd be huge to win a championship," he says. "That's what everyone dreams of doing in junior. I've had some ups and downs in my career so it would be a great way to finish off for sure."

Neate Sager is a writer for Yahoo! Canada Sports. Contact him at neatesager@yahoo.ca and follow him on Twitter @neatebuzzthenet (photo: OHL Images).