Soo Greyhounds shoot for the top: OHL Burning Questions

Starting from the top of last season's standings, it is time for OHL Burning Questions. For your consideration, the Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds.

Last season went like — A filling appetizer but perhaps not the main course for the hungry 'Hounds, who rolled through a watered-down West Division while the league's power teams were concentrated in the Midwest. Regardless, the Soo seems to be in a good place entering coach Sheldon Keefe's third season.

2013-14, by the numbers — 44-17-2-5, .699 point pct., 262 GF/193 GA. Second playoff seed, Western Conference. Lost 4-0 to Erie in conference semifinal.

On the junior-or-pro bubble — Captain Darnell Nurse is vying for a spot with the Edmonton Oilers; overage D Alex Gudbranson is at the Minnesota Wild's main camp; overage W Jean Dupuy is in the Winnipeg Jets' AHL camp.

Drafted — Nurse (Edmonton Oilers, first round), C Jared McCann (Vancouver Canucks, first), G Brandon Halverson (New York Rangers, second), LW Michael Bunting (Arizona Coyotes, fourth), C Tyler Ganly (Carolina Hurricanes, sixth), D Kyle Jenkins (Carolina, seventh), RW Sergey Tolchinsky (Carolina, free-agent signing).

2015 NHL Draft watch — RW Blake Speers was third among 16-year-olds in scoring with 40 points; RW Zach Senyshyn is a 6-foot-2 speedster who scored 22 goals as a rookie in the Central Canada league.

1. What's the rationale for expecting Nurse will wear red and not blue soon enough?

As Bruce McCurdy recently put it, "history suggests it isn’t the Oilers’ Way" to carry a teenage D-man who is not in the full-year plan. The upside of returning Nurse to the Greyhounds, where he would captain a team with playoff ambitions with a month off to possibily be a go-to defender for Team Canada at the world junior, is just too high.

Please bear in mind that is stated more as a framework than as a prediction. There is a reason the NHL still plays the preseason games after we all say what's going to happen. As for the rest of the back end, Ganly and Jenkins are ones to watch after showing they deserved to be drafted by NHL teams.

2. Where did coach Sheldon Keefe's attention to detail (and all that analytics stuff) turn up the most for it?

Just for the hell of it, let's point this out. You might be vaguely aware the 'Hounds won the penalty-killing percentage title at 84.8 per cent (disclaimer: there is no actual banner given for this feat). It is actual more illustrative to look at the raw total, since that indicates having a good PK and also not having to use it too often. The Soo, with an OHL-low 39 power-play goals allowed, was the first OHL team in six seasons to allow at least 10 fewer extra-man markers than anyone else since 2008.

Duplicating that performance might be tough. Graduated overages Patrick Watling (speaking of analytics) and Tyler Gaudet did a lot of PK work. This is an area where Jared McCann, who's currently battling a bout of mononucleosis, might have to shoulder more of a load.

3. Why is the hype justified?

Well, the 'Hounds have checked off must of the boxes on the application to be dangerous team. Up front, there's the first-rounder (McCann), the youngster who can provide a spark (Blake Speers), the import scorer (Tolchinsky, with 91 points last season), the cagey overage (Bryan Moore) and the 19-year-olds (Bunting and Gabe Guertler, by way of the Minnesota Golden Gophers).

The succession in goal has also been strong. The New York Rangers bet big by using a No. 59 overall selection on Halverson, who had a 2.96 average and .904 save percentage over 19 games. It's not often someone gets invited to a national junior team camp before becoming a starter in the CHL, but the Team USA hopeful pulled it off this summer.

Neate Sager is a writer for Yahoo! Canada Sports. Follow him on Twitter @neatebuzzthenet.