Barrie Colts rely on experience and Aaron Ekblad being good at hockey: OHL Burning Questions

The Ontario Hockey League regular season begins Thursday. They play one of these every winter? Man, it never ends. With the days getting shorter and the season getting nearer, BTN is taking an early look at each team in reverse order of last season's standings.

Barrie Colts

In 2012-13 — 44-20-2-2, .676 point pct., 239 GF/183 GA. Second, Eastern Conference. Lost 4-3 to London in OHL final.

Final Dynamic Dozen ranking — fourth OHL, ninth CHL.

Drafted — LW Andreas Athanasiou (Detroit Red Wings, fourth round), D Jake Dotchin (Tampa Bay Lightning, fifth).

2014 NHL draft watch — D Aaron Ekblad is almost everyone's first defenceman off the board; rambunctious LW Brendan Lemieux was also part of Canada's summer under-18 team. Pesky newcomer Kevin Labanc should also be monitored closely.

1. Will shared experience trump losing that Scheifele guy?

Barrie is banking on it; as Lemieux put it, "There’s nothing parallel to the experience you get playing deep in the playoffs." The Colts have played three seven-game series in the past two playoffs, twice losing on the road in games that involved a last-minute (or literal last-second) goal.

Still, replacing the combined 347 points that Mark Scheifele, Anthony Camara, Steven Beyers and Ryan O'Connor posted last season is a tall task. Barrie backers can point to the belief that Athanasiou is poised for a big 19-year-old season after his strong playoff and that the Colts also have a great cluster of overages and 19-year-olds in Zach Hall, Mitch Theoret, Athanasiou, Erik Bradford and Josh MacDonald. It all boils down to whether they prove formidable now that Scheifele is no longer around to occupy checking lines and first-pairing defencemen.

2. What nits will be picked with Aaron Ekblad's game?

The 6-foot-4, 217-pound Ekblad could be the OHL's highest-drafted defenceman since Erik Gudbranson went No. 3 overall to the Florida Panthers in 2010. The 17-year-old has steadily marked off the checklist of big shiny things, playing huge minutes during that 2013 playoff run where he also ran the power play while O'Connor was suspended. Becoming a 50- or 60-point scorer at his age is only going to feed the hype. Leadership-wise, he's been named captain on a somewhat veteran team.

That's good enough for we the media, most of the time. The other side of the coin, though, is that a defenceman's skating and his steadiness in his own zone make the difference between being a Top 5 or Top 15 pick. (In retrospect, current Ottawa Senators prospect Cody Ceci comes to mind, since the subject here is a big right-handed offensive defenceman.)

Ekblad, possessed of what Barrie coach Dale Hawerchuk calls "a dedication unseen," has cleared almost every hurdle put in front of him over the past two years. The Belle River, Ont., native is tough to bet against. The best hedge, nine months out from draft day, is that he doesn't get past No. 5 overall. Even Seth Jones slipped, so-called, to No. 4.

3. Will they keep clamping down on teams after losing the Niederburglar?

Barrie gave up only 183 goals thanks in large part to their dynamic Deutschlander, German goalie Mathias Niederberger, who is now trying to find his place in the Los Angeles Kings farm system.

Eighteen-year-olds Alex Fotinos and Daniel Gibl are competing for the No. 1 gig, while Barrie has a a third goalie on the roster since 6-foot-4 Mackenzie Blackwood (who turns 17 in December) is still listed. However the starts are split, Barrie should have a solid defensive crew. The Colts graduated only two defenceman, O'Connor and Alex Lepkowski. Dotchin is in a produce-or-perish-as-a-prospect position after plateauing in his post-draft year and ending up as a scratch during the playoff run. Many of the other Colts defenders who have carried over to this year — Alex Yuill, Michael Webster and Jonathan Laser leap to mind — also grew up fast over those 22 playoff games last spring.

Neate Sager is a writer for Yahoo! Canada Sports. Follow him on Twitter @neatebuzzthenet. Please address any questions, comments or concerns to btnblog@yahoo.ca.